24 
It follows from the position of KCdiih that its tnnle is almost exclu- 
sively with Penangj with which port commimication by steamer is now 
easy and frequent. Tiie exports consist principally of tin, rice, bats' 
manure (from the limc-stonc caves), and jungle produce. 
The liistory of tliis State, as of all the others of the Peninsula to the 
Norlh of Malacca, is full of obscurity. Colonel Low discovered in the 
forests some remains of what he supposed to be Buddhist temples, and 
Siome inscriptions in the Pali character, indicating not Malay but Siamese 
culture, It seems probable that even so late as the beginning of the 
sixteenth century tlie Malays here bad been but partially converted 
to Mahomedanism. The earliest authentic information we have of 
Kedsth is from the Portuguese writer Baubosa, whose manuscript is 
dated ''Lisbon, lolly and he describes it as " a place of the 
kiug:dom of .'>iam," and makes mention of a '*Sca-port called Qucdfth^ 
to wbitdi an infinite number of fillips report, trading in all kitul.s 
** of merchandise." Kedah, in common with all the other nortlierti 
States of the Peninsula, has prabably been always more or less tributary 
to Siam, for being, with Patrmi,the most northern of all the Malay Stateii, 
it has been most subject to its direct influence. But the policy of the 
Siamese (Jovernmcnt here, as eiscwliere, has been to leave the ex- 
traneous races, comprised within the dominion it assiiracp, to the ad- 
ministnttiun of their own rulers; the Malayan Rflja of Kcdah is thns an 
hereditary and quasi-iiidepcndcnt sovereign- In token of his dependence 
on Siam he has -always sent the Km^, once in three years, an offer in*:: con - 
sistingof an arlificial tlowcr of gold. I\'otwitli8tanding this, the lUija aliena- 
ted to the Indian Govi?rnmcnt in 178(J (nitptain Linux being the Agent) 
the i.^iaiid of Pcnaug, and subsequently, iu LSiJO, Province Wcilcslcy on 
the mainland, without reference to Siam, whose alleged suzerainty was 
neither wlII understood nor much enforced at that time. By the ces- 
sion (li Penang, Kcdah lost some of its trade, and though the Itslja seems to 
have acted within hU rights^ he evidently incurred Siani's displeasure. In 
L*^'2I, the SiaracBc from Li^or iuvadcd tliecoimtry, overran it, and after 
an occupation of several yeurs, abaniloncd after ruining it. The prince 
fled to Pt'Uitug for [irotection, and of CMurse received an asylum. Iliia 
hue was rt'stored after nnmyyt'ars ; but the tendcnry of the (.iovcnimrnt 
at Bangkok to intci-rerc in Kcdah affairs has since been acceutuatci'l, ihe 
King of Siam even rhiiming to nnminate as wcil as eontirm tin* RAja. 
PAT NT* 
In the latitude corrcBpondingto tliat of Kcdah on the East coast, the 
country still commonly known us PatAni is situated between Scnggora 
and KCdantan, 7"^ to if 20' Niu-th, with a coast line on the East side 
about 50 miles. Estimated area, 6,1)00 square rniies. The popuhition 
may be roughly put at 50,000 to 75,000, though Carl Bock (188-1) gives 
♦ For convenience, Faithii is treated of here, though politically it weeurs to 
distinguished from tliit) group, and has been iuchidcd above in the administra- 
ttve proTtnce of Scnggora, 
