This would be specially the case in a
trading people like the Malays; their ships would bring over girls
purchased in India, just as the ruling classes in Turkey used to
obtain their wives from Circassia; and this, no doubt, has helped
to modify the original Malay type."
"Thank you, Doctor; I think I shall like the Malays now I know
something about them. Is it true that they are so treacherous?"
"I don't know, Parkhurst; doubtless they are treacherous in their
wars; that is to say that they consider any means fair to deceive
an enemy; but I do not think that they are so, beyond that. The
Dutch have never had any very great difficulty with them, nor have
we in the portion of the peninsula where we have established our
rule. Of course, I know little about them myself, as I have only
been out here a few months; but I am told that as traders they can
be trusted, and that the word of a Malay chief can be taken with
absolute confidence. Of course, among the majority of the people of
the peninsula we are regarded with jealousy and hostility--they
dread that we should extend our dominion over them, and it is not
surprising that they should by every means in their power strive
to prevent our coming far inland. The chiefs on the rivers are, as
a rule, specially hostile.
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