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Where the Strange Trails Go Down: Sulu, Borneo, Celebes, Bali, Java, Sumatra, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Siam, Cambodia, Annam, Cochin-China
In this volume, E. Alexander Powell describes his 1920 travels in Southeast Asia. From the Philippines to Borneo, Java, Singapore, the Malay peninsula, and on to Siam and then Saigon in Indochina, Powell not only photographed his stops but took a movie cameraman to document his encounters as well. It describes the situation among the colonial governments--the US, Britain, the Netherlands, and France--as things appeared right after World War I. The only independent country he visited was Siam.
279 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1922
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July 28, 2022
This book ended up being much, much better than I anticipated. E. Alexander Powell is an enthusiastic supporter of colonialism. But he is quick to criticize the British and French for their actions in Southeast Asia. The British in Borneo, and the the British North Borneo Company, especially, comes in for severe condemnation. The company, modeled after the British East India Company, administers its possessions without any regard for the indigenous peoples. Only profit matters. Not schools, hospitals, or infrastructure. French Indochina, meanwhile, he describes as corrupt and similarly dismissive of the people over which France rules. It is the Dutch in Indonesia, and through indirect comparisons, the US in the Philippines, he offers up as the better alternatives.
I actually learned a great deal from this book. Many events and people of whom I was unaware come under examination. Never had I heard of Philippine bullfights. No, not the Spanish kind, but the Filipino sort, where two bulls face off against each other until the other is killed or vanquished. I didn't even believe it was true, until I looked it up and saw the practice was only abolished two years ago, in 2020. Many things Powell documents are like that, including the unique style of crocodile hunts he sees in Borneo. You may doubt, but he includes photographs. Powell is unafraid of revealing the more squeamish side of travel, which many writers of the period either didn't endure or glossed over. I know that his largest chapter, on Bangkok and Siam, rings true. His assessment of the people and the place seems authentic to me. Apparently, there were remarkable Bangkok traffic jams even back then.
Where the Strange Trails Go Down does quite a good job of recreating the atmosphere not only of the places Powell visits but the time. He was lucky to have the US governor-general of the Philippines give him use of a US Navy coast guard cutter for most of his journey up until Singapore, when Powell no longer felt he needed it. But I don't think that colored his conclusions. Powell was a journalist and, frankly, he seems to have been a good one. That doesn't mean he sees things as contemporary readers do (please, people, stop seeing the entirety of human history through the lens of 2022). But he is insightful enough to predict a severe reaction from the Vietnamese against their French rulers some 25 years before it happened.
I actually learned a great deal from this book. Many events and people of whom I was unaware come under examination. Never had I heard of Philippine bullfights. No, not the Spanish kind, but the Filipino sort, where two bulls face off against each other until the other is killed or vanquished. I didn't even believe it was true, until I looked it up and saw the practice was only abolished two years ago, in 2020. Many things Powell documents are like that, including the unique style of crocodile hunts he sees in Borneo. You may doubt, but he includes photographs. Powell is unafraid of revealing the more squeamish side of travel, which many writers of the period either didn't endure or glossed over. I know that his largest chapter, on Bangkok and Siam, rings true. His assessment of the people and the place seems authentic to me. Apparently, there were remarkable Bangkok traffic jams even back then.
Where the Strange Trails Go Down does quite a good job of recreating the atmosphere not only of the places Powell visits but the time. He was lucky to have the US governor-general of the Philippines give him use of a US Navy coast guard cutter for most of his journey up until Singapore, when Powell no longer felt he needed it. But I don't think that colored his conclusions. Powell was a journalist and, frankly, he seems to have been a good one. That doesn't mean he sees things as contemporary readers do (please, people, stop seeing the entirety of human history through the lens of 2022). But he is insightful enough to predict a severe reaction from the Vietnamese against their French rulers some 25 years before it happened.
Displaying 1 of 1 review