Rambles in Java and the Straits in 1852

Title: Rambles in Java and the Straits in 1852
Author: Bengal Civilian (Charles Walter Kinloch)
Publisher: Oxford University Press,
Year Published: 1987 (first published in 1853)

When ‘Bengal Civilian’ (Charles Walter Kinloch) visited Penang, Singapore, and Java in 1852 his tracks and has already been well beaten by European explorers, adventurers, colonizers, and traders. ‘Bengal Civilian’ travelled for no other purpose than to recuperate from illness and he must therefore have been one of the first tourist and certainly the first to write a book about his travels. Published in 1853 as De Zieke Reiziger (The Invalid Traveller) and now reissued inder its subtitle, Rambles in Java and the Straits in 1852, the book offers a graphic and amusing account of the numerous privations and occasional enjoyments of travelling in South-East Asua 135 years ago.

The reader has to pity ‘Bengal Civilian’ and his wife battling against the climate (in Singapore ‘too hot and depressing’, inedible food (‘Dutch cooking… is disgusting’) below standard accommodation (there was no hotel ‘where a gentleman could venture to show himself, much less a lady’ in Penang), uncomfortable carriage journeys and even two near disasters on boats. However, the author’s observations are perceptive and tart, whether on monuments visited or the conditions of the local population or on British and Dutch society and colonial government. In an age of mass tourism, the experiences of ‘Bengal Civilian’ are as readable today as when they were first published and will provide today’s traveler with a great deal of pleasure. The reprint includes 23 attractive colour plates and a map.