_MY STRANGEST CASE_




~INTRODUCTION~


PART I


I am of course prepared to admit that there are prettier places on the
face of this earth of ours than Singapore; there are, however, I venture
to assert, few that are more interesting, and certainly none that can
afford a better study of human life and character. There, if you are so
disposed, you may consider the subject of British Rule on the one hand,
and the various aspects of the Chinese question on the other. If you are
a student of languages you will be able to hear half the tongues of the
world spoken in less than an hour's walk, ranging say from Parisian
French to Pigeon English; you shall make the acquaintance of every sort
of smell the human nose can manipulate, from the sweet perfume of the
lotus blossom to the diabolical odour of the Durien; and every sort of
cooking from a dainty _vol-au-vent_ to a stuffed rat. In the harbour the
shipping is such as, I feel justified in saying, you would encounter in
no other port of its size in the world. It comprises the stately
man-of-war and the Chinese Junk; the P. and O., the Messagerie