British Malaya; An Account of the Origin and Progress of British Influence in Malaya

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III PINANG? EARLY HISTORY? LORD MINTO'S EXPEDITION TO JAVA the disappearance of Malacca, as a serious commercial rival, and the rise of Singapore to the position of first importance in Malaya, a good many things happened to which reference must be made for a proper comprehension of succeeding events. Of these happenings the chiefest was the occupation of Pinang in 1786. Let it be remembered that, at that date, the Dutch were still in possession of Malacca, and we had no foothold in the Straits. Our nearest station was Bencoolen, on the east coast of Sumatra. Now Bencoolen, where the East India Company founded a trading station in 1684, is only notable for two incidents in a long but inglorious existence. Its chief value to the Company was that it became a centre for the collection of pepper, and the directors in London wrote to their agent at Bencoolen desiring that the cultivation of white pepper should be encouraged to the exclusion of the black variety. The Board was blissfully ignorant of the fact that the vine produces pepper, and whether it goes to the market black or white depends on whether it is gathered before or after the fruit has ripened. This was pointed out to the authorities in Leadenhall Street, and for a time they were very considerate to their representative in Bencoolen. But they had their revenge. A serious shortage was discovered in the stock of silver dollars stored in the Bencoolen Trea- sury, and the agent reported that, after full inquiry, the loss could only be ascribed to the ravages of white ants. When next the Company had occasion to send stores to Bencoolen they included a parcel of steel files, and, being asked what they were for, the Board replied that they should be used to file the teeth of the white ants! The Honourable East...

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