The Perak river runs in a southerly direction almost parallel with the coast for nearly 150 m. of its course. The Plus, Batang, Padang and Kinta rivers are its principal tributaries, all of them falling into the Perak on its left bank. The other principal rivers of the state are the Krian, Kurau, Larut and Bruas to the north of the mouth of the. Perak, and the Bernam to the south. None of these rivers is of importance as a waterway. The mountain ranges, which cover a considerable area, run from the north-east to the south-west. They are all thickly covered with jungle. The ranges are two, the main range and the Bintang range, with the valley of the Perak between them. There are several hill sanatoria at heights which vary from 2,500 to 4,700 ft. above sea-level.
History.—The early history of Perak is obscure. According to Malay accounts a settlement was first made by Malays in Perak at Bruas, and the capital was later moved to the banks of the Perak river. It would appear as if members of the great Benda haras of Malacca married into the Bruas family and were con cerned in the early settlements. When the Malacca sultanate fell, owing to the invasion of the Portuguese in 1511, a member of that royal house is said to have migrated to Perak, and the present dynasty claims descent from him. What is certain is that Perak was twice invaded by the Achinese, and its rulers carried off into captivity, one of them, Sultan Mansur Shah, becoming ruler of Achin. The first European settlement in Perak was made by the Dutch in 1650, under a treaty entered into with the Achinese, but the natives rose against the Dutch again and again, and it was abandoned in 1783, though it was afterwards reoccupied, the Dutch being finally supplanted by the British in 1795. In 1818 the Siamese conquered Perak, but its independence was secured by a treaty between the British and Siamese governments in 1824. From that date until 1874 Perak was ruled by its own sultans, but in that year, owing to internal strife, Sultan Abdullah applied to the then governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Andrew Clarke, for a British Resident. The treaty of Pangkor was concluded on Jan. 20, 1874. The first resident, J. W. W. Birch, however, was murdered on Nov. 2, 1875 and a punitive expedition became nec essary ; sultan Abdullah and the other chiefs concerned in the murder were banished ; the actual murderers were hanged ; Raja.
Muda Yusuf was declared regent. He died in 1888, and was suc ceeded by the sultan Idris, G.C.M.G., a most enlightened ruler, who was from the first a strong and intelligent advocate of Brit ish methods of administration. Sir Hugh Low was appointed resi dent, a position which he held until 1889, when he was succeeded by Sir Frank Swettenham. Since then the history of Perak has
been one of peace, prosperity and wealth. Although the federal capital is Kuala Lumpor in Selangor, Perak still enjoys the honour of being the senior and leading state of the federation.
By the census of 1891 the population of Perak was shown to be : Europeans, 366; Eurasians, Jews and Armenians, 293 ; Ma lays, 96,719; Chinese 94,345; Tamils, 13,086; aborigines, 5,779; other nationalities, 3,666; making a grand total of 214,254, of whom 156,408 were males and 57,846 were femmes. The popula tion in 1921 was 600,000, of whom over 200,000 were Chinese, 130,000 Indians and 240,000 were Malays.
The revenue of Perak in 1874 amounted to $226,333. That for 1926 amounted to Of this sum $10,658,938 was de rived from duty on exported tin, and $2,571,201 from land reve nue. The remainder is mainly derived from forests, excise, fees of court and office, and the government chandu monopoly. The expenditure for 1926 amounted to $38,270,882. The value of the imports into Perak during 1926 was $194,734,279, and that of the exports just under $6o,000,000. The output of tin from Perak ranged between 18,960 tons, valued at $23,099,506 in 1899, and 29,890 tons, value $72,624,863, in 1926. The output has been af fected from time to time by the price of tin, which was $32.20 per pikul in 1896, rose to $42.96 in 1898, to $74.15 in 190o, averaged $80.60 in 1905, $15o in 1920, $81 in 1922, $101 in 1923, $144 in 1926. Exclusive of tin, the principal exports were $105, 853,407 worth of para rubber, $8,905,033 of copra, and $498719 of rice. Agricultural development advanced with the planting of rubber, and the fertility of the soil, the steady and regular rain fall, the excellent means of communication, and the natural and artificial conditions of the country, justify the expectation that the future of Perak as an agricultural country will be prosperous.
Although so much has been done to develop Perak, a large por tion of the state is still covered by dense forest. In 1926 it was calculated that under 1 million acres of land were occupied or cul tivated out of a total acreage of 6.400,00o. A line of railway con nects the port of Teluk Anson with the great mining district of Kinta, whence the line runs, crossing the Perak river at Enggor, to Kuala Kangsar, the residence of the sultan, thence to Taiping, the administrative capital of the state, and via Krian to a point opposite to the island of Penang. A second line runs south from Perak to Singapore. Perak also possesses some 88o miles of ex cellent metalled cart-road, and the length of completed road is annually increasing.