though they send the bûnga ămas—or golden flower—to Bangkok once in three
years. Pahang was placed under British Protection in 1888, and Johor is still
independent, though its relations with the Government of Great Britain are very
much the same as those which subsist between Siam and the Malay States of
Kĕlantan and Trĕnggânu.
The bûnga ămas, to which reference has been made above, consists of two
ornamental plants, with leaves and flowers, fashioned from gold and silver, and
their value is estimated at about $5000. The sum necessary to defray the cost of
these gifts is raised by means of a banchi or poll-tax, to which every adult male
contributes; and the return presents, sent from Bangkok, are of precisely the
same value, and are, of course, a perquisite of the Râja. The exact significance of
these gifts is a question of which very different views are taken by the parties
concerned. The Siamese maintain that the bûnga ămas is a direct admission of
suzerainty on the part of the Râja who sends it, while the Malay Sultâns and
their Chiefs entirely deny this, and hold that it is merely tanda s’pakat dan bĕr-
sĕhâbat—a token of alliance and friendship. It is not, perhaps, generally known
that, as late as 1826, Pêrak was in the habit of sending a similar gift to Siam, and
that the British Government bound itself not to restrain the Sultân of Pĕrak from
continuing this practice if he had a mind to do so. From this it would seem that
there is some grounds for the contention of Trĕnggânu and Kĕlantan that the
bûnga ămas is a purely voluntary gift, sent as a token of friendship to a more
powerful State, with which the sender desires to be on terms of amity. Be this
how it may, it is certain that Sultân Mansûr of Trĕnggânu, who first sent the
bûnga ămas to Siam in 1776, did so, not in compliance with any demand made
by the Siamese Government, but because he deemed it wise to be on friendly
terms with the only race in his vicinity which was capable, in his opinion, of
doing him a hurt.
Direct interference in the Government of Kĕlantan and Trĕnggânu has been
more than once attempted by the Siamese, during the last few years, strenuous
efforts having been made to increase their influence on the East Coast of the
Peninsula, since the visit of the King of Siam to the Malay States in 1890. In
Trĕnggânu, all these endeavours have been of no avail, and the Siamese have
abandoned several projects which were devised in order to give them a hold over
this State. In Kĕlantan, internal troubles have aided Siamese intrigues, the
present Râja and his late brother both having so insecure a seat upon their
thrones that they readily made concessions to the Siamese in order to purchase
their support. Thus, at the present time, the flag of the White Elephant floats at