161 THE INDEPENDENT NA.TIVE STATES 



Thus suppose A, a son of the last Sultan but two, to be Sultan 

 of Perak ; B, Eaja Muda, son of the last Sultan but one ; C, the 

 Bendahara, son of the last Sultan; and D, a Prince, the eldest son of 

 A ; now suppose A dies, then — 



B becomes Sultan 



C „ Eaja Muda 



D „ Eaja Bendahara, and so on, and thus the Sultan 

 is always a man of considerable age and experience ; and yet 

 always the eldest son of a Sultan. 



In the particular case in point, this rule had been departed 

 from, and not only in Abdullah's case, but previous to that, when 

 in the reign of Sultan Jaffar, Eaja Ismail, a foreigner of Suma- 

 tra, in high favour with Sultan Jaffar, had been appointed Eaja 

 Bendahara instead of Eaja Jusoe, the eldest son of Sultan 

 Abdullah Mahomed Shah, the late Sultan. 



This is explained by the fact that when Sultan Abdullah 

 Mahomed Shah died, he and his son were in open warfare with 

 by far the greater part of the Chiefs of Perak, and when the time 

 came to elect a Bendahara, Jusoe' s claims by birth were outbalanced 

 by his unpopularity, and a stranger was elected to his place, thus 

 cutting Jusoe out of the line of succession. 



"When Sultan Jaefar died and was succeeded by Sultan Ali, 

 Ismail, then Bendahara, did not (probably owing to his foreign 

 extraction) become Eaja Muda, but remained as Bendahara, 

 Abdullah being elected at once to the Eaja Mudaship, and Jusof 

 being again passed over. 



This was the state of affairs when Sultan Ali died. Abdul- 

 lah to all intents and purposes having the best claim, Jusof 

 without a friend in Perak, not on speaking terms with Ismail or 

 any of the other Chiefs, and Ismail, a foreigner, having filled the 

 Bendaharaship during the reigns of two Sultans. 



Abdullah at this time was unpopular, an opium smoker, and 

 otherwise of indifferent character, and great insult was just then 

 put on him by a Eaja Daud of Selangor, who eloped with his wife, 



