5«3 



notice of the ways and thoughts of men. I remember that the 

 kinds of rice eaten by men in the Malay country were as follows: 

 (i) Javanese rice, very good in quality, with a short stem like the 

 present Rangoon rice, only a little smaller. (2) Siamese rice. (3) 

 Rangoon rice. (4) Rice from Acheen. (5) Rice from Malacca. 

 Those were the five places which produced rice eaten in this 

 country. 



In olden times mv grandfather, Sultan Muhammad of Selangor, 

 was himself very fond of planting/^' and also rigorously insisted 

 on all his subjects doing so too. There were tools, and men, 

 moreover, to work. 1 hose who were slow or who did not toil at 

 padi planting were punished. On the Selangor river from Telok 

 Penyamun, on the right bank and on the left, as far as Kampong 

 Kedah, in the interior, nothing but padi fields could be seen in 

 those days. I well remember that in 1273 (A. H.) the year in which 

 Sultan Muhammad was buried, I bought Selangor rice at the rate 

 of a hundred gantangs for $5, and padi at the rate of a hundred 

 gantangs for $2.50 ; ducks, fowls and goats were cheap, because 

 in those days every kind of provision was plentiful and abundant. 



Moreover the Langat river from Pendamaran to the place where 

 the canal lias been cut, and from the canal to the river Rambay, 

 right and left, Malays worked at their /adangs, and there were no 

 sawahs. Prices were the same as in Selangor. The Selangor mea- 

 sures differed from those used in Lukut, ten gantangs (Selangor) 

 going to twelve and a-half gantangs (Malacca), for in Lukut the 

 Malacca measure was used, the food for mining coolies coming 

 from Malacca. At that time no foreign rice was consumed in 

 Selangor. 



In 1273 (A. H.) Sultan Muhammad died and was succeeded by 

 Sultan Abdul Samad. There were then sawahs in Selangor, while 

 on the Langat river men planted /adangs. In 1276 (A. H.) rinder- 

 pest broke out, and it may be said that all the buffaloes in Selangor 

 died ; there remained only ten or twelve, which escaped into the 

 jungle and became wild. These are now in the neighbourhood of 

 jeram. The result of this was that the Selangor raiats ceased 

 working sawahs, having lost, as it were, the chief implement of 

 their trade. Sultan Abdul Samad was not powerful enough to 

 insist on the work being continued, for though he himself liked 

 padi planting, he could not enforce it upon the raiats of the 

 country. 



At the age of eleven in 1274 (A H.) I was taken by the Resi- 

 dent of Malacca, Mr. Mc Pherson, who treated me as his own son, 

 and sent me to the English school in Malacca. The Head Master's' 

 name was Jamebreek. For ten months I remained in his house, 

 after which he went to Singapore. I was then given into the charge 

 of Baba Chi Yamchwan, a merchant who had helped my people to 

 open up the river Lukut. For eleven months I dwelt in his house. 

 I could then write Malay, and the letters which came from Lukut 

 to Baba Yamchwan were read by me. Sometimes also I wrote 

 letters from Baba Yamchwan to my people. By these means I 

 became acquainted with prices and other details of business. Soon 



