Among Malay Pirates | Page 6

of their throwing their arms round
your neck and pulling you down with them, there might be something
in it, though everyone takes his chance of that when he jumps in to save
anyone from drowning; but with a little child, and two of us to do it,
and the ship close at hand, it was not worth thinking of for a moment."
"No, Parkhurst, from your point of view the thing was not, as you say,
worth giving a thought to; but, you see, that is not the point of view of
the chief. To him it is nothing whether your exploit was a gallant one or
not, or whether you ran any danger; the point simply is, his child would
have been drowned had you not seen her and fished her out, and that it
is to you that he owes her life. I think you have reason to congratulate
yourselves on having made a friend who may be very useful to you. It
may be that there will be trouble up the river; and if so, he might
possibly be of real service to you. But in any case he may be able to
give you some good hunting and fishing, and show you things that you
would never have had an opportunity of seeing without his friendship

and assistance."
"I did not think of that, Doctor; yes, that would certainly be a great
thing."
"I can assure you I look at it in that light myself, Parkhurst, and I am
looking forward to paying him a visit, as, under his protection, I should
get opportunities of collecting which I could never have in the ordinary
way; for, unless they are greatly maligned, one could not trust one's self
among the Malays without some special protection."
"But they are not savages, Doctor. Hassan is a perfect gentleman in
manner, and in that silk jacket of his and handsome sarong he really
looks like a prince. I could not help thinking that all of us looked poor
creatures by his side."
"They certainly cannot be called savages, though from our point of
view many of their customs are of a very savage nature. Piracy is very
general among those living on the seacoast or on the great rivers; but it
must be remembered that it is not so very many centuries ago that a toll
was demanded of all passersby by the barons having castles on the
Rhine and other navigable rivers; the crews of wrecked ships were
plundered on every coast of Europe, our own included, not so very long
ago; and in the days of Elizabeth, Drake and Hawkins were regarded by
the Spaniards as pirates of the worst class, and I fear that there was a
good deal of justice in the accusation. But the Malays are people with a
history; they believe themselves that they were the original inhabitants
of the island of Sumatra; however, it is certain that in the twelfth
century they had extended their rule over the whole of that island and
many of its neighbors, and in the thirteenth had established themselves
on this peninsula and had founded an empire extending over the greater
part of the islands down to the coast of Australia. They had by this time
acquired the civilization of India, and their sultans were powerful
monarchs. They carried on a great trade with China, Hindoostan, and
Siam, and their maritime code was regulated and confirmed, as early as
1276, by Mohammed Shah."
"How is it that they have come to such grief, Doctor?"

"Principally by the fact that they had the feudal, or you may call it the
tribal, system. Each petty chief and his followers made war on his
neighbors if he was strong enough; and as some tribes conquered others,
the empire became split up into an indefinite number of clans, whose
chiefs paid but a very nominal allegiance to the sultan. So islands broke
off from the empire until it had practically ceased to exist, and the
Malays were a people united only by similar customs and language, but
in no other respect, and were, therefore, able to offer but slight
resistance on the arrival of the Dutch and Portuguese in these regions.
Still, the upper classes preserve the memory of their former greatness.
The people are intelligent, and most of the trade in this part of the
world is carried on by them. They are enterprising, and ready to
emigrate if they see a chance of improving their fortunes. You know we
saw many of them at the Cape when we touched there. Nominally they
are Mohammedans in religion; but they do not strictly observe the
ordinances of the Koran, and their Mohammedanism is mixed up with
traces of their original religion."
"Ah, that