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C.O. 882
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Balagore, exteni, position, e.
Bernam.
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Inclosure 2 in No. 37.
Report of Her Britannic Majesty's Acting Assistant Resident at Salangore.
THE Sultanate of Salangore consists of five distinct countries, Bernam, Selangore, Klang, Langat, and Lukut, each on a considerable river of the same name as the country, and the whole being known under the general name of Salangore, stretching along about 140 miles of coast line from the Bernam River on the north to the Lingy River on the south.
There is much uncertainty as to the boundaries of Salangore in the interior, but, as far as I have been able to ascertain they are these. The left bank of the River Bernam from the mouth up to the mouth of the Slim River, from that point to the Pahang hills the northern watershed of the Bernam River belongs to Salangore. In the interior, from north to south, from the Ulu Bernam to the Ulu Langat, the western watershed of the range of mountains which forms the backbone of the Peninsula until Langat marches with Jellabu and Sungie Ujong, is also Salongore territory. Thence to Bukit Spam, and from that hill again to high-water mark spring tides on the Seppang River, the northern watershed of the Langat River, is Salangore ground. From high-water mark on the Sappang River to high-water mark on the Lukut River, and again to high-water mark on the right bank of the Lingy River, all the land between those boundaries and the Malacca Straits is said to belong to Salangore. Taking these countries in their order from the north, we have first—
Bernam.-In January of this year I went by sea to Perak, and thence up the Durien Sebatang and Songkei Rivers to Songkei. From Songkic I walked to Slim, and came down the Slim River, which falls into the Bernam River far up in the interior. The Bernam River is the finest river I have seen in the Peninsula. From my starting point on the Slim River, I calculate that I came about 170 miles down the Slim and Bernam Rivers to Qualla Bernam; and a steam launch could go up Berman River for nearly 100 miles; the snags would then prevent further progress. A large steamer could go up the Bernam River for many miles, and there is about 8 feet of water on the bar at low water.
Raja Itam is at present in charge of Bernam, and, with the consent of the Sultan of Perak, he is occupying both banks at the mouth of the river. Large quantities of fish are cured here, that being the principal occupation of the people near the Qualla. The people of the "Hilir," or "down-stream," are in all about 1,000, living in two large campongs. The interior is rich in tin and gutta, and Raja Indoot, Raja Itam's brother, has just began to work them. The principal difficulty is in getting necessaries up the river, as it takes about ten days to reach the Ulu Bernam, where the mines are situated, under most favourable circumstances, and sometimes as long as a month.
The revenue, at present very small, and in the hands of Raja Itam, is raised from import duties on opium and salt, and an export duty on tin, gutta, rattans, and salt fish.
There are in Bernam at present a number of Salangore refugees, who will now in all probability return to their former homes.
In Salangore, but more especially in the Ulu Bernam and Ulu Slim, there are num- bers of the "Orang Utan,” or “Jungle people," known also to the Malays as "Sakei,"
Semang,"
‚"" Orang Bukit,” and “Orang Raiat," and to Europeans as Jacoons. In the hills about Slim there are said to be 3,000 of these people, and there and on the Perak hills of Batang Padang, Bidor, and Songkei, as many as 10,000.
The Jacoons of Slim have a headmau of their own, with the title of Datu, and the Malays are obliged to consult him and ask his advice on all important matters, otherwise, it is said, the Jacoons would at once attack the Punghulu and his people, who dread the poisoned arrow of the "sumpitan," or blow-pipe, more than rifle bullets.
The Jacoons are clever gardeners, and cultivate sugar cane, plantains, sweet potatoes,
and other vegetables in abundance. Rice they use but little.
Tobacco they are very fond of, and grow it themselves to chew, not to smoke. Their own tobacco they use green, but they prefer Javanese if they can get it.
The solitary garment, or rather rag, used by them, is make of bark; the men wearing
it in its simplicity, the women affecting an additional fringe of grass,
Like the natives of Borneo, the Jacoons cover their arms with brass wire. A girl I saw, whose toilet had apparently cost her some trouble, had her arms covered with numberless brass rings; she wore some dozen strings of coloured beads, to which were hung more brass rings, round her neck, the beads fastened behind with a buckle of shells and boar's teeth; through her nose she had a long porcupine's quill, and her face was
135
painted in stripes of black and red, beginning at her forehead and ending, in the shape of a pitchfork, on her mouth and chin.
Their men are above the average size of Malays, their women of the ordinary height; their hair is not straight, but long and fuzzy; and they all, without distinction, have their noses bored, and wear in them a bamboo, a folded plantain leaf, or a porcupine's quill; and by far the greater part of them are afflicted with a fearful skin disease.
The Jacoons can walk wonderful distances, and make their way with ease through a jungle which Malays would not dream of entering, and through the jungle they will carry as heavy weights as a Chinese coolie.
They are a wonderfully harmless and docile race, and often make themselves very useful to the Malays, who make but the poorest return to them.
The language spoken by the Jacoons is totally different to Malay, and entirely unknown to the Malays; and the further you go into the mountains the fewer Jacoons will you meet who understand any language but their own.
Salangore Is about forty miles south of the Bernam River, and is situated on both langers, banks of the Salangore River. The Dutch fort was formerly situated on a steep hill on the left bank of the river. This hill and another below it, close to the mouth of the river, are those shelled by Her Majesty's ship "Rinaldo," and they are now occupied by Tunku dia Oodin's men. There is a bazaar at the foot of the larger hill, and there was a larger place on the opposite bank, but it was destroyed in the late disturbances; it is now being rebuilt.
Salangore is in charge of a Pahang Rajab, named Che Wanda, the head of the Pahang people, who assisted Tunku Kudin against Rajah Mahdi.
The revenue is raised from an import duty on opium, and an export duty on tin, gutta, and sago. There are no other import duties, as Tunku Kudin issued a Proclama- tion that none should be charged for a year, to induce people to settle in Salangore. That year is now nearly expired.
Salangore is but just beginning to recover from the effects of the war, and for miles there are deserted cocoanut and sago plantations, on both sides of the river, entirely untenanted, save by elephants, and they have done much damage to the sago trees. Since the Sultan's Proclamation inviting Salangore people to return, many have taken advantage of it to do so, and in a year's time the appearance of Salangore will probably be much more promising than it is to-day.
In the Ulu Salangore, or interior, some five tin mines have been opened within the last four or five months, and have already produced a considerable quantity of tin. A large quantity of gutta of the kinds known as "Susu" and "Sondik" is also got here. The tin mines in Ulu Salangore are the finest I have seen, the stratum containing tin, which varies from 6 inches to 4 feet (in no other mines in Salangore have I heard of a greater thickness than 2 feet), is found at from 6 feet to 12 feet below the surface. Some of the mines are close to the river, the others 24 miles distant with a good road leading to them.
Ulu Salangore was, I believe, the first place in Salangore mined for tin. Some eighty years ago a stream was dammed at a cost of about 8,000 dollars, and a mine worked on a gigantic scale compared with the largest mines in work now. The stream was dammed by an embankment some 200 yards long, and from both ends sluices were dug, each about a mile long, and from 3 feet to 10 feet deep, running into the Salangore river. Into these sluices the earth dug out of the mine was thrown instead of piling it up as is now the custom. The mine, the extent of which is hard to tell, it being overgrown by jungle, I measured and found 40 feet deep. The embankment has formed a lake, about 14 miles long, some 200 yards across, and said to be 10 fathoms deep; into it many tin-producing streame, thirteen, I believe, fall. This old mine was worked entirely by Malays, and produced 36 bahras, or 108 piculs, equal to ahout 61 tons of tin, for a surface of 60 square fyet.
There are in all about 400 Malays and Chinese in Ulu Salangore, under three Pahang headmen, appointed by Tunku Kudin. Ulu Salangore is between 80 and 90 miles by river from the Qualla Salangore, and large boats can reach it easily. The Salangore river is a very fine one, with several large tributaries, and a steamer could go a long distance up it. One of these tributaries, the Batang Yam, is rich in tin. I saw a very fine specimen which had been got at about 14 feet deep in the bed of the stream,
Kanching, also in the interior, about 32 miles south of Ulu Salangore, is also very Kanching. rich in tin. There are many mines working here, and a quantity of tin is produced. Gold also is found in washing the tin. The tin is reached at from 5 feet to 12 feet below the surface, and then lies in a stratum of from 6 inches to 18 inches thick. As a rule in washing a bahra of tin from 3 to 6 dollars' worth of gold is obtained. The gold is as good or better than the finest Pahang.
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