Porcupine killed the little defenceless
child, who had done no evil to him or his, makes one's blood boil. None
the less, when one remembers the heavy debt of vengeance, for long years
of grinding cruelty and wicked wrong, which the Sakai owes to the Malay,
one can find it in one's heart to forgive much that he may do when the
savage lust of blood is upon him, and when, for a space, his enemies of
the hated race are delivered into his hand.

THE VAULTING AMBITION

Adown the stream, whence mist like steam
Arises in early morning,
'Mid shout and singing they bear me swinging
A mark for the people's scorning.
By long hair hanging, amid the clanging
Of drums that are beaten loud,
I am borne--the Head of the ghastly Dead,
That ne'er knew coffin nor shroud!
But I swing there, nor greatly care
If the Victor jeers or sings,
Nor heed my foe, for now I know
The worth of these mortal things.

_The Song of the Severed Head._

When the Portuguese Filibusters descended upon the Peninsula, they
employed--so says the native tradition--the time-worn stratagem of the
Pious Aeneas; and, having obtained, by purchase, as much land as could
be enclosed by the hide of a bull, from the Sultan of Malacca, they cut
the skin up into such cunning strips that a space large enough to build
a formidable fort was won by them. This they erected in the very heart
of the capital, which, at that time, was the head and front of the Malay
Kingdoms of the Peninsula. Thence they speedily overran the State of
Malacca, and, though the secret of making gunpowder, and rude
match-locks, was known to the Malays, native skill and valour was of no
avail when opposed to the discipline and the bravery of the mail-clad
Europeans. Thus, the country was soon subdued, and, in 1511, Sultan
Muhammad, with most of his relations and a few faithful followers, fled
to Pahang, which, at that time, was a dependency of Malacca. Here he
founded a new Dynasty, his descendants assuming the title of Bendahara,
and doing homage and owing allegiance to the Sultan of Daik, whose
kingdom, in its turn, has since fallen to the portion of the Dutch.

The people of Pahang were ever lawless, warlike folk, and the Malacca
_Rajas_, who seem to have been a mild enough set of people while in
their own country, speedily caught the infection from their
surroundings. Thus, from one generation to another, v