45 
organisation of the nborigiual tribes, always numerous in this part of the 
Peniusula. A large foreign clement has since been introduced, especially 
from Sumatra. In the days when Jolini- was powerful, the Negri y&mbi- 
wero. ujidur thti Sulian uf Juhor : hut about 177o. Johor being indiftl-r- 
ent about thp {jovcruiuent of these remote tribal Stutes, altow.'d the Dutcli 
to obiuiu u rtluMii. at their request, a Priuee o!: true JLeuaTi|;ki\bau descent, 
wlio, us Yuufj;'-di-PertU!in Besar, ruled over tlie Confederacy- The States 
were thus formally federated, each separate St;»te retaiuinu:, however, itn 
owii PCngijulu or Dato\ The real pow er in tbese jStatos is vested in the 
P&nghilhi, that of the suzerain being nominal only. 
This Sumatran ininiiiiratiou, and the political intercourse of the iiide- 
ptnvdent Princes ttf Sumatra with thoi^e of the Pt-ninsuht, deservedly at- 
tracted the attention of scholars like Matisden, LuYDEiX and IlAi-ifLKs ; 
but tiie whole arrangement was of too artitielal a kind to last long, 
and after live act^eHsiatis of Meuangliabaii Prineeii. they ceasetl to Ih3 
invited over there (1820). It i.s notcwovtliy. however, that even the 
more civilised Malays, especially in UembaUj still Imld to the tribal 
organisation: the very names of many of their tribes, such as Anuk 
Achek" (children of Achin ) and '* Sri Lemak M^nanffkabaa,'* betraying 
their comparatively recent migraiion from Sumatra. 
J<^lcbu is a small State lying to the Ntnth and East of Suugei Ujonj^ 
and containing about 4(K) srpiare miles, and tnider l,(X)(Hnhabitants, It 
belongs polUkally to the West coast, though p/if/skafit/ to the East coast. It 
has thus a peculiarly central position in regard to this region of the Penin- 
sula, being situated at the great; water-parting of the southern portion of it. 
Jelebu has, imtil the present year, remained unexplored, It lies between 
Sungei Ujong and the valley of the River Pahang, having Sel&ngor to the 
Korth and Jempol to the South. The country is a euecession of naiTOW 
valleys between hills of no great height, except in the South where they 
culminate tow^ards GdnoUg Brimbun. These hills are the sources of many 
of the principal rivers on both sides of the Peninsula — the Linggi and the 
Moar flowing to the West, and the Serting and Triang to the East, both theae 
being feeders of the Pahang. Comprising as it does the Truing valley, 
Jclcbu's boundaries are necessarily defined by hills alone, except to w^ards 
Pahang. Gcntiui; Pireh is tin; boundary toward.s Selangor. It is about 
2S miles from Ulu Laugat, and not far from the mining settlement at 
Sungei Lui. Bukit Tangga (KHOOfcel), at the head of the Klawang val- 
ley, lies between Jeleho and Suoj^ei Ujong* and deserves notice as the 
furthest western point of the \'Awt coast watershed. JAwi-Juwi IJetaub, 
on the Triang, i^ claimed by Jelebu as the eastern boundary towards Pa- 
hang, but this has still to be settled. Meanwhile Snngei Dua has been 
adopted (1881) as the provisional boundary. At the point where SeUngor, 
Sungei Fjoug, and Jelebu meet is the hill Perhentian Rimpihi (Berhim- 
piku) &aid to be so named from the assembly of the Chiefe of the old 
Four States/' 
