OF THE ACALAT PEJTJXBULA. 16$ 



was rapidly sinking into a stronghold of pirates, the scene of daily 

 robbery and bloodshed; and these struggles, which in Larut had 

 died down to the embers and could only smoulder there, threatened 

 to seek new fuel and blaze out afresh in our Settlement of Penang, 

 from which place the leaders in the strife directed and encouraged 

 their fighting men in Larut, sending to them orders and supplies, 

 whilst they were themselves in comparative safety. 



And though the principals in this Larut " "War of Extermina- 

 tion" were on both sides apparently Chinese, still from the fact of 

 the succession of Perak being then disputed, the parties to this 

 latter dispute had, for their own ends, adopted the cause of one or 

 other faction of Chinese. 



Sultan A.LI, Sultan of Perak (of which, as has been stated, 

 Larut was a Province) had died in 1871, and Raja Muda Abdullah, 

 son of Sultan Jaffar, the last Sultan but one, and thus by Perak 

 customs the rightful heir to the throne, in spite of his claim, was 

 not selected, but Raja Ismail, a foreigner, a native of Sumatra, 

 and late Bendahara of Perak, was raised to the vacant Sultanship. 



To understand this thoroughly some little explanation is 

 necessary. 



The custom in Perak, and one which has held through at least 

 seventeen generations of Sultans, is this : There are three chief 

 posts in the State held by Princes of blood royal, i. e. : — 



The Sultan, 



The Raja Muda. 



The Raja Bendahara, 



and the}' are held in rotation ; if the Sultan dies the Raja 

 .Muda becomes Sultan, the Raja Bendahara Raja Muda, and a new 

 Bendahara is appointed. Properly speaking the eldest son of 

 the lnte Sultan fills this last post, and thus, though he does not 

 immediately succeed to his father's honours, he must eventually 

 become Sultan if he outlive the then Sultan and Raja Muda. 



