REMBAU HISTORY, ETC. 11 
suggested that the reference is not to the Jélai in Pahang, but 
to the tiny state of Inas (or Jélai) adjoining Séri Menanti. 
This theory as failing to recognise that Inas is merely a part 
of the State of Johol, was discredited by Hervey in his paper 
on Rembau:* nor does the suggestion account ‘for the title of 
the Jelai Undang, Maharaja Perba, still held by the chief of 
Jelai, Pahang. 
The Hon. Martin Lister took another route out of the 
difficulty. In his paper on “The Constitution of the Negri 
Sembilan,” ° while retaining Jelai Pahang, he substituted Pa- 
sir Besar, a district of Muar, Johor, for Ulu Pahang. 
The retention of Jélai he justified by a theory, which was 
rather hinted at than definitely formulated in his paper. By 
discarding a chronological arrangement of events, and omit- 
ting to record the Johor suzerainty over the Negri Sembilan 
confederacy, he led his readers to infer that the “Sakai con- 
federacy ”’ preceded the advent of Mohammedan settlers in the 
up-country districts of the Peninsula. He laid great emphasis 
on the Batin origin common to the nine members of the con- 
federacy, and thence inferred that the inclusion of Jélai was 
due to the original opening up of that state by the Batin. 
His theory may be thus stated:—That only Batin 
(aborigines) inhabited the up-country districts of the peninsula, 
at the time the confederacy was formed; that all the nine 
members were of Batin origin; that the State of Jélai was of 
Batin origin; that therefore it was a member of the con- 
federacy. 
While reserving the chronological point raised by this 
theory for later consideration, it may be remarked that the 
exclusion of Ulu Pahang from the confederacy, except on the 
ground that no one lived in Ulu Pahang at the time the 
confederacy was formed, is inexplicable on this theory. 
Tradition relates that Batin Sakudai settled in Pahang—-a bald 
statement that does not point to Jélai as the site of the settle- 
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(1) vide J.R A.S , S.B. Vol. XIII, p. 245, June 1884, 
(2) v.'J.B.AGS., S.B. Vol. XIX, p. 35, (1887). 
R.A. Soc., No. 56, 1910, 
