Each study in this volume presents some idea, illustrated by a fact told
without artifice, but with an elective sureness of knowledge. The story
of Tukang Burok's love, related in the old man's own words, conveys the
very breath of Malay thought and speech. In "His Little Bill," the
coolie, Lim Teng Wah, facing his debtor, stands very distinct before us,
an insignificant and tragic victim of fate with whom he had quarrelled to
the death over a matter of seven dollars and sixty-eight cents. The
story of "The Schooner with a Past" may be heard, from the Straits
eastward, with many variations. Out in the Pacific the schooner becomes
a cutter, and the pearl-divers are replaced by the Black-birds of the
Labour Trade. But Mr. Hugh Clifford's variation is very good. There is
a passage in it--a trifle--just the diver as seen coming up from the
depths, that in its dozen lines or so attains to distinct artistic value.
And, scattered through the book, there are many other passages of almost
equal descriptive excellence.
Nevertheless, to apply artistic standards to this book would be a
fundamental error in appreciation.
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