( 4 ) 
was taken after the commencement of the rubber 
“ slump,” and the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 
also adversely affected the population totals. 
The The great increases which took place 
exploitation in the population previous to 1911, 
of the and, in a lesser degree, since then, 
Peninsula have been due to the opening up of 
and its the country for mining and rubber- 
relation to planting, the latter industry being the 
population, newer. The face of the country has 
necessarily changed with its develop- 
ment. Previously, the whole of the Peninsula from 
north to south was one continuous belt of forest 
with Malay settlements scattered, or occasionally 
continuous, along the banks of the principal rivers 
and their tributaries, then the highways of the 
country; while small groups of aborigines made 
their scanty clearings, or roamed, in the depths of 
the forest. Now, a railway with various branches 
traverses the western side of the country from 
Singapore in the south to the boundary of British 
protected territory in the north, whence it extends, 
through Peninsular Siam, to Bangkok. 
Good roads lead in all directions and, with the 
exception of forest reserves, but little jungle remains 
on the western slope of the Peninsula except towards 
the main range and its outliers. This is still covered 
with virgin growth and forms the chief stronghold 
of the Sakai, of whom, as one of the “ aboriginal ” 
races of the country, I shall have something to say 
later. 
The The eastern states of the Peninsula 
unexploited have been much less exploited than 
eastern the western. The State of Pahang is 
states. still largely jungle-covered, and in 
addition, large parts of it are moun- 
