area is probably not much less than that of the county of York. Queda is distinguished
from the other states of the Peninsula by the greater amount of its level
land. The highest of its mountains is Jerai, an isolated one, which rises to the height
of 3894 feet above the level of the sea. I t contains no lake, but at least twenty-six
rivers, six of which are of considerable size, but all of them obstructed at their mouths
by bars, over which at spring tides there is not above 9 feet water. The most considerable
of them is that on which the chief place stands, a mere village, and of this
the embouchure is in latitude 6° 5' north. Between the main land and Langkawi
and the other islands, indeed, there lies an extensive mud bank, so that vessels of
any considerable burden cannot come nearer the coast than four miles.
The geological formation of Queda, generally, is granite, which contains iron and
tin, of the last of which near 150 tons used to be produced. The vegetable products
are the usual ones of the Peninsula, and the country seems to be better fitted for
the production of rice than any of the other states; for, besides feeding its own
population, it used, in the time of tranquillity, to furnish Penang with 30,000 quarters
of husked rice. All the peculiar Malay fruits, and especially the mangostin and
durian, grow in it in great perfection. Among its wild animals, the elephant is very
numerous, and is used as a beast of burthen,—even bred, and occasionally exported
to the Coromandel coast. The ox, a small compact and hardy breed, and the buffalo
of great size, are abundant in the domestic state. The horse does not exist. The
whole coast is most abundant in fish, and some of them are of exquisite flavour,
especially that called the bawal putih, or white pomfret of the English, which is less
rich but more delicate than the turbot.
The inhabitants consist of Malays, of Samsams or Siamese converted to Mohammedanism,
and speaking a mixed language of Malay and Siamese; of the peninsular
Negritos, of mestizo Telingas speaking both Telugu and Malay, and of a very few
Chinese. Before the Siamese invasion and conquest of 1821, the country is believed
to have had a population of 50,000, which in 1839 was reduced to 21,000, the rest
having been either killed in action, perished by disease and famine, or taken refuge
within the British territory. The last of these numbers gives a relative population of
less than five inhabitants to the square mile, and even the higher of one under twelve.
Indeed, at all times, the greater part of the country seems to have been little better
than a primeval jungle.
The history of this state, as of all the others of the Peninsula, unless we except
Malacca, is involved in obscurity. The people themselves really know nothing
of their origin. My friend, Col. James Lowe, translated a Malay manuscript,
entitled “ Annals of Queda,” but this production is a dateless tissue of rank fable,
from which not a grain of reliable knowledge can be gathered. Col. Lowe discovered
in the forests some remains of temples, and some inscriptions in the Pali character,
and which, consequently, indicated not Malay but Siamese occupation. It would
appear that even in the beginning of the 16th century, the Malays had been but
partially converted to Mohammedanism. The earliest authentic information we have
of Queda is from the Portuguese writer, Barbosa, whose manuscript is dated at Lisbon
in 1516, and he describes it as “ a place of the kingdom of Siam.” “ Having,” says he,
“ passed the aforementioned country of Tenassire, and proceeding along the coast of
Malacca, there occurs a sea-port called Quedaa, to which an infinite number of ships
resort trading in all kinds of merchandise. Here come many Moorish ships from all
quarters. Here too is grown much pepper, very good and fine, which is conveyed to
Malacca, and thence to China.”—Ramusio, vol. i. p. 318. Queda, in common with all
the other states of the Peninsula, has been immemorially tributary to Siam, arid being
with Patani the nearest to it, has been most subject to its direct influence. In token
of its subjection, it sends once in three years an offering consisting of an artificial
“ flower of gold,” which is the literal meaning of the name of this offering, Bunga-mas.
Notwithstanding this dependence the raja, in 1785, alienated to the British government
a portion of his dominions, namely, the island of Penang, and subsequently a
further portion of it on the mainland, all without the sanction or even knowledge of
his liege, the king of Siam; but still without the right of alienation being disputed.
By the cession of Penang, the prince of Queda lost some of the native foreign trade
which used to frequent his ports, but this was more than counterbalanced by the
annual stipend paid to him by the British government, and by the demand which the
new settlement gave rise to for the produce of his country. The revenue which
the prince received, including a stipend from the British government, had amounted in
all to 82,000 Spanish dollars, or near 18,0007, a large sum for a Malay prince. In
1821, the raja was either refractory, or alleged to be so, and the Siamese invaded his
country, over-ran it, and after an occupation of several years, abandoned it after
ruining it. The prince fled to the British for protection, but had by treaty no claim
to assistance. He of course received an asylum.
R .
RABABU. The name of a mountain of Java, rising to the height of 10,500 feet
above the level of the sea. It seems to be only a corruption or abbreviation of
Marbabu, which see.
RAFFLES, SIR THOMAS STAMFORD, was the son of the commander of a
West India merchant ship, and born at sea off the island of Jamaica on the 15th of
July, 1781. After a very imperfect education, he was entered as a clerk in the
secretary’s office at the East India House, at the early age of 15, an inauspicious
training which would have made the object of it, under ordinary circumstances, a
mere drudge for life. Fortune and his own abilities rescued Sir Stamford from this
position, and raised him to eminence and distinction. In 1805, after serving nine
years at the India House, he was appointed deputy-secretary to the absurd and
extravagant government, with which the authorities at home thought proper then to
overlay the little island of Penang, at the time with barely 30,000 inhabitants. This
was certainly no field for the active mind of Sir Stamford, but it placed him in a
position to obtain an elementary acquaintance with the Malay language, and to
acquire the friendship of the celebrated orientalist, Dr. Jobn Leyden, who had visited
the island in quest of health, and there acquired himself that polyglot acquaintance
with the Malayan languages which gained him so much distinction as an orientalist.
In 1811, it became known that an expedition for the conquest of Java, and the
other possessions of the Dutch in the Archipelago, was preparing by the British
government of India, and Sir Stamford Raffles repaired to Calcutta, was introduced
to the governor-general, the Earl of Minto, by his friend Dr. Leyden, and tendered his
services, which in the paucity of information respecting the Archipelago which then
existed, were gladly accepted. Sir Stamford was appointed secretary to the Governor-
General, who himself accompanied the expedition in person. _ In this capacity he acted
until the conquest was completed, when he was appointed nominally lieutenant-governor,
but in reality governor of Java and all its dependencies, with, as matters turned out,
the unlucky exception of the Spice Islands, which had been captured the previous
year, and placed under a distinct authority. In Java, Sir Stamford found the
government still conducted on the old and vicious principle of commercial monopoly
and forced labour, and intrepid innovator as he was, he overthrew the whole system.
But he was not so successful in the more difficult task of reconstruction. Many
errors were committed both by himself and by the officers who served under him, of
whom I was one. The changes from one scheme to another were too frequent, the
draughts on the treasury of British India became burthensome to it, and Sir Stamford,
after an administration of four years, was removed by the government of the Marquess
of Hastings, the successor of the Earl of Minto.
After his removal from the government of Java, he returned to England, and
during his short stay there, published his History of Java, a work which, although
hastily written, is replete with valuable information; and a lasting monument of his
ability and industry, the more meritorious when it is considered that the materials
for it were collected amidst the distractions of a most stirring and busy administration.
In 1817, he was appointed to the government of Bencoolen, with the title of
lieutenant-governor. This poor settlement, however, afforded no scope for his
ambition and activity. He betook himself, therefore, to the study of natural history;
made an enterprising journey into the interior of Sumatra, visiting a part of that
great island which no European had ever seen before, and with the view of establishing
a commercial emporium and free port in a convenient and central position, he
proceeded to Bengal, and laid his scheme before the Marquess of Hastings. This
gave rise to the establishment of Singapore in 1819, the most enduring monument of
his reputation. In carrying his plan into execution, he encountered obstacles which
would have discouraged and baffled a man of less determination, but he was rewarded
with a success which was almost immediate, for in his last visit to it in 1823, he saw
a miserable village of piratical Malay fishermen already converted into a prosperous
commercial community.
Sir Stamford Raffles finally returned to England in 1823, and there, continuing the
study of natural history, through his indefatigable activity, the Zoological Society and