These stories are the result of nine years' residence and experience
on the Malayan coast--that land of romance and adventure which the
ancients knew as the Golden Chersonesus, and which, in modern times,
has been brought again into the atmosphere of valor and performance
by Rajah Brooke of Sarawak, the hero of English expansion, and
Admiral George Dewey of the Asiatic squadron, the hero of American
achievement. The author, in his official duties as Special Commissioner
of the United States for the Straits Settlement and Siam, and, later,
as Consul General of the United States at Hong Kong, has mingled with
and studied the diverse people of the Malayan coast, from the Sultan
of Johore and Aguinaldo the Filipino to the lowest Eurasian and "China
boy" of that wonderful Oriental land. These stories are based on his
experiences afloat and ashore, and are offered to the American public
at this time when all glimpses of the land that Columbus sailed to
find are of especial interest to the modern possessors of the land
he really did discover.