(From the 1892 G.P. Putnam's Sons edition.)
PREFACE
In presenting to the public the last installment 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 estimate
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
criticism, 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 beautiful and little-traveled region, with which the majority of
educated people are so little acquainted that it is constantly
confounded with the Malay Archipelago, but which is practically under
British rule, and is probable 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 useful.* The map by Mr. Daly is the result
of the most recent surveys, and is published here by permission of the
Royal Geographical Society.
[*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."]
As I traveled under official auspices, and was entertained 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
on 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
or 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 beside the remarkably contradictory statements
of the few resident Europeans and my own observations, I had little to
help me, and realized every day how much truth there is in the dictum of
Socrates - "The body is a hindrance to acquiring knowledge, and sight and
hearing are not to be trusted."*
[*Phaedo of Plato.
