270 
TRADITIONS, 
It is related by different persons that the Jaktms have great in¬ 
fluence in the respective Malay states where they are living: and 
chiefly in the election of Malay Panghulus in the Menangkabau states. 
Lieut, Newbold too says the same; and confirms it by the following 
fact .—“ A few years ago the late Panghulu of Sungei Ujung, Klana 
Leber, died, leaving two nephews, Kawal and Bhair. It is an ancient 
custom prevalent still in the interior, and I believe, generally through¬ 
out Malayan nations, that when a chief dies, his successor must be 
elected on the spot, and before the enterment of the corpse (which 
is not unfrequently deferred through the observance of this usage to 
a considerable length of time;) otherwise the election does not hold 
good. 
“ Nowit happened that Kawalwas absent at the time of Panghu¬ 
lu Leber’s death. The three sukus and one of the twelve Batins 
took advantage of Bair’s being on the spot, elected him, and buried 
the body of tbe deceased chief. Against this proceeding, the Rajah 
de Rajah, and the remainder of tbe elective body, the eleven Batins, 
protested; a war ensued, which terminated in 1828, pretty much as 
it began. Kawal, however, by virtue of the suffrages of the eleven 
out of the twelve Batins, and by the support of the Rajah de Rajah, 
is generally considered the legitimate chief. In Joliole the Batins 
have a similar influence in the election of the Panghulu.” 
It appears certain, that in former t'mes the Batins exercise 1 such 
an influence in the elections of the Malay chief; but we must say 
that they have at the present time lost a great part of it; for in Jo- 
hole, Rurnbau, and several other places, they are so few in number 
that such a fact would be impossible, and the contempt which the 
Malays have for them, as well as their own natural disposition to 
tranquillity and peace, scarcely permit us to believe that such is the 
case now even for Sungei Ujong, where they are the most numerous. 
TRADITIONS. 
The traditions entertained by the Jakitns, though frequently ridi¬ 
culous, and relating impossible and fictitious facts, are not always to 
be rejected, because sometimes they contain more or less truth; or 
