Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Six Months Among the Malays: And a Year in China
WE had scarcely anchored in the Straits of Ma lacca, when our ship (the Syren) was surrounded by a crowd of light Malay vessels called pirogues these little, Indian boats are formed from the trunk of a tree, and their crew consisted of small, thin men, well formed, but completely yellow: with the exception of a very scanty garment covering the upper part of the thighs, and passing over the hips, these children of the sea are entire ly naked their harsh, black hair, is either cover ed with a simple handkerchief, or a bamboo hat as large as a parasol, and their countenances de note great resolution and intelligence although the eyes are small, there is a quick, bold expres sion about them, which at once prepossesses one in their favour. I could not help feeling a strong sympathy for these brave Malays, who have been represented by some nations, as a malicious and deceitful race of beings. When Visiting the Cape of Good Hope, and Bourbon, I had frequently B. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
