The Mission to Siam, and Hué, the Capital of Cochin China, in the Years 1821-2. Finlayson George
and abundant store of pickled greens in large tubs; the latter strongly reminds one of the sour crout of the northern nations of Europe, from which it probably differs but little. Tea is their favourite beverage; they use it at all hours of the day, making it in small quantities at a time; their cups contain little more than two or three drachms.
In a small recess in the poop, there is always to be found a sort of temple, ornamented with shreds of gold-leaf, or painted paper, and containing three or four small images of porcelain or wood, dressed in a tawdry and clumsy manner. These are regarded as tutelary deities, to whom offerings of meat, rice, &c., are daily made. Their attributes, as far as we could comprehend their nature, seemed to be analogous to those of the Grecian deities that directed the winds and the rains.
Similar temples are to be seen in all the houses of the Chinese.
Inferior to these in the knowledge of all the arts of civilized life, as well as in industry, stature, strength, and general appearance; but their superiors in point of courage and military enterprise, and above all in the possession of an ardent mind and exalted imagination, stand the Malays, a race of people whose origin, still involved in obscurity, would seem to be of no remote date. The most favoured of their tribes, have as yet made but little progress in civilization, whilst the majority would appear to be enthusiastically attached to the unrestrained condition of savage life. The Malays constitute the principal maritime population of the Archipelago and neighbouring continent, in the different settlements of which they present themselves to the traveller under very different aspects. They are by nature less adapted to commercial pursuits than the Chinese, or the Chuliahs, or other natives of India, and are therefore easily beaten out of the field by them at the stations frequented by Europeans. They are passionately attached to a sea-faring life, and their principal occupation is that of fishing.
Bold and enterprising in their maritime excursions, they hold the peaceful arts of civilized life almost in contempt. Negligent, slothful, and listless in their moments of ease, they display in the hour of danger and of enterprise, the most daring courage and intrepidity. They enjoy neither the good nor ills of life with the calm sobriety and moderation of other men. In action fierce, cruel, and immoderate, their leisure is passed in a sleepy indifference that approaches to the apathy of brute life.
Their character for treachery, though founded in truth, appears to be much exaggerated. This vice would appear to attach more to the state of society in which they are found to exist, than to any inherent propensity towards it in Malays generally. It must be confessed, however, that many of their practices are shocking to humanity. Their laws regarding the right acquired over property and persons falling into their hands at sea, by shipwreck or otherwise, shew them to be possessed of as little of the milk of human kindness as any other description of Asiatics[4].
The condition of the lower class of Malays in these parts, is wretched beyond what we should conceive to be the lot of humanity in an intertropical climate; almost the whole of their life is spent upon the water, in a wretched little canoe, in which they can scarce stretch themselves for repose. A man and his wife, and one or two children are usually found in these miserable sampans. For subsistence, they depend upon their success in fishing. They have all the thoughtlessness of to-morrow that characterizes savage life. Their tackling is so rude and scanty, that they are often reduced to the most urgent want. When they have made a meal, they lay basking in the sun, or repose under the dense shade of the mangrove, till hunger again calls them into action. They have scarce a rag of cloth to secure them from the scorching noon-day sun, or to shelter them from the damp and noisome dews and exhalations of night. Their women are not less dexterous than the men in managing their boats. Their only furniture consists of one or two cooking pots, an earthen jar and a mat made of leaves of the Pandanus lævis, which serves to protect them from the rain.
In the numerous bays, inlets, and creeks, that surround Singapore, an inconceivable number of families live in this wretched manner, who have never possessed a house nor any sort of abode on the land. They are constantly roving about from place to place in pursuit of fish. What they have succeeded in taking more than is required for immediate use, they dispose of to the fixed inhabitants, taking rice, sago, betel, and cloth, in return. We are struck with the analogy between such a life and that of the tribes which subsist by hunting. The Malay is equally attached to his mode of life, nor can he be persuaded by the example of those around him to relinquish it. This description of Malays goes by the appellation of Orang Laut, or men who live on the sea.
Others of the Malays have proceeded a step beyond this rude state; they possess houses and a fixed abode; they use garments and cultivate small spots of ground: their agricultural skill, however, has rarely extended to the cultivation of rice or other of the Cerealia. They surround their houses with a wooden paling, of sufficient extent to admit the culture of the plantain, the yam, the betel, and a few other useful plants for their own use.
They possess but little skill in the mechanical arts, and are employed as labourers almost exclusively for the purpose of cutting down wood in the forests, and clearing ground for culture. We neither find amongst them a carpenter, a mason, a taylor, or a blacksmith.
We are told that in the interior of Sumatra, the Malays are found in a still more civilized state; that of an agricultural people.
How tenacious is man of the savage state, and how slow and imperceptible are the steps by which he emerges from it. The Malays of the peninsula and of the straits of Malacca are at the present day scarce to be distinguished from their rude ancestors of many centuries back, as may be seen by the descriptions which our early navigators have given of them.
A number of the people called Orang Laut were brought to us for inspection. They were superior in condition; in appearance more civilized than many whom we had seen in the bays and creeks remote from the haunts of man. A portrait was taken of one of them, illustrative of the physiognomy and general appearance of the Malay race. Six of these men were more minutely examined. Their average height was five feet three inches; average weight nine stone eight pounds; average circumference of the chest, two feet ten inches; circumference of the clenched fist about eleven inches; average of facial angle 66½°; average temperature under the tongue 100°.02.
The other tribes of people that frequent the commercial settlements of the straits of Malacca, are Chuliahs, from the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, Buggis from Celebes, Siamese, Burmans, a few Arab merchants, &c.
The situation of the new settlement of Singapore may be described in few words. A plain, nearly two miles in length, but of inconsiderable breadth in most parts extends along an elevated sandy beach, terminated on the west by an extensive creek, about a hundred yards in breadth, and running up into the land several miles.
The soil on the western bank of this creek is broken, consisting of low, rounded, sandstone hills, interspersed with level ground. The Chinese part of the population, and a few Malays, occupy this part of the settlement. Their campong is the workshop of industry, and affords at all hours a busy scene. The creek is navigable to boats of every description, and even to small ships at low water. On its banks are the store-houses, warehouses, &c., of the European and other principal merchants. The convenience for commerce is such that they can at all times, and in all weathers, land goods at their respective doors. Several parallel and cross roads extend from this line of houses over the plain, which is chiefly occupied as a military cantonment. A small stream of water divides this plain, which is surrounded by a mud wall, probably the remains of an ancient fortification, towards the east from another of greater extent, but only partially cleared of wood. In this last the Malays principally reside.
Behind the cantonment there is a hill of considerable height, on which it appears that it is intended to erect a government-house, if the place be retained.
During our stay here, we made several interesting excursions to various points on the coast, and to the neighbouring islands, for the purpose of ascertaining the geological structure of the group. These were highly satisfactory. The result of our examinations I must relate on a future occasion. From the accuracy, experience, and extensive knowledge of Captain Dangerfield, we derived the most essential assistance. Without his aid we might have had occasional difficulty in discriminating the rocks and