Hassan is a perfect gentleman in manner, and in that silk jacket of his and handsome sarong he really looks like a prince.

I could not help thinking that all of us looked poor creatures by his side." "They certainly cannot be called savages, though from our point of view many of their customs are of a very savage nature.

Piracy is very general among those living on the seacoast or on the great rivers; but it must be remembered that it is not so very many centuries ago that a toll was demanded of all passersby by the barons having castles on the Rhine and other navigable rivers; the crews of wrecked ships were plundered on every coast of Europe, our own included, not so very long ago; and in the days of Elizabeth, Drake and Hawkins were regarded by the Spaniards as pirates of the worst class, and I fear that there was a good deal of justice in the accusation.

But the Malays are people with a history; they believe themselves that they were the original inhabitants of the island of Sumatra; however, it is certain that in the twelfth century they had extended their rule over the whole of that island and many of its neighbors, and in the thirteenth had established themselves on this peninsula and had founded an empire extending over the greater part of the islands down to the coast of Australia.

They had by this time acquired the civilization of India, and their sultans were powerful monarchs.