Malay Sketches by Frank Swettenham (1896)
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Frank Swettenham gives us a vivid account of Malay life in the late 19th century. Mostly accounts of his residency in Perak, it reads more like a travel journal than an official, scientific or anthropological account, although it cannot be considered a travel journal. As Frank Swettenham himself states in his preface:
“This is not a book of travels, nor is it, in even the smallest sense, the record of a traveller’s experiences in a foreign land. It is a series of sketches of Malay scenery and Malay character drawn by one who has spent the best part of his life in the scenes and amongst the people described.
…The traveller will come in time, and he will publish his experiences of Malaya and the Malays; but while he may look upon the country with a higher appreciation and paint its features with a more artistic touch, he will see few of those characteristics of the people, none of that inner life which, I make bold to say, is here faithfully portrayed.”
“This is not a book of travels, nor is it, in even the smallest sense, the record of a traveller’s experiences in a foreign land. It is a series of sketches of Malay scenery and Malay character drawn by one who has spent the best part of his life in the scenes and amongst the people described.
…The traveller will come in time, and he will publish his experiences of Malaya and the Malays; but while he may look upon the country with a higher appreciation and paint its features with a more artistic touch, he will see few of those characteristics of the people, none of that inner life which, I make bold to say, is here faithfully portrayed.”