its original imposition must belong to the Dutch. 

 Still, aa it was known to be unfavor<ibIy viewed 

 by the people at large, and the additional reve- 

 nue, thereby to be derived, was so very inconsi- 

 derable, it nppcars to me that it sliould have 

 been taken inlo consideration that the terror of 

 Europeans, which had so forcibly influenced the 

 native states two ceoturies before, was considera- 

 bly abated of late years, and a less, exaggerated 

 opinion of their power was daily becoming more 

 prevalent. 



It was there liar e a subject for mature delibera- 

 tion whether, tor the purpose of procuring the 

 tenth, any step should be taken which might 

 tend to drive the people into rebellion ; for this 

 tax struck at every individual from the iughc>tto 

 the lowest. 



The same objection does not hold with regard 

 to the other two. The Panghooioo of N aiming 

 had long been deprived of the power of life and 

 death. We have already seen that the Chiefs 

 acknowledged in 1652 that they had no power 

 to put an individual to death, without the «anc- 

 lion of the Dutch ; although they were undoubt- 

 edly continued in the exercise of their miiior and 

 judicial functions. The decisions given by the 

 Chiefs were necessarily very arbHrary, and a 

 wide door for extortion was unavoidably thrown 

 open by the system of appeal cuhcnt amongst 

 the Malays: thus, it was no difficult matter, in 

 a dispute between two individuals, for the party, 

 who was cast by an inferior Pangliooloo, to ob- 

 tain a reversion of the sentence by an appeal to a 

 Sookoo; his opponent, on apphcation to the 

 Panghooloo Beiantye, might,, perhaps, get the 



