242 



KEMBAT7. 



Original set- 

 tlement of. 





Pgnghulu 

 how elected. 



Alternate 

 election. 



this circumstance "Merbau Saratus,'^ 1 ) one of the limits of fishing 

 rights on the Moar, took its name. 



Kembau, like the rest of these countries, was, according to Mentra 

 traditions, at first inhabited by the aboriginal tribes alone, and its 

 first Penghulu was, like that of Naning, appointed by the Date' 

 Kelana Petra of Sungei tTjong. ( 2 ) 



Another local version is that Bembau was first settled by Batin 

 Bendahara Sakudei at Hulu Kembau near Gdnong Dato', and he it 

 was who felled the mighty Merbau tree. According to native autho- 

 rity quoted by Newbold, Bendahara Sakudei was the first chief of 

 Sungei IJjong upon whom the title Kelana Petra was conferred, 

 and was the son of a Batin, ( 3 ) and the following account of this 

 origin was related to Newbold by the Raja di Baja of Sungei 

 tTjoug:— 



"In ancient times one of the princesses( 4 ) of Sungei tFjong hav- 

 " ing had the presumption to laugh at the naked state of a Batin 

 " of the Jakuns, incurred his resentment, and was compelled irre- 

 " sistibly to follow him through thicket and brake, until, moved 

 "with compassion, her ' sans-culotte maitre de danse ' broke the 

 " spell and married her. The offspring of this sylvan union is said 

 " to be Sakudei, ( 5 ) from whom descend the PengMlus of Sungei 

 " Ujong." 



" Beduanda " is the name of one of the chief aboriginal tribes 

 in the South of the Peninsula, and two of the chief Kembau tribes 

 bear the same name — the Beduanda Jawa, and the Beduanda Ja- 

 kun — from which the Penghulu is alternately elected. 



This alternate election is said to be due to a dispute in days 



( 1 ) The real origin of this name was probably that it was a very large tree, 

 said to have 100 branches: cf. "rengas ttVjoh" further down the Moar, which 

 has seven stems branching from one root. 



(2) cf. infra with approval of Johor. 



(3) cf. infra. 



(4) The tradition, if the word "princess : ' is to be taken literally, is some- 

 what mixed (a not uncommon occurrence) about this, for there was no princely 

 race in Sungei tjong at the time ; but it is a common practice to confer this 

 title on women remarkable for beauty and fairness of complexion, and it may 

 mean no more. 



(5) cf. with Rgmbau tradition infra, which makes him come from Johor, 



