alliance
and friendship. It is not, perhaps, generally known that, as late as
1826, Perak was in the habit of sending a similar gift to Siam, and that
the British Government bound itself not to restrain the Sultan of Perak
from continuing this practice if he had a mind to do so. From this it
would seem that there is some grounds for the contention of Trengganu
and Kelantan that the _bunga amas_ is a purely voluntary gift, sent as a
token of friendship to a more powerful State, with which the sender
desires to be on terms of amity. Be this how it may, it is certain that
Sultan Mansur of Trengganu, who first sent the _bunga amas_ to Siam in
1776, did so, not in compliance with any demand made by the Siamese
Government, but because he deemed it wise to be on friendly terms with
the only race in his vicinity which was capable, in his opinion, of
doing him a hurt.

Direct interference in the Government of Kelantan and Trengganu has been
more than once attempted by the Siamese, during the last few years,
strenuous efforts having been made to increase their influence on the
East Coast of the Peninsula, since the visit of the King of Siam to the
Malay States in 1890. In Trengganu, all these endeavours have been of no
avail, and the Siamese have abandoned several projects which were
devised in order to give them a hold over this State. In Kelantan,
internal troubles have aided Siamese intrigues, the present _Raja_ and
his late brother both having so insecure a seat upon their thrones that
they readily made concessions to the Siamese in order to purchase their
support. Thus, at the present time, the flag of the White Elephant
floats at the mouth of the Kelantan river on State occasions, though the
administration of the country is still entirely in the hands of the
_Raja_ and his Chiefs.

The methods of Malay rulers, when they are unchecked by extraneous
influences, are very curious; and those who desire to see the Malay
_Raja_ and the Malay _raayat_ in their natural condition, must nowadays
study life on the East Coast. Nowhere else has the Malay been so little
changed by the advancing years, and those who are only acquainted with
the West Coast and its people, as they are to-day, will find much to
learn when they visit the Eastern sea-board.

Until British interference changed the conditions which existed in
Pahang, that country was the best type of an independent Malay State in
the Peninsula, and much that was to be seen and