er,
they did not become the followers of the chief who owned the population
amongst whom they settled, but remained subject to their former lord,
who had the right of following them and collecting from them his taxes
as before. It is only of quite recent years, imitating the example of
the English in Labuan, where all the land was assumed to be the property
of the Sovereign and leased to individuals for a term of years, that the
nobles have, in some instances, put forward a claim to ownership of the
land on which their followers chose to settle, and have endeavoured to
pose as semi-independent princes. These feudal chiefs tax, or used to
tax, their followers in proportion to their inability to resist their
lords' demands. A poll tax, usually at the rate of $2 for married men
and $1 for bachelors, is a form of taxation to which, in the absence of
any land tax, no objection is made, but the chiefs had also the power of
levying special taxes at their own sweet will, when they found their
expenditure in excess of their income, and advantage was taken of any
delay in payment of taxes, or of any breach of the peace, or act of
theft occurring in a district, to impose excessive fines on the
delinquents, all of which if paid went to the chief; and if the fine
could not be paid, the defaulter's children might be seized and
eventually sold into slavery. The system of "forced trade" I have
alluded to when speaking on the subject of domestic slavery. The chiefs
were all absentees and, while drawing everything they could out of their
districts, did nothing for their wretched followers. The taxes were
collected by their messengers and slaves, unscrupulous men who were paid
by what they could get out of the people in excess of what they were
bidden to demand, and who, while engaged in levying the contributions,
lived at free quarters on the people, who naturally did their best to
expedite their departure. Petty cases of dispute were settled by headmen
appointed by the chief and termed _orang kaya_, literally "rich men."
These _orang kayas_ were often selected from their possessing some
little property and being at the same time subservient to the chief. In
many cases, it seemed to me, that they were chosen for their superior
stupidity and pliability. I have made use of the past tense throughout
my description of these feudal chiefs as, happily, for reasons already
given, the "good old times" are rapidly passing away.

The laws of Bruna