MALAY LAND TENURE. 151 



the Colony to exact any reasonable assessed rental at any time, 

 if, as I contend, the tenure on which this land is held is the 

 native tenure of the country and in no sense "fee simple," as 

 the holders of it would like to maintain. 



The Dutch claimed authority over the interior of the pro- 

 vince of Malacca, though they neither made roads, maintained 

 order, or otherwise directly governed the district. The greater 

 part of it was granted away as tefres particulieres (see sup. p. 96) 

 to Dutch settlers, traders, or officials in the town, and in some 

 instances to natives. These had, that is to say, the right of 

 standing in the place of the Government and collecting the 

 customary tenth on produce. Several families were able to 

 make a small income in this way, through Malay headmen 

 appointed by them over these lands, or through Chinese sub- 

 renters to whom they farmed out their privileges. But they 

 had no right to the soil, and there is little reason to suppose 

 that the Europeans either lived on or even visited the lands 

 over which their rights extended. 



This again is a purely native institution, copied by the 

 Dutch. Its origin will be found in the extract from the 

 Malacca Code, in Appendix 1 p. xv, and in the description of 

 the "private lands" in Java by Dr. Winckel (sup. 

 p. 94), who expressly states that the custom there is a native 

 one which originated with the Javanese sovereigns. 



Besides the occupiers of the town and suburban lands and 

 the proprietors (tuan tanah ) of the concessions just mentioned, 

 there were the Malay peasantry in the interior, proprietors, 

 sub-tenants or mere cultivators, as the case might be, under 

 the native laws already described. That these were never very 

 numerous in Dutch times, when the cultivation of rice was 

 absolutely forbidden, may be assumed from the fact that in 

 the eight years from 1828 to 1836, (paddy -planting having 

 been permitted since 1795) the average number of cultivators 

 paying tenths was only 2,364. * In fact, under Dutch rule, the 

 concessions must have paid very little to their proprietors, and 



I, 165. Mr. W. T. Lewis, Assistant Resident of Malacca, 

 in 1828 estimated the Malacca territory to be 450 square miles, of which 

 o,6d3 acres only were cultivated. 



