180 THE INDEPENDENT NATIVE STATES 



Lukut, close to the Cape Rachado Lighthouse, and only 40 

 miles from Malacca, was, under its last Eaja, the most thriving 

 place in Selangor with a revenue o£ nearly $200,000 a year ; but on 

 his death, partly from the failure of some sources of revenue, and 

 partly from inefficiency in the administration by his sons who had 

 taken charge of the Q-overnment, the revenues of Lukut at once 

 fell, and do not now amount to $5,000 per annum. 



In Sungei Ujong, affairs were only better in so far that the 

 Bandar did what he liked, but did not let any one else do so. 

 The following may be taken as an instance of one of the ways 

 in which he raised money. 



A certain Haji came to Sungei Ujong and treated the Bandar 

 with such deference that his heart warmed towards him, and he 

 determined to make him a present of money. Accordingly, he 

 sent round to the Chinese miners and traders, ordering each to 

 give a sum of money for this purpose — one $30, another $20, and so 

 on. By this means he collected $500, $100 of which he gave to 

 the Haji, and the other $400 he kept himself. 



Such was the state of the Peninsula in 1874, and enough has 

 been told to shew that there was ample reason to justify Governor 

 Sir Andrew Clarke in taking some effectual step to put a stop 

 to those crimes, which had hitherto been frequently per- 

 petrated on British subjects, and, if possible, to reconcile the 

 opposing parties in these struggles, more especially in the case of 

 Larnt, which so nearly affected the peace and safety of our own 

 Settlement of Penang. 



To obtain this end, negotiations were opened with the Chinese 

 of the contending factions, and this mediation brought about very 

 satisfactory results. 



Sir Andrew Clarke met the principal Chinese of both parties 

 at our Island of Pengkor, in January, 1874, and, by treating both 

 factions equally, he effected a reconciliation, which stopped at once 

 all piracy at sea, all fighting on shore, and which in one year 

 had such an influence on Larut, that that district was, in January, 

 1875, producing a revenue of $30,000 a month, with an estimated 

 population of some thirty-five thousand Chinese and Malays. 



