For administrative purposes Negri Sembilan is divided into five districts, viz., the Seremban district, the Coast district, Jelebu, Kuala Pilah and Tampin. Each of these is under the charge of a European district officer, who is responsible to the resident. The Yang-di-per-Tuan lives at Kuala Pilah. The hereditary chiefs of the various states aid in the government of their districts, and have seats upon the state council, over which the Yang-di-per Tuan presides. Port Dickson is a favourite pleasure resort.
The principal river of the state is the Pahang; i8omi. from the coast this river is formed by two others named the Jelai and the Tembeling. The former is joined 2omi. farther up stream by the Lipis, which has its rise in the mountains that form the boundary with Perak. The Jelai has its rise in a more northerly portion of this range, while its two principal tributaries above the mouth of the Lipis, the Telom and the Serau, rise, the one in the plateau which divides Perak from Pahang, the other in the hills which separate Pahang from Kelantan. The Tembeling has its rise in the hills which divide Pahang from Kelantan, but some of its tribu taries rise on the Trengganu frontier, while the largest of its con fluents comes from the hills in which the Kuantan river takes its rise. The Pahang is navigable for large boats as far as Kuala Lipis, 2oomi. from the mouth, and light-draught launches can get up to that point. Smaller boats can be taken some 8omi. higher up the Jelai and Telom. The river, however, as a waterway is of little use, since it is uniformly shallow. The Rompin and Kuantan rivers are somewhat more easily navigated for the first 3omi. of their course. But the waterways of Pahang are of little value. Gunong Tahan (7,184ft.) is situated on the boundary between Pahang and Kelantan. Pahang is covered almost entirely by
forest, but in the Lipis valley, which formerly was thickly popu lated, there is an expanse of open grass plain unlike anything to be seen on the western seaboard. The coast is a sandy beach fringed with casuarina trees and there are only a few patches of man grove-swamp.
In the 13th century Pahang was claimed as subject to Buddhist Palembang, in the 14th it (and Tiomen) as subject to Majapahit. Later came the modern Tai or Siamese influence. In the 15th century a sultan of Malacca captured its ruler and married his daughter. The captives could not speak Malay. After the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese its royal house provided rulers for Pahang until its last member was murdered in 1699. Thereafter Pahang fell under the suzerainty of the later rulers of Johore, who left a Bendahara in charge. An old court name for its capital was Indrapura. The title of the ruler of Pahang was Ben dahara until 1882, when Wan Ahmad, assumed the title of sultan.
Up to that time the Bendahara had been installed by the sultan of Riau, and held office by virtue of that authority. About 1855 the father of Wan Ahmad died at Pekan, and his elder son Bendahara Korish, who succeeded him, drove Wan Ahmad from the country. After making three unsuccessful attempts to de throne his brother, Wan Ahmad succeeded in 1865 in invading the state and wresting the throne from his nephew, who had suc ceeded Bendahara Korish some years earlier. In spite of two at tempts to shake his power by invasions from Selangor which were undertaken by his nephews Wan Aman and Wan Da, Bendahara Ahmad ruled with a rod of iron. In 1887 he consented to enter into a treaty with the governor of the Straits by which he ac cepted a consular agent at his court. This treaty was signed on Oct. 8, 1887. In the following year a Chinese British subject was murdered at Pekan in circumstances which pointed to the respon sibility of the sultan, and in Oct. 1888 a resident was appointed to assist the sultan in the administration of his country, that being, in the opinion of the British government, the only guarantee for the life and property of British subjects which it could accept. In Dec. 1891 disturbances broke out, the nominal leaders of which were certain of the trusted chiefs. The sultan took no part in the outbreak, but undoubtedly it had his sympathy. The rebels were driven to seek safety in flight in Nov. 1892, but in June 1894 they gathered strength for a second disturbance, and raided Pahang from Kelantan, in which state they had been given shelter.