( 19 ) 
gaining a livelihood was concerned, was not severe. 
It is still not at all so in many Malay districts. 
Before the coming of the British with their land 
laws and titles of ownership the peasant opened up 
a patch of ground whenever and wherever it pleased 
him and, with little labour on his part — except on 
first making the clearing — and rather more on that 
of his women-folk — was able in six months to grow 
and harvest a crop which would support him for 
a year. Any small luxuries might be purchased by 
the sale of any surplus from the crop, or of fowls, 
fish caught in the streams, or the products of the 
orchard surrounding his house. 
The Javanese, who have some reputation for 
diligence and are of the same race, are in much 
less comfortable circumstances than the Malays, 
even of the present day. In most localities land is 
difficult to obtain and every foot of it is efficiently 
cultivated — even the mountain slopes. It is this 
struggle to gain a living which has accustomed the 
Javanese to hard work, even as it has the European. 
It is a case of “ get on or get out/' 
Another factor which has had a good deal of 
influence on the character of the Malay with regard 
to diligence is the fact that, in many parts of the 
country, formerly it was unwise for the peasant to 
appear to be in too 'comfortable circumstances. A 
landed proprietor might be visited by a boat-load 
of the Sultan’s retainers and, if he had rice, fowls, 
buffaloes and other native wealth, everything won 
by his labourers might be swept up and carried off, 
his daughters too if they were pretty, and even 
his wife. If he protested he would most likely be 
stabbed in order to cure him of talking too much; 
so he had to remain silent. I put down the apathy 
still most noticeable among the Malays of the 
( 4,-^8 ■/«!* 
