Among Malay Pirates

s the doctor said, "You can go now, chief, if you desire it; but you must be content to keep quiet for another couple

s' easy

Take it quietly, and be as long as you can on the voya

ever forgets benefits. I have been hostile to the white men, but now I see I have been mistaken, and that

ection, and he has sent to ask that the ship might go up and fire her big gun

re I shall come down to see you. Sehi is not a good chief; he quarrels with his

hope that you will bring your daughter with you. She

s it comes down the river, and takes payment for all goods that pass down. It is because he knows that many of us are

him, or to come down yourselves when we are up there and talk it over with our Captain, who will doubtless impress upon Sehi the necessity for abstaini

a and return with plunder, either collected from the cultiva

mplaint that may be made to him. But you must remember that he is only acting under the orde

," Hassan said gravely. "If not

the accommodation ladder to the boat with her father. The chief had said but little to the two young midshipmen, f

y time you should want me, I will come, even if

woman, in such a state of funk that there was a good chance of their throwing their arms round your neck and pulling you down with them, there might be something in it, though everyone tak

simply is, his child would have been drowned had you not seen her and fished her out, and that it is to you that he owes her life. I think you have reason to congratulate yourselves on having made a friend who may be very useful to you. It may be that there will be

Doctor; yes, that would ce

under his protection, I should get opportunities of collecting which I could never have in the ordinary way; for,

d in that silk jacket of his and handsome sarong he really looks like a prince

r own included, not so very long ago; and in the days of Elizabeth, Drake and Hawkins were regarded by the Spaniards as pirates of the worst class, and I fear that there was a good deal of justice in the accusation. But the Malays are people with a history; they believe themselves that they were the original inhabitants of the island of Sumatra; however, it is certain that in the twelfth century they had extended their rule over the whole of that isla

ey have come to su

it had practically ceased to exist, and the Malays were a people united only by similar customs and language, but in no other respect, and were, therefore, able to offer but slight resistance on the arrival of the Dutch and Portuguese in these regions. Still, the upper classes preserve the memory of their former greatness. The people are intelligent, and most of the trade in this

name. They are not much like Arabs in figure. Of course, Hassan is a very fine looking man, and some

finer men, as you will always find in the case in savage or semi savage peoples, for, of course, they have the pick of the wome

or, and of greater intelligence than the rest of the people. This would be specially the case in a trading people like the Malays; their ships would bring over girls

he Malays now I know something about them.

sula where we have established our rule. Of course, I know little about them myself, as I have only been out here a few months; but I am told that as traders they can be trusted, and that the word of a Malay chief can be taken with absolute confidence. Of course, among the majority of the peo

t unreasonably think they might lose if we were to become paramount. No doubt there is much that Hassan said of Sehi that is true and is applicable to other chiefs who have placed themselves under our protection-namely, that they have so injured trade by their exactions as to incur the host

go, chocolate, pepper, opium, the sugarcane, coffee, and cotton, are all successfully cultivated. Some day, probably, the whole peninsula will fall under our protection, and when the constant tribal feuds are put a stop to, the forests cleared, and the ground cultivated, as is the case in our own settlement of Malacca, it will be found one of the most valuable of our possessions. Any amount of labor

re should be nigger

an goods at vastly cheaper rates. A minor benefit to be obtained by our supremacy is that our sportsmen would certainly speedily diminish the number of wild beasts that at present are a scourge to cultivators; the tigers would be killed down, the elephants captured and utilized, and the poor people would not see thei

that we shall be goin

be doubts as to the expediency of taking under our protection a chief whose conduct appears to be anything but satisfactory. On the other hand, it may be considered that by so doing we

if they were to change th

it all sport and pleasure. You will have no cool sea breezes; there will be occasion for continual watchfuln

some drawba

o up; and I think that we shall do so, for it will be the Captain's report that

t the Serpent was to ascend the river on the following day. All was at once bustle and animation