65 
the Carimons be included.' Though now politically separated from 
Juhor, they are geologically part of it, and were formerly a dependency 
of the kingdom. 
Government f The form of government is that of the usual Malay 
autocracy ; but the freedom and the Msscr-faire of ita administration are 
in murked contrast with the usual hdmiiiistmtive system of Malay States i 
ratber reseiubliiig that of tiit; neighbuuririg Colouy, with which it is so 
closely conncctetl Ljoth in the present and the past. 
The Maharftja's' Cbmeise subjects are by nature indifferent to their 
ruler, provided tbeir personal iuilt'pcndencc k secure. Ritherto they 
have usually proved contented and uljcdicnt subjects to the Malny Mjas, 
even where their race U in a very large majority. This is trae of other 
States as well as Johor— the miners' settlements alone excepted, such as 
L6kut (183-1.) and Larut (1872). 
Juhor has a history which extends back to the Portuguese days. It 
took an important part, only second to that of Acliin, iti the I4(/ years' 
struggle over Malacca, between the Portuguese and the Dutch. At the 
begitming of this ceutury, the central authority uf the Johor 8ultauatc 
having been removed fr^jiu the ruainhiiid to the Lingga (Linfjin) and Rio 
(Rfau) Arciiipehigaes, little cidicision remained among the diJlorcnt femiato- 
ries, Tims, tlie hereditary Bcndahiira (m Pahang), and the h(?reditary 
TSmunggung of Johor (inBulaug) had virtually bciMHue independent chiefs. 
The titular authority of the Sukan over theoi was Utile luori^ than a sur- 
vival of the past, though at times it might suit a superior foreign power 
to magnii'y it. The lJutch, for example, when ousted frum Malacca 
in 179r>, and deburr(?d, by tiic issue of the Great War, from all hopes of 
returning there, sought to mako suuie settlement in the Htraits. 
They had already taken Kio uoder their protection, and they now took 
possession of the t'arimoiis anil other islar.ds as subject territory. Con- 
sequently, the Ti'mrn^irgong removed from Bulang tu the bingHptire River, 
where he esstablishcd himsilf a fuw mouths before the expedition to Java 
(July, 1811). After the restoration of the Dutch possessions at the Peace, 
all the former depeudcucies of Johor, includiiig B(\hmg stud the Carimons, 
were eoutpriscd, somewhat qufstionably, in the Netherlaiids-ludia domi- 
moos ; the Johi^r rule beiug thereafter conhued to the maiuland and 
closely adjasjent islets. 
The principal changes ninee then have been tho?e resulting from 
the cstablislmieut of Singaixjrc : frnin the Treaty of 1855 by which the 
de facto administrative rights of the Temenggong were aekTumlcdged 
and Joiior Bh^rti became the capital: and from the re-utiion, as in 
former times, of the northern district of Moar to Johur in 1877. The 
ruler has enjoyed the new title of Mahardja, not previously knovn in 
Malaya, since 1868. 
