Colonel of a Regiment—who is privileged to 'buck' because his officers cannot
attempt to check him. He knows many strange tales of 'lamentable things done
long ago and ill done'; he is extraordinarily loyal to his Râjas and Chiefs, who
have not always acted in a way to inspire devotion; he is capable of the most
disinterested affection; he loves his wives and his little ones dearly; and, if once
he trusts a man, will do anything in the wide world at that man's bidding. He is
clean in his habits; nice about his food and his surroundings; is generally cheery;
and is blest with a saving sense of humour, provided that the joke is at the
expense of neither himself nor his relations. Like many people who love field
sports, he hates books almost as much as he hates work. He can never be
induced to study his Scriptures, and he only prays under compulsion, and attends
the mosque on Friday because he wishes to avoid a fine. He never works if he
can help it, and often will not suffer himself to be induced or tempted into doing
so by offers of the most extravagant wages. If, when promises and persuasion
have failed, however, the magic word krah is whispered in his ears, he will come
without a murmur, and work really hard for no pay, bringing with him his own
supply of food. Krah, as everybody knows, is the system of forced labour which
is a State perquisite in unprotected Malay countries, and an ancestral instinct,
inherited from his fathers, seems to prompt him to comply cheerfully with this
custom, when on no other terms whatsoever would he permit himself to do a
stroke of work. When so engaged, he will labour as no other man will do. I have
had Pahang Malays working continuously for sixty hours at a stretch, and all on
a handful of boiled rice; but they will only do this for one they know, whom they
regard as their Chief, and in whose sight they would be ashamed to murmur at
the severity of the work, or to give in when all are sharing the strain in equal
measure.
The natives of Trĕnggânu are of a very different type. First and foremost, they
are men of peace. Their sole interest in life is the trade or occupation which they
ply, and they have none of that pride of race and country, which is so marked in
the Pahang Malay. All they ask is to be allowed to make money, to study, or to
earn a livelihood unmolested; and they have none of that 'loyal passion' for their
intemperate Kings, which is such a curious feature in the character of the people
of Pahang, who have had to suffer many things at the hands of their râjas. When
Băginda Ümar conquered Trĕnggânu in 1837, the people submitted to him
without a struggle, and, if a stronger than he had tried to wrest the country from
him, the bulk of the people would most certainly have acquiesced once more
with equal calmness.