Tuesday 20 April 2010

Scenes from TRAPPED BY MALAYS (1907)

It's one of the novels that I was most looking forward to in the list I had posted earlier of English novels about this country that were written before the country was officially created. Maybe it's the title:

Trapped by Malays: A Tale of Bayonet and Kris is an adventure story aimed solidly at a young English audience a century ago, most of whom would never have been to Malaya.

I now have the book, and these are (rather fanciful, of course) images from it. Click to enlarge and read the captions:






And some extracts, all from the dialogue of white blokes:

"I think they [the natives] are untrustworthy. They dislike us for religious reasons as well as for taking possession of their country. and, in short, there are times when I can't help feeling that we are living on the slopes of a moral volcano which might burst forth at any moment." (pg 41)

"How are you going to get tight hold of a savage's tooth when you can see him ready to pull out his kris, and your hands are trembling like banana leaves in a storm?" (pg. 50)

"This long, narrow Malay peninsula is cut up into countries each ruled over by a petty Rajah, and these half-savage potentates are all as jealous of one another as can be." (pg 64)

Can't wait to read the whole thing. If you want to get the book, let me know and I'd be glad to be of service.

10 comments:

Fairul Nizam said...

Amir,

Bagaimanakah untuk mendapatkannya?

Amir Muhammad said...

Fairul!

Buku ni boleh dimuat-turun secara percuma di sini :-)

Ellen Whyte said...

Sounds like a Flashman story! E-text is available here: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21494

Zaini said...

Hi,

I would like to get a hold of them hard cover copy too.
Do buzz me up ya.

Many thanks.

Amir Muhammad said...

Zaini, I suggest you try here. Check to see which editions are on offer: some are new print-on-demand ones, others are the genuine old ones.

cinta / sepi / sayu said...

this is so very interesting. i'd love to get actual copy of one!

Unknown said...

Dang! Where can I get one of them "fierce Malays"? :) [tm04.jpg, page 307]

vovin said...

hahaha, interesting.

sarah said...

Cool facts!

Subashini said...

"How are you going to get tight hold of a savage's tooth when you can see him ready to pull out his kris, and your hands are trembling like banana leaves in a storm?"

Oh my god, that's like the best kind of overwrought racist colonialist poetry ever! Thanks for highlighting it... can't wait to go muat-turun the percuma version.