slavery added to the miseries of the country, and it is believed that
by emigration and other causes the Malay population was reduced to
between two thousand and three thousand souls.

Only one event in the recent history of Selangor deserves notice. This
miserable ruler, Sultan Mohammed, had no legitimate offspring, but it
was likely that at his death his near relation, Tuanku Bongsu, a Rajah
universally liked and respected by his countrymen, would have been
elected to succeed him. Unfortunately for the good of the State this
Rajah took upon himself the direction of the tin mines at Lukut,
formerly worked by about four hundred Chinese miners on their own
account, paying a tenth of their produce to the Sultan. One dark, rainy
night in September, 1834, these miners rose upon their employers,
burned their houses, and massacred them indiscriminately, including
this enlightened Rajah; and his wife and children, in attempting to
escape, were thrown into the flames of their house. The plunder
obtained by the Chinese, exclusive of the jewels and gold ornaments of
the women, was estimated at 3,500 pounds. This very atrocious business
was believed to have been aided and abetted, if not absolutely
concocted, by Chinese merchants living under the shelter of the British
flag at Malacca. With the death of Tuanku Bongsu all hope of
prosperity for Selangor under native rule was extinguished.

Matters became very bad in the years between 1867 and 1873, the
fighting among the rival factions leading to a more complete
depopulation of the country, not only by the loss in party fights, but
by the exodus of peaceable cultivators. Lawlessness increased to such
an extent that murders and robberies were of continual occurrence. Mr.
Swettenham, the Assistant Colonial Secretary, affirms that it is hardly
an exaggeration to say that every man above twenty years old had killed