40 REMBAU HISTORY, ETC. 
Chapter II. , 
Section 4, Lembaga (The Tribal Chief.) 
The lémbaga is the supreme chief in each tribe. His 
place in the constitution is compared by the sayings to the 
sugar-palm on the slopes sprouting from its trunk’ beneath 
the coconut on the hill typifying the Undang, but above the 
chestnut of the elder on the plain. Each tribe is subject to one 
chief whose authority is coextensive with the settlements of 
that tribe. Two exceptions traverse this axiom. 
The inheritance of the /émbaga—says the adat—is stopped, 
(bersékat)—stopped by the boundary between the inland and 
low country districts. Paya Kumboh tribesmen of the latter 
immigration who settled up country in the Sungai Lailang 
valley, follow the Dato’ Sri Maharaja, and owe no. allegiance 
to the Dato’ Merbangsa, chief of the original Paya: Kumboh 
settlers in the low-country swamps of Légong and Gadong. 
No Darat chief would deny ceremonial precedence to the 
lémbaya of his tribe in the low country; but the admission 
opens no chink to his colleague for interference in purely tribal 
matters across the border. 
Again, the whole or any portion of a tribe may pass 
under the direct protection of the Undang, who himself per- 
forms the duties of the lémbaga. That tribe is-then said to be 
dependent on the Undang (térgantong kapada undang). 
In theory transference to the Undany was a privilege 
to the tribespeople and a penalty to the lémbaya, in practice 
always a penalty to both. The transfer must be preceded by 
a petition from the tribe, stating the grounds of dispute 
between them and the lémbaga. The first move could not be 
made by the Undang. In this aspect the institution is not 
without parallel in other states. Not many years ago in 
Pahang if a man fell out with his territorial chief, he slipped 
down stream and on reaching Pekan borrowed a dollar from 
(1) vide Saying IIT. App LI. 
(2) vide Saying XI, App. I. 
Jour. Straits Branch 
