Golden Chersonese
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Tb~ Gol~~1 Ub~rsol~s~ Even in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, Isabella Bird, by then an established travel writer, was able to refer to the Malay Peninsula as an almost unknown land. Travelling back from Japan, the intrepid travel writer stopped off in Singapore where the British Colonial Secretary offered her the opportunity to visit the native states of the Western Archipelago. Because she had such a good introduction, she went and was taken everywhere by local officials. And so Miss Bird's journey was less rugged than her many other trips but, rather more comfortable and well connected, she enjoyed it immensely. Isabella Lucy Bird was perhaps the most prolific and popular female traveller and writer of the 19th century. THE ROUTLEDGE TRAVELLERS SERIES A Year Amongst the Persians • Edward Granville Browne Constantinople and Istanbul Old and New • H. G. Dwight Tahiti • George Calderon Cruise of the Snark • Jack London In the South Seas • Robert Louis Stevenson Six Months in Hawaii • Isabella Bird Korea and Her Neighbours • Isabella Bird Strolling Through Istanbul • H. Sumner-Boyd and f. Freely Camp Life and Sport in Dalmatia and the Herzegovina • Anonymous Quest for Sheba· Norman Stone Pearn and Vernon Barlow An English Consul in Siam • W. A. R. Wood A Summer in Touraine • Frederic Lees The Golden Chersonese • Isabella Bird South Sea Idyls • Charles Warren Stoddard Unbeaten Tracks in Japan • Isabella Bird Hawaii: The Past, Present and Future of its Island Kingdom • Gerald Manly Hopkins The Goldel Uhersolese Singapore, Malacca, Singei, Ujong, Selengor, Penang and Perak Isabella Lucy Bird ~l Routledge i ~ Taylor & Francis Group LONDON AND NEW YORK First published in 2004 by Kegan Paul International This edition first published in 20 II by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OXI4 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © Kegan Paul, 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 10: 0-7103-0933-3 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-7103-0933-4 (hbk) Publisher's Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. The publisher has made every effort to contact original copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace. THIS VOLUME IS REVEREN1'LY AND SORROWFULLY DEDICATED. PREFACE. IN presenting to the public the last instalment of my travels in the Far East, in 1879, I desire to offer, both to my readers and critics, my grateful acknowledgments for the kindness with which my letters from Japan were received, and to ask for an equally kind and lenient esti mate of my present volume, which has been prepared for publication under the heavy shadow of the loss of the beloved and only sister to whom the letters of which it consists were written, and whose able and careful criti cism, as well as loving interest, accompanied my former volumes through the press. It is by her wish that this book has received the title of the" Golden Chersonese," a slightly ambitious one; and I must at once explain that my letters treat of only its western portion, for the very sufficient reason that the interior is unexplored by Europeans, half of it being actually so little known that the latest map gives only the position of its coast-line. I hope, however, that my book will be accepted as an honest attempt to make a popular contribution to the sum of knowledge of a beauti ful and little-travelled region, with which the majority of educated people are so little acquainted that it is con stantly confounded with the Malay Archipelago, but which viii PREFACE. is practically under British rule, and is probably destined to afford increasing employment to British capital and enterprise. The introductory chapter, and the explanatory chapters on Sungei Ujong, Selangor, and Perak, contain information of a rather more solid character than is given in my sketches of travel, and are intended to make the letters more intelligible and usefuU The map by Mr. Daly is the result of the most recent surveys, and is published here by permission of the Royal Geographical Society. As I travelled under official auspices, and was enter tained at the houses of officials everywhere, I feel it to be due to my entertainers to say that I have carefully abstained from giving their views on any subjects 011 which they may have uttered them in the ease of friendly intercourse, except in two or three trivial instances, in which I have quoted them as my authorities. The opinions expressed are wholly my own, whether right 0]' wrong, and I accept the fullest responsibility for them. For the sketchy personal descriptions which are here and there given, I am sure of genial forgiveness from my friends in the Malay Peninsula, and from them also I doubt not that I shall receive the most kindly allowance, if, in spite of carefulness, I have fallen into mistakes. In writing to my sister my first aim was accuracy, and my next to make her see what I saw, but besides the remarkably contradictory statements of the few resident Europeans and my own observations, I had little to help 1 These chapters are based upon sundry reports and other official papers, and I have largely drawn upon those storehouses of accurate and valuable information, Newbold's British Settlements in Malacca, and Crawfurd's Dictionary of the Indian Islands. PREFACE. ix me, and realised every day how much truth there is in the dictum of Socrates-I< The body is a hindrance to acquiring knowledge, and sight and hearing are not to be trusted."l This volume is mainly composed of my actual letters, unaltered except by various omissions and some corrections as to matters of fact. The interest of my visits to the prison and execution ground of Canton, and of my glimpses of Anamese villages, may, I hope, be in some degree com municated to my readers, even though Canton and Saigon are on the beaten track of travellers. I am quite aware that I< Letters" which have not received any literary dress are not altogether satisfactory either to author or reader, for the author sacrifices artistic arrangement and literary merit, and the reader is apt to find himself involved among repetitions and a multipli city of minor details, treated in a fashion which he is inclined to term" slipshod;" but, on the whole, I think that descriptions written on the spot, even with their disadvantages, are the best mode of making the reader travel with the traveller, and share his first impressions in their original vividness. With these explanatory remarks I add my little volume to the ever-growing library of the literature of travel. I. L. B. FEBRUARY 1883. 1 Phredo of Plato. Chapter x. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. The Aurea OhersonesU8-The Conquest of Malacca-The Straits Settle ments-The Configuration of the Peninsula-A Terra Incognita-The Monsoons-Products of the Peninsula-The great Vampire-Beasts and Reptiles - Malignant and harmless Insects - Land and Water Birds-Traditions of Malay Immigration-Wild and Civilised Races -Kafirs-The Samangs and Orangoutan-Characteristics of the Jakuns-Babas and Sinkehs-The Malay Physiognomy-Language and Literature-Malay Poetry and Music-Malay Astronomy-Edu cation and Law - Malay Sports - Domestic Habits - Weapons Slavery and Debt BOlldage-Government- CI No Information_" Pages 1-27 LETTER I. The Steamer Volga-Days of Darkness-First View of Hongkong-Hong kong on Fire-Apathy of the Houseless-The Fit'e breaks out again -An Eclipse of Gaiety 28-34 LETTER II. A Delightful Climate-Imprisoned Fever Germs -" Pidjun " English Hongkong Harbour-Prosperity of Hongkong-Rampageous Crimi nal Classes-Circumspice ! 35-41 LETTER III. The s.s. Kin Kiang-First view of Canton-The Island of Shameen England in Canton-The Tartar City-Drains and Barricades-Can ton at Night-Street Picturesqueness-Ghastly Gifts-Oriental En chantments-The Examination Hall 42-52 xii CONTENTS. LETTER IV. " Faithful unto Death "_" Foreign Devils "-Junks and Boats-Chinese Luxury-Canton Afloat-An Al Fresco Lunch-Light and Colour A mundane Disappointment-Street Sights and Sounds-Street Cos tume-Food and Restaul'ants-A Marriage Procession-Temples and Worship-Crippled Feet . Pages 53-66 LETTER IV.-(Continued.) Outside the Naam-hoi Prison-The Punishment of the Cangue-Crime and. Misery-A Birthday Banquet-I< Prisoners and Captives" Prison Mortality-Cruelties and Iniquities-The Porch of the Man darin-The Judgment-Seat-The Precincts of the Judgment-Seat An Aged Claimant-Instruments of Punishment-The Question by Torture 67-79 LETTER IV.-(Continued.) The" Covent Garden" of Canton-Preliminaries of Execution-A Death Procession-The "Field of Bloot! "-" The Death of the Cross" A Fair Comparison 80-85 LETTER V. Portuguese Missionaries - A Chinese Hospital-Chinese Anresthetics Surgery and Medicine - Ventilation and Cleanliness - A Chinese " Afternoon Tea"- A new Inspiration . 86-92 LETTER VI. A Cochin-China River-The Ambition of Saigon-A French Colonial Metropolis-European Life in Saigon-A Cochin-Chinese Village "Afternoon Tea" in Choquan-Anamese Children-Anamite Costume -Anamite River-Dwellings-An Amphibious Population-An Unsuc cessful Colony-" With the Big Toe "-Three Persecuting Kings Saigon 93-106 LETTER VII.