New volumes of the Encyclopædia Britannica > Volume 30, K-MOR

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M A L1YIR —M A L
Malays, exceeds 80,000. In former days Pahang was far more
thickly populated than in modern times, but the long succession of
civil wars which racked the land after the death of Bendahara Ali
caused thousands of Pahang Malays to fly the country. To-day
the valley of the Lebir river in Kelantan and the upper portions of
several rivers on the Perak and Selangor boundaries are inhabited
by Pahang Malays, the descendants of these fugitives. The
Pahang natives are almost all engaged in agriculture. The work
of the mines, &c., is performed by Chinese and foreign Malays. In
the Llpis valley the descendants of the Rawa Malays, who at one
time possessed the whole of the interior in defiance of the Pahang
rajas, still outnumber the people of the land.
The revenue of Pahang in 1899 amounted to only $62,077; in
1899 it was $300,000, and in 1900 had increased to $419,150.
The expenditure in 1900 amounted to $630,678.
Flnf'?Ced Pahang is still a source of expense to the federation,
and rade. pr0gress having been retarded by the disturbances
which lasted from December 1891 until 1895, with short intervals
of peace, but the revenue is now steadily increasing, and the
ultimate financial success of the state is considered to be secure.
Pahang owes something over $3,500,000 to Selangor, which has
financed it now for some years out of surplus revenue. The value
of the imports in 1900 was $973,405, that of the exports was
$2,322,950, thus making a total trade value of $3,295,355. The
most valuable export was gold, worth $680,000. The tin ore
exported amounted to 15,728 piculs.
The geological formation of the states lying to the eastward of
the main range of mountains which splits the peninsula in twain
. differs materially from that of the western states. At
enera . a distance of about a dozen miles from the summits of
the mountains the granite formation is replaced by slates, which in
many places are intersected by fissures of quartz, and in others are
overlaid by vast thicknesses of limestone. Those of the quartz
fissures which have been exploited are found to be auriferous, and
several European mining companies are now working these deposits
of gold with some success. The Raub mine, near the foot of
the mountains, is said to be likely to take rank as a fine
gold-mine, and there is every reason to believe that Pahang
possesses other gold-mines of equal value. These mines are
now being worked by electric power generated by water-power,
and transmitted by overhead wires for a distance of 7 miles. A
magnificent road over the mountains, with a ruling grade of 1 in
30, joins Kuala Lipis, the administrative capital of Pahang, to
Kuala Kubu, the nearest railway station in Selangor. The road
measures 82 miles in length. Pekan, where the sultan has his
residence, was the capital of Pahang until the middle of 1898,
when the administrative headquarters were transferred to the
interior as being more central. None of these towns is of any
size or importance. In the Kuantan valley, which lies parallel
to the Pahang river, a European company is working tin lodes
with considerable success. These lodes are the only mines of the
kind being worked in the Federated Malay States. Pahang is
fertile and well suited for agriculture of many kinds. The rainfall
is heavy and regular. The climate is cooler than that of the west
coast, and the full force of the monsoon is felt from October to
Februaiy in each year. For administrative purposes Pahang is
divided into four districts—Ulu Pahang, in which the present
capital is situated; Temerloh, which includes 80 odd miles of the
Pahang valley and the Semantan river ; Pekan, which includes the
coast rivers down to Endau; and Kuantan. Each of these is
under the charge of a district officer, who is responsible to the
Resident. The boundary with Johor and the Negri Sembilan wras
rectified by a commission which sat in London in 1897-98.
AuTHOPaxiES.—JimrftaZ of the Eastern Archipelago. Singapore.
—Journal of the Straits Branch of the Boyal Asiatic Society.
Singapore.—Maxwell. Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Insti¬
tute, vol. xxiii.—Swettenxiam. Ibid. vol. xxvii.—Clifford.
Ibid. vol. xxx. London, 1892,1895,1899.—Swettenham. About
Perak. Singapore, 1893 ; Malay Sketches. London, 1895. —
Clifford. In Court and Kampong. London, 1897 ; Studies in
Brown Humanity. London, 1898 ; In a Corner of Asia. London,
1899. —Swettenham. The Real Malay. London, 1899.—De la
Croix. Les Mines d’Etins de Perak. Paris, 1882.—Bluebook
C. 9524. London, 1899. — The Straits Directory. Singapore,
1900. (h. Cl.)
Malay! r, a small province of Persia, situated between
Hamadan and Bunijird. It has a population of about
70,000, and, together with the district Tusirkan, pays
a yearly revenue of about <£13,000. Its capital and seat
of government is Doletabad (Dowlet&Md), a thriving and
prosperous little city, with a population of about 5000,
situated, at an elevation of 5680 feet, 38 miles from
Hamadan and 32 miles from Burujird. It has post and
telegraph offices.
DIVE ISLANDS
Malchin, a town of Germany, grand-duchy of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, on the river Peene, between Lakes
Malchin and Kummerow, 28 miles by rail north-west of
Neu-Brandenburg. It is, alternately with Sternberg, the
place of assembly of the Mecklenburg Diet. Here are the
chateaux of Remplin, Basedow, and Schlitz; a 4th-century
church, and a large town hall. Population (1900), 7449.
Malda, a district of British India, in the Bhagalpur
division of Bengal. The administrative headquarters are
at English Bazar, near the town of Old Malda.
Area, 1902 square miles ; population (1881), 711,487 ; (1891),
814,919 ; (1901), 884,443, showing an increase of 15 per cent,
between 1881 and 1891, and of 8'5 between 1891 and 1901 ; aver¬
age density, 464 persons per square mile. Classified according to
religion, Hindus in 1891 numbered 409,136 ; Mahommedans,
384,651 ; Christians, 72, of whom 23 were Europeans ; “ others,”
21,060. The land revenue and rates in 1897-98 were Rs.4,66,863 ;
number of police, 278 ; number of boys at school (1896-97), 13,181,
being 22 per cent, of the male population of school-going age ;
registered death-rate (1897), 33 '6 per thousand. The two principal
industries are indigo and silk, but both are declining. There are
two indigo concerns, and four factories, employing about 3000
persons, with an out-turn of 1600 maunds, valued at Rs. 2,00,000 ;
and two silk filatures, employing 1000 persons, with an out-turn
of 50,000 lb, valued at Rs.3,00,000. No railway touches the
district, but the communications by water are good.
Malden, a city of Middlesex county, Massachusetts,
U.S.A., in the eastern part of the state. It is 5 miles
north of Boston, of which it is a suburb. Its plan is
irregular, it is divided into seven wards, it derives its
water supply from Spot Pond, and few of its streets are
paved. It is on the Boston and Maine Railroad. It is
largely a residential city, and its manufactures are not
extensive. In 1900 its manufacturing establishments
numbered 242, with a capital of $5,906,279. They em¬
ployed an average number of 3082 hands, and their product
had a value of $7,959,292. The assessed valuation of real
and personal property in 1900 was $27,287,540, the net
debt of the city was $1,522,944, and the rate of taxation
was $16-70 per $1000. Population (1880), 12,017;
(1890), 23,031 ; (1900), 33,664, of whom 9513 were
foreign-born and 446 were negroes. The death-rate in,
1900 was 14’4.
Maldive Islands, an archipelago in the Indian
Ocean, lying between 7° 6' N. and 0° 42' S. and 72°
33' and 73° 44' E. The group was again visited and
surveyed in 1899-1900 by Mr J. Stanley Gardiner and
Mr C. Forster Cooper, who found that as many as 300
of the atolls were at that time inhabited. The natives, who
are estimated at about 30,000 Mahommedans, are classed
by these observers in four ethnological divisions. 1. Those
of the northern atolls, which are separated from the rest
by the Kardiva channel, 35 miles broad and exposed to
strong cross-currents during the monsoons. Here the
reefs are less perfect, seldom forming complete central
lagoons, and as they were formerly exposed to the constant
attacks of the Mopillah pirates from India, the people are
hardier and more vigorous than their less warlike southern
neighbours. They annually visited the coasts of India or
Ceylon, concluded treaties with the rajahs against the
corsairs, and often married Indian wives, thus acquiring
distinct racial characters of an approximately Dravidian
type. 2. Those of the central division, comprising ten
atolls crowded together between North Male and Haddu-
mati, who are under the direct rule of the sultan, and
have been more exposed to Arab influences. They for¬
merly traded with Arabia and Malaysia, and many Arabs
settled amongst them, so that they betray a strong strain
of Semitic blood in their features. 3 and 4. The natives
of Suvadiva, Addu, Mulaku, and the other southern clusters,
who have had little communication with the Central Male