who was the reigning prince, had lately been murdered by an invader, and she had assembled an army of two or three thousand men to take revenge.  An agent of the Company went up the river about fifteen miles in hopes of being able to accommodate a matter that threatened materially the peace of the country; but he was told by the uti that, unless he would land his men, and take a decided part in her favour, he had no business there, and he was obliged to reembark without effecting anything.  The aggressor followed him the same night and made his escape.  It does not appear likely, from the manners and dispositions of the people, that the whole of the country was ever united under one supreme head.

AUTHORITY OF RAJAS.

The more powerful rajas assume authority over the lives of their subjects.  The dependants are bound to attend their chief in his journeys and in his wars, and when an individual refuses he is expelled from the society without permission to take his property along with him.  They are supplied with food for their expeditions, and allowed a reward for each person they kill.  The revenues of the chief arise principally from fines of cattle adjudged in criminal proceedings, which he always appropriates to himself; and from the produce of the camphor and benzoin trees throughout his district; but this is not rigorously insisted upon.  When he pays his gaming debts he imposes what arbitrary value he thinks proper on the horses and buffaloes (no coin being used in the country), which he delivers, and his subjects are obliged to accept them at that rate.  They are forced to work in their turns, for a certain number of days, in his rice plantations.  There is, in like manner, a lesser kind of service for land held of any other person, the tenant being bound to pay his landlord respect wherever he meets him, and to provide him with entertainment whenever he comes to his house.  The people seem to have a permanent property in their possessions, selling them to each other as they think fit.  If a man plants trees and leaves them, no future occupier can sell them, though he may eat the fruit.  Disputes and litigations of any kind that happen between people belonging to the same kampong are settled by a magistrate appointed for that purpose, and from him it is said there is no appeal to the raja:  when they arise between persons of different kampongs they are adjusted at a meeting of the respective rajas.  When a party is sent down to the Bay to purchase salt or on other business it is accompanied by an officer who takes cognizance of their behaviour, and sometimes punishes on the spot such as are criminal or refractory.  This is productive of much order and decency.

SUCCESSION.

It is asserted that the succession to the chiefships does not go in the first instance to the son of the deceased, but to the nephew by a sister; and that the same extraordinary rule, with respect to property in general, prevails also amongst the Malays of that part of the island, and even in the neighbourhood of Padang.  The authorities for this are various and unconnected with each other, but not sufficiently circumstantial to induce me to admit it as a generally established practice.