[*The months after my visit, Ah Loi received the Sultan of Selangor for
several days with great magnificence, and in July, 1880, he entertained
the Governor of the Straits Settlements and his suite with yet greater
splendor, erecting for the occasion a fine banqueting-hall with open
sides.]

Sir F. A. Weld writes of this visit--"At Kwala Lumpor, besides the
reception and a dinner at the Capitan China's, a Chinese theatrical
performance was given representing a sultan and great rajahs,
quarreling, but laying aside their quarrels on the appearance of a
'governor,' who pacifies the country. Addresses and odes were also sung
and recited to me from the stage, and the performers representing the
great personages prostrated themselves and made obeisances. The
dresses were all real hand-worked gold and silver embroidery on thick
silks of the richest colors. The princes were attended by their
warriors, some of whose helmets and arms were magnificent, with banners
and feather standards, and coats of arms, or their equivalents, borne
aloft by heralds; ladies also appeared, one a prima-donna, other
actresses rode hobby-horses, only the head of the woman and hobby-horse
being visible in the clouds of silk and gold. Jesters jested; and
tumblers, in blue, loose tunics and wide scarlet trousers, shot across
the stage when there was any room in front of the crowd of actors with
the rapidity of meteors. The pace was too great to be even sure that
they were human beings. I have seen Kean's Shakespearian revival
pageants formerly in London, but I never realized what a mediaeval
court pageant might have been till in the heart of the Malay Peninsula
I saw the most gorgeous combination of color and picturesque effect
that I have ever set eyes upon."]

Klang does not improve on further acquaintance. It looks as if half the