Lawatan Residen Selangor: Dari Rantau Panjang ke Jeram (1894)

Dirujuk oleh

Hutan Simpan Bukit Cherakah (1909-Kini)

Kronologi

Lakaran kasar perjalanan rombongan Residen Selangor dari Rantau Panjang ke Jeram (1894), berdasarkan peta tahun 1904. Garis biru: perjalanan melalui sungai. Garis kuning: perjalanan melalui jalan darat. Angka merah (mengikut turutan kronologi): Hentian perjalanan (Sumber lakaran: Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle, 26 April 1894, Page 3: |"NOTES OF THE RESIDENT'S VISITS TO DISTRICTS IN SELANGOR, 1894"; Sumber peta: Edinburgh Geographical Institute, 1904 @ Yale University Library - Digital Collections: |"Selangor, Federated Malay States, 1904 / John Bartholomew & Co ; W.T. Wood, chief draftman").

Bil	Hentian	Catatan Kolonial (1894)
1	Rantau Panjang	“Rantau Panjang is a small riverside kampong of eight houses of Pahang and Selangor Malays and a few Sakeis, just off the proposed Rawang-Kuala Selangor road. On the opposite side to the village, Government has constructed a Rest House, which is occasionally used. From this village to Batang Berjuntai is a footpath, three miles in length, forming a portion of the bridle-road to Rawang, which is now being converted into a cart-road.” Terjemahan: “Kampung Rantau Panjang terletak di tebing sungai dan mempunyai lapan buah rumah milik orang Melayu Pahang dan Melayu Selangor, serta beberapa rumah orang asli tidak jauh dari Jalan Rawang-Kuala Selangor yang baru dicadangkan pembinaannya. Di bahagian bertentangan dengan kampung ini terdapat Rumah Rehat Kerajaan yang sekalisekala digunakan. Dari kampung ini terdapat laluan pejalan kaki menuju ke Batang Berjuntai sepanjang tiga batu yang menjadi sebahagian jalan berkuda ke Rawang dan kini menjadi sebahagian jalan pedati.”
2	Batang Berjuntai	“Proceeding down stream at daybreak, Batang Berjuntai was reached at 7 a.m., and here the Resident was met by the District Officer, Mr. G. Bellamy, and Mr. Spearing, District Engineer. The number of durian and other fruit trees shew that Batang Berjuntai was once a somewhat flourishing kampong; it was abandoned during the disturbances between Raja Mahdi and Tunku dia Udin's parties some fifty years ago. The village is on the Rawang-Kuala Selangor Road, 13 1/4 miles from Kuala Selangor and about 18 miles from Rawang; it was reopened about a year ago; possesses a Police Station, with a haltingroom for travellers, and Barracks. The newly appointed Penghulu, Raja Jalil, has, contrary to ancient Malay practice, selected a pretty site for his house on a hill over-hanging the river. A number of Kelantan and other Malays under Che Mat, now styled Datoh Dagang, have taken up land for padi and coffee, and an enterprising Chinaman has applied for and is opening 100 acres of land, with Liberian Coffee, alongside the road. It is hoped that under the fostering care of Mr. G. Bellamy and with the aid of the new cart-road the former glories of Batang Berjuntai may be revived and be surpassed. The Penghulu, Raja Jalil, is an old fighting man and formerly served on the side of Tunku dia Udin, holding a fort at Kuala Garing, where he was unfortunate enough to blow away most of the fingers of his right hand.”
3	Kampong Asahan	“The Resident's party continued their journey down stream at 9 a.m., but, soon meeting with the incoming tide, the influence of which extends as far as five miles below Batang Berjuntai, progress became slow and they were glad to change into the District Officer's well-appointed boat and rowed to Kampong Asahan, an old settlement of Selangor Malays, who, with padi, cultivate a few sago trees, the pith of which they extract by a rude rasp, instead of by means of bambu hatchet in vogue in Borneo and Sarawak, the great sago producing countries, which latter is a much more expeditious process.”
4	Pasangan	“A walk of half a mile along a rough path, on which tiger tracks were visible, brought the party to the Rawang-Kuala Selangor Road, at the 7 1/4 mile from Kuala Selangor, in the mukim of Pasangan, the Penghulu of which is Raja Jaffar, an aged chief, whose time for retiring on pension is at hand and whose age is shewn by the lack of go and absence of cultivation in his district. He was, on the Resident's arrival, away on an elephant hunt.” CATATAN: SK Pasangan di Kampung Kuantan kini, telah dibuka pada tahun 1892 (SK Pasangan, 12 Februari 2014: \| "SENARAI NAMA GURU BESAR SK PASANGAN 1892 - 2014"; rabhatun.teja.215, 8 Mac 2024: "Buku Pengurusan dan Takwim, Sesi Persekolahan 2024/2025").
5	Kuala Selangor	“A short visit was paid to the Pasangan school and the travellers then settled down to a hot walk of 5 1/2 miles to Kuala Selangor, along a straight, flat and monotonous road, through an open and extensive plain, a portion of Telok Peniamun, which appeared to be bounded only by the horizon, and which will accomodate more rice cultivators than can probably be prevailed upon to migrate into Selangor for many years to come. Formerly the greater portion of tin produced in Ulu Selangor was exported via the Selangor River, a distance of some 100 miles, and Kuala Selangor, where it was shipped on board steamers for Singapore and Penang; but as the Kuala Lumpur Railway extends towards Kuala Kubu it is gradually attracting the freight, and the Rawang Kuala Selangor cart road is being pushed on with a view of compensating this District for the loss of the tin business by providing an outlet for its products, such as dried fish and prawns, padi, rice, rice, plantains and cocoanuts, for which there is a demand in the Ulu mining districts. It is an experiment, but it is a hopeful sign that of late years the export of local produce to Ulu Selangor by the long route up the river has been steadily increasing. The traffic on the river is carried in Malay and Chinese boats, running from two to four koyans burden. The voyage up river takes from five to ten days when the river is flooded, and the charge is $22 a koyan. The down voyage can be done in two or three days and the freight is 80 cents a bhara. In dealing with people with whom cheapness is everything and time very little, the railway authorities will have to pay attention to their freight charges if they wish to secure all the traffic now on the river. One thing, at any rate, the road will accomplish - it will give the District of Kuala Selangor through road communication with the capital, Kuala Lumpur, by no very circuitous route, drain the low country through which it passes, rendering it available for the native rice and coffee planters, and attract population. Kuala Selangor was reached at 4.30 p.m., and the tea prepared for the party by Mr. Cope, the Assistant District Officer, was found extremely welcome.” CATATAN: Rujukan lokasi: Peta Kuala Selangor tahun 1945 (Great Britain. Royal Air Force. Central Intelligence Unit, 1945 @ National Library of Australia digitised item: \|"Kuala Selangor [cartographic material] / compiled and drawn by A.C.I.U. and War Office").
6	Api Api	“The next morning the Resident, Mr. Spooner, Mr. G. Bellamy, Mr. Cope and Mr. Spearing started off on foot, at 7 a.m., along the unmetalled, but nearly completed, 18-ft road to Klang, which is 28 1/2 miles in length. Raja Dolah, Penghulu of Jeram, Imam Prang Perkasa Penghulu of Kuala Selangor, the Datoh Dagang and the Penghulu of Panchang Pedina accompanied the party. About the 4th mile Penghulu Haji Ahmat, of the Api-Api Mukim, and the Datoh Dagang met the Resident and conducted him to a pondok specially erected to give a good view of 100 acres of capital padi land newly opened and carrying a rich crop, thanks to the assistance rendered to the villagers by Government in procuring buffaloes. This land has been brought under cultivation by the Kelantan families introduced in 1893 by Che Mat, since appointed by H.H. the Sultan to be Datoh Dagan, and who is referred to in the previous remarks on Batang Berjuntai. The use of buffaloes in turning up the soil on padi lands is well known, and the absence of these useful animals in this District, ever since the civil disturbances many years ago, acts as a drag on padi cultivation, and might be remedied by judicious assistance by the Sultan.”
7	Asam Jawa	“A little further on, the agricultural track and drain from Bukit Rotan, made by a colony of Javanese coffee planters, was passed, and, after short visit to the Penghulu's house, the school at Asam Jawa, five miles from Kuala Selangor, was inspected by the Resident and the District Officer, and tiffin partaken of at the schoolmaster's quarters.” CATATAN: SK Assam Jawa dibuka pada tahun 1892 (SK ASSAM JAWA: \|"Sejarah Sekolah").
8	Sungei Buloh (“Bulu River”)	“Meanwhile Mr. Spooner had proceeded to the Bulu River in quest of crocodiles, of which he secured three good specimens. After luncheon the journey was resumed across the Bulu River, and a detour made to the fishing village at the Kuala, where resides the Rawai Fishing Farmer, in whose kongsi were stored strange skins of sharks, thornbacks, rays and swordfish. It is in contemplation by the District Officer to remove to the roadside at Sungie Bulu the Chinese shops and the Police station from Jeram. Further, on the main road, a short branch path took the party to a picturesque and comfortable halting bungalow, with stables, built by the P.W.D. in 1893, at a cost of $1,200. Returning to the main road, a very extensive tract of padi was traversed. In this part of the District and extending into that of Klang is a large area of land which, probably, could without difficulty be irrigated and converted into rich padi land, use being made of the upper waters of the Bulu River, which has its source near Kuang, in Ulu Selangor. The real difficulty would be to find the population to till the land so prepared. Kuala Selangor is not so fortunately placed as the Perak padi district which it resembles - Krian - which, lying alongside an old padi district, Province Wellesley, and Kedah, easily attracts colonists across its borders as the Government extends its roads, drainage, and water gates. Foreign Malays are, however, coming into the District yearly in increasing numbers, without direct Government assistance, and the District Officer is sanguine that 1894 will shew almost quadruple the quantity of padi harvested as compared with the yield of 1893.”
9	Jeram	“Jeram, a coast fishing village of Malays and Chinese under Penghuli Raja Dolah, 9 1/2 miles from Kuala Selangor, was reached at 2.30 p.m. and after an inspection of the vernacular school, which has over 100 boys enrolled, and the Police Station, and a visit to the Penghulu's family, the party put off to the G.S.Y. Esmeralda, which had come round to meet them. It may here be noted that the fishing industry of Kuala Selangor is one of considerable importance and its development yearly increasing. The Government revenue from this source in 1893 reached the sum of $8,000. For fresh fish and prawns the principal market is Kuala Lumpur. Enterprising Chinese obtain ice at the Port of Klang, load it in boats, visit the chief fishing centres on the coast, pack the fish in ice, return to Klang and send their ice-packed fish to the market at Kuala Lumpur by rail, 22 miles.”