_ supplied the
necessary contributions, while their superiors gained the credit
attaching to those who fulfil the desires of the King. Under this
system, the _raayat_ of course, possessed no rights, either of person or
property. He was entirely in the hands of the Chiefs, was forced to
labour unremittingly that others might profit by his toil; and neither
his life, his land, his cattle, nor the very persons of his women-folk,
could properly be said to belong to him, since all were at the mercy of
any one who desired to take them from him, and was strong enough to do
so. This, of course, is the weak point in the Feudal System, and was
probably not confined to the peoples of Asia. The chroniclers of
Mediaeval Europe tell only of Princes and Nobles, and Knights and
Dames--and merry tales they are--but we are left to guess what was the
condition of the bulk of the lower classes in Thirteenth-Century
England. If we knew all, however, it is probable that their lot would
prove to have been but little more fortunate than is that of the Malay
_raayat_ of to-day, whose hardships and grievances, under native rule,
move our modern souls to indignation and compassion. Therefore, we
should be cautious how we apply our _fin de siecle_ standards to a
people whose ideas of the fitness of things are much the same as those
which prevailed in Europe some six centuries agone.

[Footnote 1: _Raayat_ = Peasants, villagers.]

[Footnote 2: _Penghulu_ = Headman.]

Those who love to indulge in that pleasing but singularly useless
pastime of imagining what might have been under certain impossible
circumstances, will find occupation in speculating as to whether the
Malays, had they remained free from all extraneous influence for
another thousand years, would ever have succeeded in evolving a system
of Government in any way resembling our own, out of a Feudal System
which presents so curious a parallel to that from which our modern
institutions have sprung. Would the Great Chiefs have ever combined to
wrest a Magna Charta from an unwilling King, and the _raayat_ have
succeeded in beating down the tyranny of their Chiefs? No answer can be
given; but those who know the Malays best will find reason to doubt
whether the energy of the race would ever, under any circumstances, have
been sufficient to grapple with these great questions. The _raayat_
would have been content, I fancy, to plod on through the centuries
'without hope of change'; and,