162 THE INDEPENDENT NATIVE STATES 



From this sketch it will be seen that between Penang and 

 Malacca, a distance of some 260 miles, lie the two large Native 

 States of Perak and Selangor, the former with a coast line of 

 about 80 miles, and the latter of about 140 miles, and the smaller 

 inland State of Sungei Ujong ; whilst joining on to Malacca and to 

 each other are the small States of Rembau, Johol, Muar, Sri 

 Menanti, Jelabu, Jempol, and Jelai. 



Then between Malacca and Singapore and going up the East 

 coast for a considerable distance (about 120 miles) beyond Singa- 

 pore is Johor, and East of that again Pahang. These are the 

 independent States ; whilst Siam exercises a protectorate over 

 Kedah on the West coast to the North of Penang, and on the 

 East coast Petani and to some extent Trengganu and Kelantan. 



With these last we are not at present concerned, but of the 

 former we may well begin with the largest, the most populous and 

 most important, and that is Perak. 



Perak, though having but a short coast line, is drained by one 

 of the largest rivers in the Peninsula, navigable for boats for 

 nearly 200 miles, and, situated as it is at the widest part of the 

 Peninsula, stretches further back than any other State on the 

 West coast, marching in the interior with Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang 

 and Selangor. 



Selangor again, from its interior boundary, where it joins 

 Perak, Pahang, Jelabu and Sungei Ujong, to the coast, preserves 

 a tolerably uniform depth of 50 to 60 miles. The " Negri Seblah 

 Darat," or Inland States round Malacca, are very small, having 

 formerly comprised but one G-overnment, whilst Johor and 

 Pahang cover very considerable areas. 



Before and up to the year 1874 all these countries, with the 

 exception of the two last named, had been in a very unhappy 

 state. Perak, torn by intestine struggles and harrassed by the 

 part}- fights of rival factions of Chinese, who had completely 

 desolated the largest and richest of its Provinces — Larut — from 

 which the chief native authorities had been for months expelled, 



