6o 
Although the Malay is, on the whole, frugal in his diet, yet the grain, or farina- 
ceous portion of it, is, of the best description, indigenous to the country he inhabits. 
Were he to be as easily satisfied as the African or native of South America, he might 
subsist on maize and plantains, here both abundant, and discard luxuries. What- 
ever might be the abundance of other grain, roots, and fruits, a scarcity of rice 
would be by him considered in the light of a famine. 
* * * * * * * 
A day-labourer in England is able to earn about a peck of wheat, in good times, 
daily. An Amt rican help can earn two pecks. A common Chinese labourer here 
can easily enough earn one peck of rice. The peck of wheat is about the average 
value here of 22 cents, and the peck of rice about 17! or 18 cents. A Malay can 
earn nearly half a peck of rice daily. In China, it is understood, the agricultural 
labourer cannot earn above \ 2 \ pecks of rice in a month, by daily and uninterrupted 
labour. 
There can be no doubt that wheaten bread is a more nourishing substantial food 
than rice, and yet the latter is well adapted to the climate and people, and Europeans 
in the East often insensibly become greater consumers of rice than of wheat. 
But wheat requires to be ground, and made into bread before it becomes fitted 
for general consumption, while rice is used immediately after being cleared from 
the husk. 
A reference to Europe prices will shew that a peck of wheat there will probably 
always purchase one-third more of other commodities than a peck of rice will here. 
Wheat being thus a much more substantial food than rice, it will exchange for 
much larger quantities of other commodities than rice will. But the difference 
betwixt the price of a peck of wheat and a peck of rice is about 4 cents only, and 
sometimes less, the dearness of wheat compared with rice lying in the cost of pre- 
paring it fim food ; while rice, after the separation from the husk, requires no grinding 
and baking to make it ready for use. A kati or one and a third Tb. of fine flour 
costs 15 cents, of coarse flour 7 to 8 cents. The same weight of rice costs 2 cents 
or nearly so, and a kati weight of rice-flour 6 cents. The prices fluctuate a little. 
They are more or less than here stated. 
******* 
16. Continuing the subject of the remarks which preceded the above 
extracts, it is necessary to consider the causes for the non-cultivation of the 
tracts of land available for rice growing on the coasts of the Peninsula. 
1 7. The causes seem to be the following : — - 
(1) — Want Of population. — If in the Peninsula the proportion of 
inhabitants to the square mile in any way approached that which is attained 
in British India, China or Java, the struggle for life would no doubt neces- 
sitate the cultivation of all the best land. But the population is sparse, 
and whole districts are uninhabited. Men can choose their occupations 
and are not forced into agriculture by competition. 
(2) — High rate Of ivag< 8. — Scarcity of labour, consequent on sparse- 
ness of population, results in the fixing of a high rate of remuneration for 
a day’s work. To this the presence of the mining industry also contributes 
in no small degree. Jf the agriculturist can earn as a labourer twice as 
much as the cultivation of bis fields will bring him, he will abandon agri- 
culture and live on imported rice. 
(3) — Competition of more profitable employment.— Independ- 
ently of labour which is paid for by wages, there are sometimes fields of 
enterprise open to Malays which result in the loss to the State of whole 
communities of agriculturists, 'i he gutta-percha industry is one of these. 
The Malay paddy-planters of Muar, Pa dang and Batu Pahat in Johor aban- 
doned their -lands two or three generations ago to collect gutta, and their 
descendants have grown up, in many cases, entirely ignorant of agriculture. 
Thev are now taking to it again, but much of the land formerly cultivated 
is still lying waste. 
(4) — High standard of comfort and luxury demanded by 
modern Malays. — A purely agricultural life will not satisfy the modern 
Malay of the Straits Settlements and Native States, except in somewhat 
remote inland districts. It requires that the cultivator shall be satisfied with 
poor fare, and. that altogether his style of living shall be simple, modest and 
