196 THE INDEPENDENT NATIVE STATES 



pleased as they are amazed at finding disputes between them and 

 Malays settled with impartiality, whilst their lives and property 

 are comparatively safe, and they are not even subjected to the 

 well-known extortion called " squeezing." 



Thus there is reason to believe that the coasfc from Penang to 

 Malacca, and the rivers which drain this side of the Peninsula are 

 at last tolerably safe and free from robbers ; and though it may be 

 expected that there will still be occasional attempts at piracy on 

 the coast and in these rivers, and highway robberies on land, yet it 

 is far from probable that any combined or successful attempt can 

 be made either on land or water such as reduced this portion of 

 the Peninsula to the lamentable state it was in before and up to 

 1874, and which caused the loss of so many lives and so much pro- 

 perty to British subjects who were unfortunate or ill-advised 

 enough to venture within reach of the lawless desperadoes who 

 then made piracy and murder their pastime. 



Rambau, now no longer able to prosecute its old feud with 

 Sungei Ujong, or to levy blackmail on the Linggi river, has subsided 

 into a state of peaceful inaction ; but though the present Datu of 

 Eambau, Haji Sahil, appears anxious to preserve good relations 

 with the Straits Government and to divert the energies of his peo- 

 ple from their old pursuits into legitimate aucl profitable chan- 

 nels, yet he finds he has set himself a sufficiently hard task. 



Eambau is one of the most populous of the Western States, 

 as far as Malays are concerned, being said to contain 10,000 inhabi- 

 tants, all Malays ; but the country, strange to say, is one of the 

 poorest in the Peninsula, rice and fruit being its only products. 

 Tin there is in Eambau, but there is no navigable stream near it, 

 and the cost of carriage almost precludes the working of it. The 

 Eambaunese say they have tried to grow pepper, coffee, and 

 tobacco, but without success. The only revenue the Datu receives 

 is from fines ; this might be increased by a percentage on rice and 

 by a poll-tax, but Eambau will in all probability never be a rich 

 country. 



And this is one difficulty the Datu has to contend against, 

 namely, that though he may be anxious to improve his country by 



