5«4 



afterwards I was required to keep the accounts of dealings between 

 my people and Baba Yamchwan, so that I came to know all about 

 the work. At length, in 1276 (A. H.), I was taken back to Lukut 

 by my people and ceased learning English, and it was my duty to 

 look after the food arrangements of the coolies at the mines, buy- 

 ing the various necessaries myself and selling them to the coolies. 



In 1275 (A. H.) for the first time, a duty was imposed upon tin, 

 nothing else being taxed. The duty was 20 per cent. Subse- 

 quently the truck system at the mines ceased, and within the next 

 two years the Chinese merchants asked that the 20 per cent, should 

 be abolished, and 10 per cent, taken on tin. A tax was placed on 

 opium, $2 a ball, and on rice, 84 a koyan. These were the three 

 articles taxed. 



The price of white Java rice was $58 to §60 a koyan. Siamese 

 rice was $3 less, while th t from Rangoon was $45 a koyan. The 

 last named was not at that time much liked by the Chinese. While 

 Acheen rice was from $37 to $38, and red Acheen rice $27 to §28 

 a koyan. Malacca rice was sometimes the same price as the Ja- 

 vanese, sometimes as the Siamese variety. The price of tin in 

 Malacca was within $2 or §3, more or less, of $60 a bhara, which 

 is three pikuls. The people of Selangor rarely then went as far as 

 Singapore, trading only with Malacca and Penang merchants. 



In 1276 (A. H.) less lice began to come from Java, because the 

 land formerly occupied by padi, was now planted by the Dutch 

 with sugar-cane, owing to fact, so said the Javanese who came 

 hither, that sugar was far more profitable than padi. A year or two 

 afterwards the supply of rice from Acheen also began to diminish. 

 The reason of this was that the men of Acheen planted black pep- 

 per, which they sold at a high price, though the cultivation of padi 

 was light work compared with that of pepper and sugar. More- 

 over in Malacca, where formerly there had been numerous 

 planters, the Chinese merchants roused themselves, opened up 

 gardens, and grew potatoes and sago. Coolies were required for 

 the work and good wages were offered. Thus it came to pass that 

 many Malay padi planters attracted by the high wages, became 

 labourers for the merchants in their gardens. This practically 

 ruined the padi cultivation, and from that time Malacca, Java and 

 Acheen lost their reputation for growing rice. Thereafter only a 

 small quantity was produced. 



There remained but two countries, Siam and Rangoon, to bear 

 the strain of supplying the large population in this country with 

 rice. Supposing that one or both of these countries were prevented, 

 •through plague or some other cause, from exporting rice, how 

 would Your Highness' subjects live? The question of reviving padi 

 planting in this land is one which demands the most earnest con- 

 sideration of Your Highness and the Resident-General, since it is 

 one of vital importance. 



In the year 1276 (A. H.) rinderpest broke out. One district in 

 Selangor, i.e., Sungei Lukut, was then putting out a large quantity 

 of tin, and Selangor men came and traded in Lukut, getting S3 and 

 84 for goods usually sold at $1. The natural result was that the 



