Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/344

Rh 322 MALAY PEN IN .STF L A oppressive and even malarious along the low muddy banks of the coast streams. Higher up, although cooler, it is not always more healthy, and the uplands, especially about Mount Ophir, have the reputation of being extremely dangerous to Europeans (Wallace). Yet the mean temper ature, thanks to the general elevation of the land and the prevailing sea-breezes, is much lower than that of many Asiatic lands lying much farther from the equator. While the glass rises normally on the Makran coast and in the Persian Gulf to 110, 120, and even 125 Fahr., the mean summer range in the peninsula scarcely exceeds 90, while at an altitude of 2500 feet it is under 70 for tho whole year. There is strictly speaking no winter, nor a distinctly marked rainy season, the alternate north-east and south-west monsoons distributing the moisture over the east and west slopes throughout most of the year. The average number of rainy days is about one hundred and ninety, and the mean rainfall from 100 to 130 inches. The west coast is exposed to sudden squalls of short duration, known as &quot; Sumatras &quot; from the direction whence they blow, while the opposite side is often visited by tornadoes during the monsoons. Except in some limestone tracts, especially in Perak and Keclah, the soil is generally poor, and the country, which may ba described as of comparatively recent formation slowly undergoing decomposition, is incapable of growing sufficient rice even for the local demand (D. D. Daly). The land, however, is almost everywhere clothed with a magnificent tropical vegetation, in which the most con spicuous and useful plants are the gutta-percha (here first discovered), the camphor tree, ebony, sapan, ratan, eagle wood, bamboo, nibung, and nipa palm. Unfortunately the work of reckless destruction has already commenced, and the Chinese miners have in many places cleared extensive tracts, cutting down the finest trees to serve as fuel for smelting the tin ores. Of fruits the most characteristic are the durian and mangosteen; and of cultivated plants the most common are rice, the sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco, yams, batata, cocoa and areca palms. Tea and coffee, might be successfully cultivated along the slopes of the Perak and Selangor rivers (Deane). A species of climbing indigo and the wild nutmeg are indigenous, and the true nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves have long been introduced, and thrive well (Newbold). The fauna of the peninsula, which is unusually rich, is allied, like the flora and the inhabitants, rather to that of the Eastern Archipelago than the mainland. Here are the one-horned rhinoceros, Malay tapir (tanau), elephant, and hog, all of the same species as those of Sumatra. Here is also a small bear (bruangh), found elsewhere only in Borneo, as well as the Sunda ox of Java, besides two kinds of bison said to be peculiar to the peninsula (Crawfurd). On ths other hand, the Asiatic tiger has extended his range throughout the whole region, even crossing over to Singapore and other adjacent islands. Of quadrumanes there are no less than nine species, including the chimpanzee (Simia troglodytes), the kukang (Lemur tardiyradus), the black and white unka, but apparently not the orang-outan, although the word is in common use among the Malays, who often apply it in its natural sense to the Sakai and other wild tribes of the interior. Of birds perhaps the most characteristic are the rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros), the bang .i or Javanese stork, the argus and pencilled pheasants, birds of paradise (Paradisea regia and P. gidaris), myna or grackle (Gracula religicsa), murei or dial bird (Gracida saidaris), the humming bird, besides king fishers, flycatchers, doves, and pigeons in endless variety. The islands are frequented by the Hirundo escMlenta, or swallow that builds edible nests. The forests swarm with coleoptera, lepidoptrea, and other insects, including the magnificent butterfly Ornitkoptera Brookeana, till recently supposed to be peculiar to Borneo (Deane). The sur rounding waters are inhabited by the halicore, or &quot;mer maid,&quot; a sirenian whose Maky name duyong has been corrupted to dugong in our natural history books. Politically the peninsula is partly held directly by Siam and Great Britain, and partly divided among a number of petty Malay states, either tributary to or in treaty with those paramount powers. The Siamese territory and states embrace the whole of the northern section southwards to 5 35 1ST., and thence on the east side as far as the southern frontier of Tringganu in 4 35 N. A line drawn from this parallel on the east coast across the peninsula north-west wards to Kedah on the west coast will thus mark th p southern limits of all the land directly or indirectly subject to Siam. The rest of the peninsula is occupied by the British possessions grouped under the collective name of the STRAITS SETTLEMENTS (q.v. and by the more or less independent Malay states proper, which may be regarded as forming part of the British system. Subjoined is a table of all the political divisions of the peninsula : Siamese Political System. Ligor, Scngora. These two provinces of Lower Siam proper comprise the isthmus of Kra between 7 and 10 N., with a coast-line of 240 miles on the east and 260 on the west side ; area perhaps 17,000 square miles; population, 50,000 (?). Kedah, between Ligor and Perak, 7 to 5 35 1ST., with 120 miles on west coast; area, 3600 square miles; population, 30,000. Patani or Raman, between Sengora and Kelautan, 7 to 5 30 N&quot;., with coast-line on east side 50 miles ; area, 5000 square miles ; population, 30,000. Kelautan, between Patani and Tringganu, 6 to 4 N., 60 miles coast on east side ; area, 7000 square miles; population, 20,000. Tringganu with Kemaman, between Kclantan and Pahang, 5 30 to 4 N., with 80 miles coast-line on the east side; area, 6000 square miles; population 50,000 (?). British Political System. Perak, between Kedah and Selangor, 5 30 to 4 N., with SO miles coast-line on west side; area, 6500 square miles; population, 30,000. Selangor with Kalang, between Perak and Malacca territory, 4&quot; to3N., with 120 miles coast-line on west .side; population, 15,000. Johor, southern extremity of the peninsula from 2 40 N. to Cape Romania; area, 10,000 square miles ; population, 20,000. Pahang, between Johor and Tringganu, 3 to 5 N., 90 miles coast on east side; area, 3500 square miles; population, 20,000. Jelebu, Sungei Ujong, Sri Menanti, Jumpol, Joliol, Ram ban, Jelai, Segamat or Moar. These inland states, lying between 2 and 4 N., formerly constituted with Kaning (Malacca territory) the so-called Negri Sambilan, or &quot;Nine Lands,&quot; governed by pan- ghulus or chiefs, feudatory first to the sultans of Malacca and then to those of Johor. It is now proposed again to consolidate them in one state under the suzerainty of or in allinnce with Great Britain. They lie surrounding Malacca territory, between Johor on the east, Pahang on the north, and Selangor on the west and north west. Total area probably not more than 5000 square miles ; popu lation, 50,000 (?). The more important are Rambau (Linggi river basin), Segamat (Moar river basin), Johol (north from Mount. Ophir), and Sungei Ujong (Langat river basin). Straits Settlements: parts of Perak, Malacca, Pulo Penang, and Singapore; total area, 1445 square miles; population (1881), 314,000. Excluding the Chinese, Klings, Bugis, and other more recent arrivals, the inhabitants of all these states belong to three distinct stocks the Tai (Siamese), Malay, and Negrito. The Siamese of pure blood occupy the extreme north with scattered communities as far south as the town of Sengora (7 10 N.). A mixed Malayo-Siamese people, commonly known as Samsams, form the bulk of the population in the lower parts of Ligor and Sengora, and in the north of Kedah. Although entirely assimilated to the Siamese in speech, customs, and religion, these Sarnsarr.s appear to be allied physically much more to the Maiay than to the Tai stock. Yet their national sympathies seem to be altogether with the dominant race, and ths people, especially of Ligor, have during the present century