32 REMBAU HISTORY, ETC. 
The real importanes of the wars gédang lies in their 
rank forming a stepping stone to the position of Law giver 
( Undang). 
The insistence of the Pérba on his duties as lémbaga, and 
the commutation of his share of revenue for a fixed allowance, 
has fostered a confusion between the waris Gédang, and the 
Orang Bésar Undang. These four officers form a council de- 
signed to hold the balance between Undang and lémbaga. In 
these latter days an observer is apt to forget that relations 
between law giver and trzbal chiefs were normally strained, 
but the existence of the council of the four depends on that 
fact. 
The duties of the Four are defined in Saying XXVIII. 
They are as a staff up the hill, a raft at sea, a torch on land, to 
ald the Undang. Their powers are limited to tendermg ad- 
vice on points submitted to them by the Law Giver. They 
have no Status whatever warranting interference between a 
lémbaga and his people in questions of tribal government—a 
vast field for activity on which the Four Chiefs are only too 
prone to encroach. ; 
Latterly, the presence of the Four at the deliberations 
of the Undang and Lémbaga has been resented acutely by the 
tribal chiefs. Smarting under interference with their own 
privileges the lembaga have carried the war into the enemies’ 
eountry. But though they hoist the banner of © the constitu- 
tion’ their action is probably dictated by an outraged sense 
o ithe fitness of things. 
The offices of the Bandar and Perba rotate through all 
the warts Kampongs’ (bérgilir), but Chengkau alone can 
provide a Dato’ Méntri, or a Raja Diraja; and the Mangku 
Bumi must be a warts of Kampong Tengah. It is conceiv- 
able, then, that Chengkau warzs might monopolise at one time 
four-fifths of all the revenues enjoyed by the waris gédang. 
(1) Exclusive of the warts Darat, Kampong Tebat. 
Jour. Straits Branch 
