Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstra13141884roya).pdf/262

 this circumstance "Mĕrbau Sarâtus," one of the limits of fishing rights on the Moar, took its name.

Rĕmbau, like the rest of these countries, was, according to Mĕntra traditions, at first inhabited by the aboriginal tribes alone, and its first Pĕnghûlu was, like that of Nâning, appointed by the Dato' Kĕlâna Pĕtrâ of Sungei Ûjong.

Another local version is that Rĕmbau was first settled by Bâtin Bĕndahâra Sakûdei at Hûlu Rěmbau near Gûnong Dato', and he it was who felled the mighty Měrbau tree. According to native authority quoted by, Bĕndahâra Sakûdei was the first chief of Sungei Ûjong upon whom the title Kĕlâna Pĕtrâ was conferred, and was the son of a Bâtin, and the following account of this origin was related to by the Râja di Râja of Sungoi Ûjong:—

"In ancient times one of the princesses of Sungei Ûong having had the presumption to laugh at the naked state of a Bâtin of the Jakuns, incurred his resentment, and was compelled irresistibly to follow him through thicket and brake, until, moved with compassion, her 'sans-culotte maître de danse' broke the spell and married her. The offspring of this sylvan union is said to be Sakûdei, from whom descend the Pĕnghûlus of Sungei Ûjong."

"Běduanda" is the name of one of the chief aboriginal tribes in the South of the Peninsula, and two of the chief Rĕmbau tribes bear the same name—the Běduanda Jâwa, and the Bĕduanda Jakun—from which the Pĕnghûlu is alternately elected.

This alternate election is said to be due to a dispute in days