SINGAPORE. 405 



chiefs have, in fact, nearly depopulated the former, and what they have 

 left undone, the pirates in their incursions on the weakened towns, have, 

 by their cruel deeds of murder and rapine, completed. The part of the 

 peninsula that is tributary to the king of Siam has fared but little 

 better ; for his extortions are said to know no bounds. Some accounts 

 state that the Malayan peninsula has once been the seat of civilization, 

 and that various mines have been discovered, by some of the few 

 travellers who have made short excursions from its coast. It is 

 alleged, on the other hand, that both it and Singapore were colonized 

 as late as the twelfth century, by the people of Sumatra ; other conjec- 

 tures, said to have some foundation in the traditions of the natives, 

 state them to have been inhabited previously to that epoch, by a half- 

 savage race, which had the features of the Papuans. Other accounts 

 again, assert, that the aborigines were the Jakongs, or Rayetutans, in 

 the interior, and the Rayetlaut, or fishermen, on the sea-shore. 



The Malayan peninsula contains nine petty states, each of which is 

 ruled by a chief, who acknowledges the authority of the king of 

 Johore. The Dutch, however, formerly had through commercial 

 treaties much influence with the chiefs, and with the consent of the 

 king of Johore, elected a Bugis chief, by the name of Dyar Cambodia, 

 over the nine states. This produced a division and contentions: four 

 of them revolted, and invited over a prince of the royal blood from 

 Sumatra, Rajah Malayan, whose party was finally successful, and 

 drove Dyar Cambodia into retirement. Upon this, stipulations were 

 entered into, by which it was agreed that the four chiefs should be 

 assembled by the sovereign to consult on the affairs of state, and that a 

 majority should rule. In return they were to provide for the mainte- 

 nance of the sovereign, by levying an annual tax on the inhabitants, 

 each house contributing annually one gantam of rice, two cocoa-nuts, 

 and one suku. 



On the occasion of all rites, such as marriages, deaths, and circum- 

 cisions in the royal family, each district was bound to send three 

 buffaloes, to distribute alms to the poor, and in case of war to furnish 

 its quota of men, arms, and ammunition. Dyar Cambodia sought 

 refuge at the island of Rhio in 1773. Since that time the kingdom has 

 undergone various revolutions, and different sovereigns have held rule, 

 who have finally by their intestine wars almost depopulated the 

 country. 



The inhabitants have many singular customs, in some respects not 

 unlike those heretofore described as existing among the Polynesian 

 islanders. 



In religion, the Malays of the Peninsula are all Moslems, and are 



