May 30, 2014 - Figure 11 Sabimbas of Johor, Malay Peninsula. 78 ...... Milner considered Abdullah as one of the earliest liberal Malay critics of the sultanate.
John Turnbull Thomson and the Malay Peninsula The ‘Far East’ in the Development of His Thoughts and Writings in New Zealand Wilbert Wong Wei Wen Submitted on 30 May 2014, updated on 21 January 2015
This Dissertation, prepared under the supervision of Professor Tony Ballantyne, is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Otago for the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History, Art History and Theory.
i
Dedicated in loving memory of Wong Yuen Kiong (28.10.1924 - 7.3.2014)
Title Page: Beyerhaus, Government Surveyor to Singapore. Portait of Thomson at the age of 24, in John HallJones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand (Dunedin: John McIndoe,1992),18.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract
iii
List of Figures
iv
List of Maps
v
Acknowledgements
vi
Introduction
1
Chapter 1: John Turnbull Thomson and the Hikayat Abdullah
21
Chapter 2: Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East
49
Chapter 3: Thomson’s Writings in the Malay Peninsula
69
Chapter 4: The Malay Peninsula and its Place in Thomson’s Writings in New Zealand
80
Conclusion
105
Bibliography
110
iii
ABSTRACT
John Turnbull Thomson was one of the important nineteenth-century figures in New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. A man of many talents, he was a surveyor, engineer, architect, artist, philosopher and writer, and was New Zealand’s first Surveyor General. Thomson spent a total of fifteen years in the Malay Peninsula, serving as an architect, engineer and government surveyor to the East India Company before migrating to New Zealand in 1855. This dissertation argues that his time in the Malay Peninsula was crucial in the development of his thoughts and literary works in New Zealand. The research aims to establish this argument by connecting Thomson’s writings and theories in New Zealand to his experience and observations in Southeast Asia. Thomson has left us with a wide range of writings that is an invaluable source for scholars. It is these writings where this research places the bulk of its focus. The first three chapters cover Thomson’s life in the Malay Archipelago by analysing a selection of his writings on the ‘Far East.’ The fourth chapter ties together the discussions of the previous chapters on his experiences in the Malay Peninsula, and connects them to his literary works in New Zealand. It will be shown that many of the concepts that occupied his writings, from his books to his racial philosophies, were inspired by his sojourn in Southeast Asia.
iv
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 John Turnbull Thomson Letter, as Surveyor General, to John H. Baker
19
Figure 2
20
Ascending Longslip Mountain, Otago, 17 Dec 1857
Figure 3 Artist’s Impression of Abdullah Munshi, seated at the back of a sailing boat, when travelling to visit Kelantan
45
Figure 4 Thomson’s Manuscript Copy of the Hikayat Abdullah
46
Figure 5
46
Thomson’s Manuscript Copy of the Hikayat Abdullah
Figure 6 Sir Stamford Raffles
47
Figure 7
66
Malays of the Salat, Malay Peninsula
Figure 8 Singapore Town from the Government Hill looking southeast
67
Figure 9 Pulo Tinggi, Pahang
67
Figure 10 Selatars of Singapore
78
Figure 11 Sabimbas of Johor, Malay Peninsula
78
Figure 12 Pedra Branca
79
Figure 13 Horsburgh Lighthouse
79
Figure 14 John Turnbull Thomson in New Zealand
100
Figure 15 Reko’s Slave Girl, Tuturau
101
v
MAPS
Map 1 The Straits Settlements and the Malay Peninsula in 1867
16
Map 2 Plan of Singapore Town and Adjoining Districts
17
Map 3 John Turnbull Thomson, South Districts of the Province of Otago, to Illustrate the Journal of John Turnbull Thomson Esq. 1857
18
Map 4 Colonial Southeast Asia
48
Map 5 Plan of Prince of Wales Island [Penang] and Province Wellesley by J.T.Thomson
68
Map 6 Primary Era
102
Map 7 Secondary Era
103
Map 8
104
The Global Distribution of the Australasian Languages
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Tony Ballantyne, for allowing me this great opportunity to undertake a research project on an amazing historical figure, John Turnbull Thomson, who is important not only in New Zealand, but Malaysia and Singapore as well. Studying Thomson has turned my research into a personal journey of discovery of my own country, Malaysia, in addition to the development of a better understanding of New Zealand and world history. Without Professor Ballantyne’s tutelage and guidance, which I consider myself blessed to be under, this research would not have become a reality. I would like to thank those who have assisted me in my research journey. In the History Department of Otago University, Professor Angela McCarthy and Dr Michael Stevens were instrumental in helping me garner a better understanding of Thomson within the context of New Zealand and global developments. Alexander Trapeznik has given me, among other Honours candidates, good supervision on our projects. Brian Coutts of the School of Surveying, University of Otago, provided me with suggestions on the materials to look at for my research on Thomson. I greatly value the time and patience these individuals have set aside for a mere student such as myself, and enjoyed my research discussions with them. I would also like to thank Sandy Cleary, who has provided me with valuable materials on Thomson and much appreciated advice for my Honours dissertation; Austin Gee for his critique of and feedback on my work, as well as for proofreading my dissertation; my friends who have read and critiqued my research: Andrew Filmer, Christopher Hardy, Clayton Martino, Erin Bowkett, Ilija Tolich, Jenny McDowell, Geoffrey Smith and Bryce Peebles; the helpful and friendly employees of the National Library Board of Singapore, especially Ong Eng Chuan; Ali Clarke, Anna Blackman
vii
and Judith Holloway of the Hocken Collections; Peter Cadogan; and most of all, my family, and Crystal Kuong whose support and encouragement have made all of this possible.
INTRODUCTION
John Turnbull Thomson stands out as one of the most prominent figures in nineteenth-century New Zealand. He was an engineer, architect, surveyor, artist, philosopher and writer. His significance is not limited to New Zealand, but spans across the British Empire to Singapore and Malaysia as well. For example he constructed Thomson Road in Central Singapore, which is today a major motorway that stretches from the end of Cavenagh Road to the junction of Lornie Road. The road is testimony to Thomson’s importance and contributions to the region.1 From his engineering works and his surveys, to his writings and paintings, Thomson’s legacies live on. The Horsburgh Lighthouse, seen as his greatest engineering achievement, is still guiding ships off the coast of Singapore. The same can be said of his public works where some of the roads and bridges that were built by him in Singapore and the southern provinces of New Zealand remain in use today. He was responsible for determining the location of Invercargill, and hence, its present site. He also played an important role in the design and layout of Invercargill, Dunedin, Oamaru and Singapore. Many of the place names in New Zealand’s southern provinces of Otago and Southland were named by him he was responsible for surveying and mapping the interior of these regions. Thomson was regarded by Thomas Morland Hocken, the influential collector and historian, as a “great name giver” of New Zealand’s southern regions.2
1
John Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand (Dunedin: John McIndoe, 1992), 20. 2 T.M.Hocken, Contributions to the Early History of New Zealand Settlement of Otago (London: Sampson Law, Marston and Co., 1898), 172.
2
Aside from his involvement in engineering and architectural projects in the British Straits Settlements and New Zealand, Thomson’s efforts in surveying and mapping provided information crucial to the expansion and development of the related regions. He was also a talented amateur artist and painted scenes of the Malay Peninsula and New Zealand. These paintings are now valued as important historical pieces. As a writer and a philosopher, he generated literary works that remain part of the current academic discourse.3 In his capacity as New Zealand’s first Surveyor-General (1876-79), Thomson established a single national system of surveying across the country based on his established methods.4 According to John Bastin, Thomson’s achievements in engineering and surveying are impressive enough, “but the historian is more indebted to him because of his writings and paintings, which, taken together, afford more illuminating insights into nineteenth-century Singapore life than have been contributed by any other person.” 5 Bastin’s comment is also, to a significant extent, applicable to New Zealand and Malaysia as well. The social aspects of the inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago and New Zealand – their behaviour, thoughts, beliefs, customs, habits and emotions – were documented in his literary works and are of historical value. Equally as important in his writings were his personal opinions of the regions and their inhabitants which inform us about cross-cultural relations and understanding at the time. Moreover, he provides insight into the relationship between coloniser and the colonised. Given his accomplishments and
3 For instance: Thomson’s Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin
Abdulkadar, Munshi have been studied by scholars of the Hikayat Abdullah, such as Amin Sweeney, and Van Der Putten. See: Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munshi, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney (Jakarta: Kepustakaan Poupler Gramedia, 2005); Jan Van Der Putten, “Abdullah Munsyi and the Missionaries,” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde162, no. 4 (2006): 407-440. 4 John Hall-Jones, Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in Otago and Southland (Sydney, Australia: A. H. & A. W. Reed Ltd., 1971), 120. 5 John Bastin, “The Thomson Paintings: Mid-Nineteenth Century Paintings of the Straits Settlements and Malaya by John Hall Jones,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 48, no. 2 (1985), 408-9.
3
contributions, Thomson’s position as a noted figure in the history of New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia is unquestionable. John Turnbull Thomson was born on 10 August 1821 at Glororum farm, near Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland.6 He was sent to the Dunse Academy at the age of nine for his education; and later, at the age of fourteen, studied mathematics at Marischal College, Aberdeen University.7 After that, he studied at the school of engineering at Newcastle.8 In 1838, following the completion of his studies at Newcastle, at the age of sixteen, he departed for the British Straits Settlements in the Malay Peninsula.9 He would spend a total of fifteen years there, surveying the settlements and their surrounding areas and undertaking construction projects.10 Thomson was drawn to the Straits Settlements as a boy after seeing a painting, by Captain Robert Smith, of the island of Penang which was hung in the mansion of a “respected relative” at Longformacus.11 He embarked on his career in the ‘Far East’ with an engagement to survey the large estates of Brown, Scott and
6 Anon., “Obituary: Mr. J. Turnbull Thomson,”
Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography 7, no. 1 (1885): 47; Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 9; Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, s.v. “Story: Thomson, John Turnbull,” http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1t97/thomson-john-turnbull (accessed 30 November, 2013). 7 Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 12. 8 Ibid. 9 The British Straits Settlements at the time consisted of Penang and Province Wellesley, Malacca, and Singapore. 10 Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 13-26. Thomson said that he resided in the Malay Peninsula for seventeen years: John Turnbull Thomson, “Original Exploration in the Scottish Settlement of Otago, and Recent Travel in Other Parts of N.Z,” Royal Scottish Society of Arts 10 (1878): 455. My analysis of his letters, however, does not agree. When taking into consideration his prolonged sick leave to England and his final departure from Singapore, his time in the Malay region (although I cannot pinpoint the exact duration), would not have exceeded sixteen years. See: John Turnbull Thomson to Thomas Church, 1 September, 1853, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore; James C. Mulwill to Thomson, 13 July 1854, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board Singapore; John Turnbull Thomson to Thomas Church, 9 January 1855, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore. 11 Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East. [By J.T.Thomson].[With] Sequel (London: Richardson & Co., 1864), 27; also in: Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First SurveyorGeneral of New Zealand, 11.
4
Co. in Penang.12 By 1839 Thomson had completed a map of Penang and the neighbouring Province Wellesley.13 Thomson’s map attracted the attention of the Governor of Singapore, and in 1841, Thomson was appointed Government Surveyor to Singapore.14 He played a vital role over the next twelve years in laying out much of the early settlement and produced his first map of the town in 1843.15 Thomson went on to produce a map of the whole of Singapore Island, revised plans of the town, and conducted a marine survey of the harbour and Straits of Singapore.16 His health deteriorated due to his exposure for two years to the harsh climate in constructing the Horsburgh Lighthouse on Pedra Branca off the coast of Singapore, and on 1 September 1853 he left Singapore on prolonged sick leave.17 However, on his return to Singapore in the latter part of 1854, he realised with sadness that the tropical climate of Southeast Asia was detrimental to his well-being and found that he could no longer execute his duties sufficiently.18 For the sake of his health, he sought to
12
Hall Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 12; Hall-Jones, Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in Otago and Southland, 23. 13 Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 16. 14 Bastin, “The Thomson Paintings: Mid-Nineteenth Century Paintings of the Straits Settlements and Malaya by John Hall Jones,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 48, no. 2 (1985), 408-9; Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 16. 15 Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 18. 16 Ibid. 17 Hall-Jones, Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in Otago and Southland, 23; Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 27. Hall-Jones had placed the month of August as the date of his departure. However, his letter to Thomas Church, Resident Councillor of Singapore revealed that he departed the island on 1 September 1853: “Sir I have the honor to inform you that I will depart for England on leave today [1 September 1853] per the P & O Companys [sic] Steam vessel ‘Ganges.’ See: Thomson to Church, 1 September, 1853, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore. 18 Flora Byar, “A Contribution to the History of New Zealand: John Turnbull Thomson,” (M.A. thesis, University of Otago, 1933), 12; Hall-Jones, Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in Otago and Southland, 23; Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 27; Thomson to Church, 28 December, 1854, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore. Thomson’s letters in the archives of the National Library Board, Singapore, reveals that he returned to Singapore in the latter part of 1854: Mulwill to Thomson, 13 July, 1854, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore; Thomson to Church, 9
5
start anew in a place with a more temperate climate, and so, in October 1855, on the barque Ashmore, Thomson sailed to New Zealand, arriving in Auckland on 6 February 1856.19 Thomson had no intention of resuming his previous occupation, and sought to establish himself as a farmer in the young British colony.20 Nonetheless, New Zealand at the time was growing rapidly and was in drastic need of a person with Thomson’s skills as a surveyor.21 This need was keenly felt in Otago where most of the interior was uncharted, and the only information that was available on maps related to coastal areas.22 With the constant flow of ambitious pioneers seeking to secure lands for themselves, there was a crucial need for a systematic exploration of the province.23 At the time of Thomson’s arrival in New Zealand, pioneering settlers were already pressing into Central Otago.24 As crucial as the settlers were in opening up the country, this manner of settlement possessed, according to Alexander McLintock, “serious disadvantages of being both haphazard and unscientific.”25 If such exploration was to be of any value, it was essential that it be followed by careful surveying, which would subdivide the country into runs and also delineate their boundaries in such a manner as to prevent dispute.26 To accomplish such a need, it was necessary that the survey department should be adequately staffed, and more
January, 1855, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore. 19 Ibid. 20 Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 28. Note that the province of Otago at the time included Southland. 21 Byar, “A Contribution to the History of New Zealand: John Turnbull Thomson,” 13. 22 Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 28; Byar, 14. 23 Alexander H. McLintock, The History of Otago: The Origins and Growth of a Wakefield Class Settlement (Dunedin: Otago Centennial Historical Publications, 1949), 424-5, 432-6. 24 Ibid., 425. 25 Ibid. 26 Ibid.
6
importantly, competently controlled.27 Peter Proudfoot, who had held the joint offices of Provincial Surveyor and Commissioner of Lands since 1855, had done little beyond initiating the surveys in the vicinity of Bluff and laying out the future Invercargill, with the help of his assistant, Alexander Garvie.28 In the words of Hocken, “at this important juncture it was most fortunate that the services of Mr. John Turnbull Thomson were secured to take charge of the Land and Survey Department which had gradually fallen into an almost completely disorganised state.”29 Thomson’s good reputation as a surveyor, engineer, and architect gained from his works in the British Straits Settlements was noticed by the Superintendent of Otago, Captain William Cargill.30 Thomson was offered the position of Chief Surveyor and Engineer of Otago, which he accepted in the year of his arrival in 1856.31 After three months of mastering the details of the office, he set off with an assistant and two men in September 1856 to examine the southern coasts, the harbours and estuaries, and decide on sites for future settlement.32 It was on this occasion that the site for the future town of Invercargill was finalised.33 In January 1857, Thomson initiated his great reconnaissance survey of the
27 Ibid., 425-6. 28
Ibid., 426.
29 Hocken, Contributions to the Early History of New Zealand Settlement of Otago, 169. Also mentioned in
McLintock, The History of Otago: The Origins and Growth of a Wakefield Class Settlement, 426. 30 Hall Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 28. 31 Hall-Jones, Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in
Otago and Southland, 23; Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand 27, 29; Historians such as Alexander Hare McLintock and Erik Olssen have recognised Thomson as a competent surveyor: McLintock, 426, Erik Olssen, A History of Otago (Dunedin: John McIndoe, 1984), 426. 32 Hocken, 170; Hall-Jones, Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in Otago and Southland, 38; Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, s.v. “Story: Thomson, John Turnbull.” Note that Hall-Jones gave the month of his departure as October. Hocken and Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand on the other hand, state that it was September. I concur with the date provided by Hocken and Te Ara. 33 Hocken, 170.
7
southern region, covering the province in a series of sweeps, which took him eighteen months.34 By 1859, he had completed his first map of the province of Otago.35 In 1875, Major H. S. Palmer, a prominent English Surveyor visiting New Zealand found the Otago Survey Department to be the best organised in the colony.36 Hocken wrote that it was “Thomson’s distinguished service as Chief Surveyor and Engineer of Otago which placed his department first in the Colony, and ensured to himself, in 1876, the distinguished position of New Zealand’s first Surveyor-General.”37 In 1885, The Royal Geographic Society stated that Thomson’s “claims to public recognition and remembrance rest principally on the fact that he was the author of what is now known as the New Zealand system of survey.”38 As Surveyor-General, Thomson designed a scheme to extend his system of meridian circuits over the country.39 He moved quickly to ensure that uniform regulations were adopted and in 1876 published new guidelines in the form of a booklet entitled: Settlement Surveyors on Demesne Lands of the Crown.40 He resigned in October 1879, and moved south to Invercargill where he would spend the remainder of his years.41 Thomson died there at ‘Lennel’, his home, on 16 October 1884. 42 Though Thomson was
34 Hocken, 170-1; Hall-Jones, Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in Otago and Southland,
51-2; Te Ara: The
Encyclopedia of New Zealand, s.v. “Story: Thomson, John Turnbull.” to Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Thomson’s map was published in 1860. On the contrary, the year 1859 is given on the map of the province of Otago in the Hocken Collection. While this deserves further study, it is likely that the map was completed in 1859 but was only published in 1860. See: Map of the Province of Otago by J.T. Thomson and A. Garvie, 1859, MS-3183/042, Hall-Jones family: Papers. ARC-0589, Hocken Collections, Dunedin; Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, s.v. “Story: Thomson, John Turnbull.” 36 Byar, 36; Hall-Jones, Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in Otago and Southland, 108. 37 Hocken, 171. Also see: J.A. McRae, New Zealand Institute of Surveyors 1888-1988 (Dunedin: New Zealand Institute of Surveyors, 1989), 17. 38 Anon., “Obituary: Mr. J. Turnbull Thomson,” 47. 39 McRae, New Zealand Institute of Surveyors 1888-1988, 17. 40 Ibid. 41 Hall-Jones, Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in Otago and Southland, 121. 42 Ibid., 123. 35 According
8
only sixty-three, a comparatively early age even according to the standards of his time, his name lives on in the pages of history.43 As a popular Malay proverb says: Harimau mati meninggalkan belang, Gajah mati meninggalkan tulang, Dan manusia mati meninggalkan nama. 44 A tiger dies leaving its stripes, An elephant dies leaving its bones, And mankind dies leaving his name.45
Thomson had certainly left his mark in the Malay Peninsula, and it can also be said that the region had left its mark on him. He had spent a considerable amount of his life, fifteen years in total, in the peninsula.46 He was only a teenager, at the young age of sixteen, when he first set foot on the shores of Penang, and was a man in his early thirties by the time left Singapore. Given his age while in the Malay Peninsula, those years were the crucial stage in the development of his character, and so, when he arrived in New Zealand, a significant component of his character had already been shaped by the time he had spent in the ‘Far East.’ We also know that Thomson considered these years as crucial. As he stated in his book, Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East:
I had long left the regions in which the incidents related in this work took place. I sought out other and distant spheres of action and enterprise, and I became engaged in projects and pursuits totally disconnected with the tenor of my former life. Notwithstanding the absorbing nature of my new avocations, 43 Hall-Jones, Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in
Otago and Southland, 123. His death at the age of sixtythree, at the time, was considered early. See the 1885 Royal Geographical Society obituary: Anon.,“Obituary: Mr. J. Turnbull Thomson,” 46. 44 This proverb was quoted by Munshi Abdullah in his autobiography, Hikayat Abdullah. See: Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani (Batu Caves: PTS Publications, 2008), 91. Also in: Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad (Kuala Lumpur: Yayasan Karyawan, 2007), 83-4. 45 John Turnbull Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi (London: Henry S. King & Co., 1874), 70. 46 While some such as McLintock have stated that Thomson was in the Malay Peninsula for eighteen years, they did not take into consideration his prolonged sick leave to England. See: McLintock, 426. It is, however, true that he was a Company surveyor for eighteen years.
9 I never forgot the Far East, for it was the arena on which my early life-dreams were founded; the scene of my early struggles and the source of many reminiscences, whether of joy and sorrow.47
This dissertation seeks to establish how Thomson’s thoughts and writings in New Zealand were shaped by his experience in Southeast Asia, with particular focus on his social views and theories. Thus far, there have yet to be studies on Thomson placing emphasis on linking aspects of his writings in New Zealand with his experience in Southeast Asia. This research aims to fill that gap. The works of Thomson’s biographer and great-grandson, John Hall-Jones, while contributing much to the knowledge of Thomson (which is greatly valued by this researcher), only mentioned Thomson’s experience in the ‘Far East.’ Hall-Jones did not examine the significance of his time in the Malay Peninsula in the development of his writings. Flora Byar’s 1933 thesis on Thomson mentioned that his first-hand knowledge of Malay, learnt during his long sojourn in the Malay Archipelago, “supplied him with a key” which enabled him to compare the language of Māori with “the languages of the East Indian Archipelago.”48 This comparison underscored Thomson’s theory that India had been the original home of the Māori.49 However, this was the only part of Byar’s thesis that connected Thomson’s experience in Southeast Asia to his writings in New Zealand. Although Thomson’s time in Malaya was covered in Byar’s thesis, her main preoccupation was his contributions to New Zealand. Tony Ballantyne has also established that Thomson’s concept that the Māori were part of an archaic race of India, the ‘Barata’ race, “was moulded by his extensive linguistic
47 Thomson, preface to Some Glimpese Into Life in The Far East [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 48 Byar, “A Contribution to the History 49 Ibid., 160.
of New Zealand: John Turnbull Thomson,” 159-60.
v.
10
skills” gained in the Malay Peninsula.50 Ballantyne acknowledges the importance of Thomson’s experience in Asia in shaping the outcomes of his writings in New Zealand, but does not go into further detail on the subject. Nonetheless, he recognised the lack of scholarship that looks at the role of Southeast Asia in shaping Thomson’s literary works in New Zealand and has given me the opportunity to undertake research in this little explored area.51 Studying Thomson’s connection to Southeast Asia is fundamental to this question, not just in the scholarship it adds to the regional histories of New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore. Within the wider context of World History it is relevant in understanding the developments of nineteenth-century Western cross-cultural contact and their conception of other races. We are fortunate that Thomson left us with an assortment of his writings that have proven to be invaluable source for scholars. It is these writings that will be the main focus of this research. The first chapter looks at Munshi Abdullah, a renowned nineteenthcentury figure of Malaysia and Singapore, and his autobiography the Hikayat Abdullah. It will also examine Thomson’s English translation and personal reflection on Abdullah’s autobiography: Translations From the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi.52 The core of this chapter is an examination of the influence of Thomson’s association with Abdullah, a local Malay scribe, interpreter, and teacher of the Malay language who worked with British officials, merchants, and missionaries; and how this association shaped Thomson’s perceptions in New Zealand. Thomson himself was one of Abdullah’s students. His
50 Tony Ballantyne, Orientalism and Race: Aryanism
in the British Empire (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 71; Tony Ballantyne, Webs of Empire: Locating New Zealand’s Past (Wellington, New Zealand: Bridget Williams Books, 2012), 39. 51 Tony Ballantyne has highlighted the influence of Asia in his writings: Ballantyne, Orientalism and Race: Aryanism in the British Empire, 71, 73; Ballantyne, Webs of Empire: Locating New Zealand’s Past, 39, 303n62. 52 Note that Thomson used the spelling ‘Abdulla’ instead of ‘Abdullah.’
11
influence on Thomson was not limited to nurturing Thomson’s skills in the Malay language, which would later be an asset to him when tracing the linguistic patterns of the languages of New Zealand, wider Polynesia, Asia, and Madagascar to establish his ‘Barata’ theory. The intelligence shown in Abdullah’s character, further exemplified in the superiority of his literary work, The Hikayat Abdullah, was proof to Thomson that a Southeast Asian could achieve a level of enlightenment comparable to Europeans. The Hikayat Abdullah also painted the West as superior to the backward, ignorant and superstitious locals of the Malay Peninsula, and this strengthened Thomson’s belief in the dominance of the ‘white race.’ The second chapter examines Thomson’s book Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East, which is an account of his experience in Southeast Asia. In this chapter, it will be demonstrated that Abdullah was not the only intelligent local Thomson encountered during his sojourn in the ‘Far East.’ Men such as ‘Kokchai’ and ‘Whampoa’, both IndoChinese whom he befriended, were held by Thomson in high regard, and he wrote of them as “intelligent” individuals. Other than the Chinese, Thomson also counted other locals, such as the Malays, as friends. Amongst the latter, he was very fond of one man named ‘Oamut’, whom he got to know while on a survey expedition in Kedah. His acquaintance with the Malays – at one point he lived entirely amongst them – made him fluent in their language. It was likely that Thomson was already able to converse well in Malay when he came under the tutelage of Abdullah. This no doubt attracted Abdullah’s attention and led to his historic decision to entrust Thomson with the task of undertaking an English translation of the Hikayat Abdullah. His fifteen years of residence and interaction with Malayan locals planted in Thomson the cultural understanding that would shape the philosophies of his writings in New Zealand. But this was not the only insight gained from
12
his time in the Malay Peninsula. His experience with the tropical weather confirmed his belief in the theory of climatic determinism on race and health. During the nineteenth century, it was commonly believed in Western medical and scientific circles that warm climates had a degenerative effect on the mind and body of Europeans who were more accustomed to colder weather. It was used to explain the prevalence of disease amongst Europeans who inhabited the warmer regions of the globe and explain the allegedly listless nature of its native populace as well as making sense the former’s change of character as a result of their residence there. The third chapter analyses Thomson’s writings in the ‘Far East.’ Emphasis is placed on his correspondence in Singapore and a selection of his articles in The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia. In a letter to his superior, Thomas Church, then Resident Councillor of Singapore, Thomson expressed confidence that there were natives in the Malay Peninsula who possessed the capabilities to be trained as surveyors and encouraged Church to employ them. His letters also underlined his belief in the effects of climate on race and health. Thomson reported that the Chinese were the people who possessed the constitution and mechanical skills to labour under the hot climates that were disadvantageous to Europeans. His study of the Selatar and Sabimba tribes of the Malay Peninsula, in The Journal of Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, underscored his perception of a human racial hierarchy and the notion that different races have different capacities for advancement. For instance, Thomson regarded the Malays as superior to the Selatar and Sabimba, and in turn, considered the Sabimba to be more capable of improvement than the Selatar. The fourth chapter ties together the discussions of the first three chapters, which cover his experience in the Malay Archipelago, and connects them with his writings and
13
thoughts in New Zealand. This chapter will start by pointing out Thomson’s mentions of the Malay Peninsula in the writings he produced after he left for New Zealand. Besides Translations of the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi; Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East, and his writings in Malaya, references to his time in the Malay Peninsula can be found in nearly every literary work of Thomson: from his books Rambles with a Philospher, or, Views at the Antipodes by an Octagonian, and Social Problems: An Inquiry Into the Law of Influences, to his articles in the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. This chapter will then discuss how the concepts that underlay his writings in New Zealand were drawn from his experience and observations in the Malay Peninsula. While Thomson’s theory of climatic determinism on race and health was already an established and widely held concept in the nineteenth century, his own experience of the Malay Peninsula would have convinced him of the validity of this belief. This conviction was instrumental in the construction of his ‘Barata’ theory of race, in which he divided the races of the world according to climatic zones. His notice of the Chinese ability to work undeterred in the hot climates of the tropics as well as the colder weather of New Zealand led to his conclusion that they possessed a constitution that enabled them to endure all regions. Hence, they extend “across the Equator, from Cape Horn to North Siberia.” 53 His own personal experience in the tropics suggested to him that the superior, energetic ‘white man’ would deteriorate as soon as he departed the cold regions of his homelands for the ‘Torrid Zones.’ Thomson’s skill in the Malay language and knowledge of ‘Hindustani’ aided him in his philological study of the languages of India, Madagascar, Asia and Polynesia, including
53 John Turnbull Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the
Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 4 (1871): 24.
Whence of the Maori,” Transactions and
14
Māori.54 This was part of his attempt to relate the latter people to an archaic ‘Negroid’ race of India that was believed to have once occupied the region. Thomson was also able to use his familiarity with the cultures and physical features of the peoples of Southeast Asia to support the arguments of his works. His good acquaintance with the inhabitants of Malaya counts for his positive opinion of them in his writings and was demonstrated in one of his articles about New Zealand, where he wrote positively about the Chinese migrants of the region. This was done at a time when the Chinese in New Zealand were widely viewed with disdain and suspicion.
Research Approach and Challenges
All possible measures have been taken in this research to judge Thomson according to the standards and developments of his period. It is acknowledged that his understandings and views of New Zealand and the Malay Peninsula, in particular his racial and cultural views, were typical of particular strands of nineteenth-century thought. Historians have been frequently criticised for analysing events according to modern-day criteria and their own personal biases. Nevertheless, objectivity in history is difficult to achieve in practice. We have to also bear in mind that Thomson, unlike us, had actually interacted with a world that we have never been to, and so we have to be careful not to downplay his views and judgments. This is, above all, true in his observations of Munshi Abdullah, and his analysis of the Hikayat Abdullah. Scholars have to be reminded that
54 Hindustani began to develop during the
13th century in and around the Indian cities of Delhi and Meerut in response to the increasing linguistic diversity that resulted from Muslim hegemony. In the nineteenth century, its use was widely promoted by the British, as part of their effort to promote standardisation. While Hindustani’s basic vocabulary and grammar was supplied by Khari Boli, it also borrowed freely from Persian. See: Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v. “Hidustani Language,” http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/266468/Hindustani-language (accessed May 30, 2014).
15
Thomson, unlike other commentators of the Hikayat Abdullah, had actually interacted directly with Abdullah himself.55 Abdullah had even spoken to Thomson about the contents of his autobiography. When commenting on the part of the Hikayat Abdullah where Abdullah narrated the death of his daughter, Thomson said he remembered “as it were yesterday” when Abdullah related the circumstances to him.56 Furthermore, our views today are limited and specific to our time and society, just as Thomson’s views were to his.57 In the words of historian Robert Hole: “The job of a historian is not to judge... but to understand.”58 It is this principle which this thesis aspires to adhere to.
55 Thomson’s conversations with Abdullah are detailed in: Thomson,
Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 309-21. 56 Ibid., 293. 57 To paraphrase Robert Hole: It’s important to remember that our views today are as limited and specific to our time and society just as Jefferson’s were to his. See: Robert Hole, “The American Declaration of Independence of July 4th, 1776,” History Today, http://www.historytoday.com/robert-hole/americandeclaration-independence-july-4th-1776 (accessed December 3, 2013). 58 Hole, “The American Declaration of Independence of July 4th, 1776.”
16
Map 1 The Straits Settlements and the Malay Peninsula in 1867, in C.M. Turnbull, A History of Singapore 1819-1988, 2nd ed. (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1992), 77.
17
Map 2 John Turnbull Thomson, Plan of Singapore Town and Adjoining Districts, 1846, MS-3183/36, Hall-Jones family: Papers. ARC-0589, Hocken Collections, Dunedin.
18
Map 3 John Turnbull Thomson, South Districts of the Province of Otago, to illustrate the Journal of J. Turnbull Thomson Esq. 1857, in John Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand (Dunedin: John McIndoe, 1992), 44.
19
Figure 1 John Turnbull Thomson letter, as Surveyor General, to John H. Baker, 3 December 1878, Sandy Cleary Private Collection, Dunedin.
20
Figure 2 John Turnbull Thomson, Ascending Longslip Mountain, Otago, 17 Dec 1857, 1877, Otago University Research Heritage, Hocken Pictorial Collections 92/1312a12292, http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/index.php/items/show/4829 (accessed May 21, 2014).
CHAPTER 1 JOHN TURNBULL THOMSON AND THE HIKAYAT ABDULLAH
I have had an ever-recurring interest in the scenes and countries among which the Autobiographer recounts his experiences, and I warmed to the subject on taking up and perusing the long neglected manuscript which I obtained from the Autobiographer himself. J.T.Thomson, preface to Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla Bin Abdul Kadar, Munshi, iv.
Turning the pages of Malaysia and Singapore’s history today, one is likely to find the name of Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munshi being listed as one of the most, if not the most, important local writers of the nineteenth century. His literary works are highly valued by scholars of Malay literature and historians alike. He is regarded by many as the father of modern Malay literature, though this has been debated amongst experts.1 However, when taking Indonesia out of the equation, we can say, with conviction, that he is at least the father of modern Malay Literature in Malaysia and Singapore. Scholars have also agreed that Abdullah’s writings heralded the transition from traditional to modern Malay writing.2 Attention has also been drawn to Abdullah’s journalism Thomson being the earliest to have commented on it, saying that “by his own account, he was a true Times
1 Hassan Ahmad has argued that Abdullah is not the father of modern Malay literature as
he is commonly portrayed by European scholars. See: Hassan Ahmad, foreword by the chief editor to Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad (Kuala Lumpur: Yayasan Karyawan, 2007), viii. 2 C. Skinner, “Transitional Malay Literature: Part 1 Ahmad Rijaluddin and Munshi Abdullah,” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie, no. 134 (1978): 470; Hassan Ahmad, foreword by the chief editor to Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, viii; Van Der Putten, “Abdullah Munsyi and the Missionaries,” 407.
22
reporter.”3 Of all his literary works, Abdullah is best remembered for his autobiography, the Hikayat Abdullah. To the historical profession, the Hikayat Abdullah is valued for its lively portrayal of nineteenth-century Malaysia and Singapore from the perspective of a non-European. Amin Sweeney had suggested that “Abdullah’s writing displayed ‘realism’, a convention that scholars saw as some absolute value”.4 There is much to admire in the richness of his narratives and their value for social history writing, with his emphasis on the ordinary lives of the Peninsula’s inhabitants. According to Anthony Milner, Abdullah’s criticism of the Malay rulers and the backward cultural practices of his countrymen was presented in such as a form “as to offer insights into the [local] social system which he sought to replace.”5 Milner considered Abdullah as one of the earliest liberal Malay critics of the sultanate system.6 His autobiography was renowned for its strong humanistic elements, where the author wrote of his emotions, feelings, and personal opinions qualities not found in classical Malay writings.7 His individualism and liberalism were alien to traditional Malay society, and were the results of his exposure to Western concepts, gained from his
3 According to Sweeney, Thomson was the first to dub Abdullah a
journalist: Amin Sweeney, “Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi: A Man of Bananas and Thorns,” Indonesia and the Malay World 34, no. 100 (Feb. 2007): 228. For Thomson’s comment, see: Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 231. Hassan Ahmad and Skinner have also pointed to Abdullah’s journalistic approach in writing: Hassan Ahmad, foreword by the chief editor to Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, viii; Skinner, “Transitional Malay Literature: Part 1 Ahmad Rijaluddin and Munshi Abdullah,” 470. 4 Sweeney, “Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi: A Man of Bananas and Thorns,” 226, 235. This view was shared by Anthony Milner in The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya (1995; repr., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 40. 5 Ibid., 10. 6 Ibid. 7 H.F.O’B. Traill, “An Indian Protagonist of the Malay Language: Abdullah “Munshi”, his race and his mothertongue,” Journal of The Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 53, no.2 (1979): 52, 81; Milner also discussed the individualism shown by Abdullah in his writings. See: Milner, The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya, 36-43; Anthony Milner, The Malays (2008; repr., Oxford and Malden, Mass: WileyBlackwell, 2011), 114.
23
residence in the British enclaves of the Malay Peninsula and his close interaction with Europeans.8 Abdullah and his literary works, such as the Hikayat Abdullah, also represented the trials faced by the ancien régime of Asia and other non-Western civilisations during the nineteenth century, with the West expanding its global presence on a scale that was unprecedented when compared to previous centuries. To Milner, within the context of Malaysia and Singapore history, Abdullah and his writings were “important in forming part of the study of the cultural modernisation of Malays” and in “interpreting and analysing the Malay world’s contact with colonialism.”9 With increasing European contact came the flow of concepts and ideas that would challenge and undermine the existing social systems, norms, and beliefs of both the Malay world and elsewhere in Asia.10 Besides European technological innovation such as road and rail networks, and other communication systems, new concepts of government and economic organisation were introduced, as well as forms of literature and entertainment that had never been encountered before.11 This cross-cultural interaction would set in motion a political and social renaissance that would transform the peoples of Asia and other non-Western groups into the ones we are familiar with today.
8 According to Milner, these European enclaves were small centres of European civilisation. European rule
meant that the Malay rulers of the surrounding polities held little sway. Western ideas were propagated by schools and missionary establishments in these areas. Also in these places, locals and immigrants found they were part of, in what today might be termed, a social experiment. See: Milner, The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya, 12-13. The traditional Malay society was one without a strong sense of individual consciousness and was governed by customs (adat). Transgressions of these customs, in Milner’s words, “had to be deeply damaging”, and would bring great misfortune (celaka). It was a society of “public men” where personal pursuits were not encouraged. See: Ibid., 22, 36. Also see: Anthony Milner, The Malays, 66-9. 9 Milner, Preface to The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya, vi; Milner, The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya, 4. 10 Milner, The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya, 2, 27, 84. 11 Milner, The Malays, 103, 111.
24
The Hikayat Abdullah also provides vital information regarding the important personalities who shaped Singapore’s and Malaysia’s development during the nineteenth century.12 Due to his occupation as a Malay language teacher, scribe, and Malay translator to British officials, merchants, and missionaries, Abdullah was well acquainted with important historical figures such as Sir Stamford Raffles, William Farquhar, William Milne and Alfred North. He painted a vivid account of these individuals whom he served under, and through them also came to know other major individuals like Sultan Husin Syah, Lord Minto (Gilbert Elliot), and William J. Butterworth.
Thomson’s Manuscript Copy of the Hikayat Abdullah
Abdullah was a Tamil Muslim with Arab ancestry, who was born in Malacca in 1797. He died in May 1854, in Mecca on his pilgrimage to Mecca.13 He began writing the Hikayat Abdullah in 1841 and completed it on 3 May 1843 in Kampong Malacca, Singapore. But because of the closing down of the missionary posts in 1843, it would be another six years before it was edited and published on Benjamin Peach Keasberry’s lithographic missionary press in 1849.14 Thus, the 1849 edition became the official version of the Hikayat Abdullah that most are now familiar with. Amin Sweeney has demonstrated that without the support of his missionary employers, Abdullah’s work would never have been printed.15 Nonetheless, handwritten copies of the Hikayat Abdullah were already made before its publication. There are at least three surviving handwritten copies of the 1843 original draft
12 H.F.O’B. Traill said that Abdullah’s descriptions of these eminent individuals have become
part of history. See: H.F.O’B. Traill, “Aspects of Abdullah ‘Munshi’,” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 54, no. 3 (1981): 39. 13 Raimy Ché-Ross, “Malay Manuscript in New Zealand: The ‘Lost’ Manuscript of the ‘Hikayat Abdullah’ and other Malay Manuscripts in the Thomson Collection,” 13; Traill, “Aspects of Abdullah ‘Munshi’,” 43. 14 Abdullah Mushi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 343; Sweeney, “Abdullah bin Adbul Kadir Munsyi: A Man of Bananas and Thorns,” 230. 15 Sweeney, “Abdullah bin Adbul Kadir Munsyi: A Man of Bananas and Thorns,” 231.
25
of the Hikayat Abdullah scattered across different parts of the world.16 One of them, held in the Library of Congress, was discovered in 1967 by Andrei Teeuw. Another was found in the Houghton Library at Harvard University by Ian Proudfoot in 1999. 17 The third, Thomson’s copy, is now held in the Hocken Collections at the University of Otago, Dunedin. This was brought to light in 1984 by H.F.O’B. Traill who detailed his discovery in a note in the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.18 According to Traill, he was advised by John Bastin to contact Thomson’s great-grandson, John Hall-Jones, regarding the location of Thomson’s manuscript which was at the time considered lost. As it turned out, Hall-Jones himself owned the manuscript.19 It is not difficult to discern how a manuscript copy of the Hikayat Abdullah came into Thomson’s ownership. In his English translation of the Hikayat Abdullah Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi published in 1874, he informs us that he was asked by Abdullah himself in 1846 to translate his autobiography, and was personally given the manuscript copy by the author.20 Unfortunately, Traill’s research on Thomson’s manuscript came to end with his death in 1985.21 From then, no serious effort was made to study Thomson’s manuscript until the commencement of the twenty-first century.22 Today, as a result of the
16 The original 1843 draft of the Hikayat Abdullah, written in Abdullah’s own hand, has yet to be
found: H.F.O’.B. Traill, “The ‘lost’ Manuscript of The Hikayat Abdullah ‘Munshi’,” The Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 55, no.2 (1982): 126; Ian Proudfoot, “Malay Materials in the Houghton Library,” Kekal Abadi 19, no. 1 (2000), 3, http://myais.fsktm.um.edu.my/9569/1/malay_materials_in_the_houghton_library.pdf (accessed December 10, 2013). 17 Ché-Ross, 17-8; H.F.O’.B. Traill, “The ‘lost’ Manuscript of The Hikayat Abdullah ‘Munshi’,” 126; Ian Proudfoot, “Malay Materials in the Houghton Library,” 2-3, 8-9. 18 H.F.O’B. Traill, “A Note on the ‘Lost’ Manuscript of the Hikayat Abdullah Munshi,” The Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 57, no. 1 (1984): 69. 19 John Hall-Jones Correspondence with Dato Traill Relating to ‘Abdullah’ Manuscript, 27 March 1983, AG276/1, Hall-Jones family: Papers. ARC-0589, Hocken Collection, Dunedin. 20 Thomson, preface to Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, v-vi. 21 Ché-Ross, 17n12. 22 Ian Proudfoot pointed out, in an article published in 2000, that Thomson’s manuscript had not yet undergone scholarly investigation: Proudfoot, “Malay Materials in the Houghton Library,” 3. Nonetheless, in the same year Proudfoot’s article was published, Ché-Ross was embarking on a trip to the Hocken
26
work of researchers such as Sweeney and Raimy Ché-Ross, we can now evaluate the differences between Thomson’s manuscript and other known copies of the Hikayat Abdullah. However, for the purpose of this research, this chapter will look specifically at the disparity between Thomson’s manuscript and the 1849 lithographed version. Throughout the years before its rediscovery, scholars correctly speculated that Thomson’s manuscript, a copy of the original 1843 draft of the Hikayat Abdullah, was different from the 1849 edition, by judging the contents of Thomson’s English translation.23 Thomson’s manuscript omitted the chapter on Governor Butterworth, which also covers the Opium War, because he was not yet in office when the first draft of the Hikayat Abdullah was completed. In addition, Butterworth was serving as Governor by the time the Hikayat Abdullah was being prepared for its publication in 1849, and to keep up with current events, a chapter on him was added the Governor being someone whom Abdullah highly regarded.24 At first sight, one might expect the 1849 edition to be richer in content than Thomson’s 1843 copy. After all, the former contains the additional chapter which Thomson’s manuscript lacked. But surprisingly, on closer inspection, Thomson’s manuscript in fact contained details that were excluded from the 1849 edition. Among these differences were its more negative remarks on the missionaries. For instance, Abdullah’s comment that Mr. Evans not only lacked the dedication and patience required
Collections in Dunedin, New Zealand, to study Thomson’s manuscript. This was part of an ambitious plan of Malaysia’s Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, under the supervision of Amin Sweeney, to publish the complete works of Abdullah. See: Ché-Ross, 1. 23 Scholars such as H.F.O’B. Traill, for instance, were able to envisage the possible differences in Thomson’s manuscript even before studying the manuscript itself by examining Thomson’s English translation: Traill,“The ‘lost’ Manuscript of The Hikayat Abdullah ‘Munshi’,” 132. Raimy Ché-Ross has demonstrated that this was also done by A.H.Hill: Ché-Ross, 15. 24 Abdullah Munshi, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney, 744; Van Der Putten, 428.
27
in learning the Malay language, but also exhibited a rough and foul-tempered character, led to the misconception by those unacquainted with Evans that he was a merchant rather than a priest.25 Sweeney attributed the omission of this passage to the person who oversaw the printing of the Hikayat Abdullah, Abdullah’s missionary friend, Keasberry, who was thought to have toned down considerably the negative comments on missionaries.26 Interestingly, mentions of two missionaries – one, the marriage of Samuel Kidd, and the other, David Collie’s death at sea, which was covered in Thomson’s manuscript – had also been omitted from the 1849 edition.27 Keasberry’s editorial role did not end with matters concerning missionaries. Sweeney pointed to another example of the missionary’s suspected interference. This time it involved downplaying the role of Raffles’ wife Olivia:28
25 Sweeney, “Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi: A
Man of Bananas and Thorns,” 231. For details on Thomson’s copy, refer to: Abdullah Munshi, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney, 716. For details on the 1849 printed edition, see: Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 272. The Mr. Evans in Abdullah’s account was likely to be John Evans (1801-1840) who became principal of the Anglo-Chinese College in 1834. See: John Roxborough, “Early nineteenth century foundations of Christianity in Malaya: Churches and missions in Penang, Melaka and Singapore from 1786-1842,” Asia Journal of Theology 6, no.1 (April 1992): 62. Also note that the term ‘priest’ is used here instead of ‘missionary.’ This is a direct translation of Abdullah’s reference to missionaries, regardless of their denomination, as priest (paderi). 26 Sweeney,”Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi: A Man of Bananas and Thorns,” 231. Other scholars such as Traill had also linked the missionaries with softening and omitting negative contents that related to them: Traill, “The “Lost Manuscript” of The Hikayat Abdullah ‘Munshi’,” 132. Other scholars such as Milner also underscored the influence of his missionary employers in the output of his works: The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya, 13, 83-4. 27 For the 1849 version: Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 259-60. For Thomson’s manuscript: Abdullah Munshi, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney, 707-8; As in the case of “Mr. Evans” (see footnote 21 of current chapter) Abdullah only mentioned these missionaries by their last names. I obtained their first names from the information provided in: Roxborough, “Early nineteenth century foundations of Christianity in Malaya: Churches and missions in Penang, Melaka and Singapore from 1786-1842,” 63n38; Anon., The Missionary Register for M DCCC XXII. Containing the Principal Transactions of the Various Institutions for Propagating the Gospel; with the Proceedings at Large of the Church Missionary Society (London: L.B. Seeley, 1822), 54; Anon., The Missionary Register for M DCCC XXII. Containing the Principal Transactions of the Various Institutions for Propagating the Gospel; with the Proceedings at Large of the Church Missionary Society (London: L.B. Seeley, 1828), 71. David Collie succumbed to his illness on his return journey to England intended to effect his recovery in 1828: Walter H. Medhurst, China: its State and Prospects, with Especial Reference to the Spread of the Gospel; Containing Allusions to the Antiquity, Extent, Population, Civilization, Literature, and Religion of the Chinese (Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1838), 257. 28 Ibid., 233.
28
Thomson’s Manuscript: Thus her habits were active; so much so, that in fact she did the duty of her husband; indeed it was she that taught him.29 The 1849 edition: Thus her habits were active; so much so, that in fact she did the duty of her husband; indeed it was she that helped her husband.30
One of the most engaging accounts provided by the Hikayat Abdullah can be seen
in Raffles’ confrontation with the Tengku Panglima Besar, Sayid Hasin, after he learnt of his betrayal of trust.31 The Tengku tricked Raffles into believing that he had completed a mission that was assigned to him to deliver a letter to a local ruler in Bantaram requesting military support against the Dutch in the anticipated British invasion of Java.32 In the 1849 edition Raffles told the Tengku:
You liar! I will order you to be placed into the mouth of a cannon. Be gone! Do not stand here! A small ship will sail this evening, and you should not delay catching it, because at four o’clock it will set sail. Or else I will place you into the mouth of a cannon later at sea! Engkau pembohong! Nanti sahaya suruh bubuh di mulut meriam. Pergi! Jangan berdiri di sini! Sekarang petang itu kapal kecil mau berlayar, engkau pergi naik lekas kerana pukul empat dia mau belayar. Nanti di laut sahaya taruh di mulut meriam!33
However, Raffles’ tone was much more offensive in Thomson’s manuscript where Raffles referred to the Tengku as “lu” instead of “engkau”, a derogatory term when used on a person of high birth:
29 Abdullah Munshi, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed.
Amin Sweeney, 633; Thomson, Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 53. Kassim Ahmad, 71. 31 The Tengku Panglima Besar is a title referring to a person of Malay nobility. 32 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 71-74, 88-90. 33 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 94. 30 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans.
29
Engkau pembohong! Nanti sahaya suruh bubuh di mulut meriam sama lu. Pergi! Jangan berdiri di sini! Sekarang itu kapal kecil hendak berlayar petang ini juga. Lu naik lekas pergi kerana itu kapal sekarang pukul empat ia mahu belayar. 34
By contrasting the different adaptations of Raffles’ remarks, it is clear which version was more likely to more accurately represent Raffles’ encounter with the Tengku: Thomson’s. This depiction fits in better with the atmosphere of the story. Furthermore, the way Raffle’s words were structured in Thomson’s version captured more accurately the oral qualities of speech. The most likely explanation for this change lies in the decision to reduce the ‘vulgarity’ of Raffles’ words to a Malay chief in order to make it more suitable for publication. Contrasting the two gives the impression that Thomson’s manuscript was closer to the original in its contents. Therefore, we can understand why scholars such as Traill found “the changes made in 1849 seem much for the worse.”35 These constitute part of a running theme in differences between the two texts. Suffice to say the few examples, covered above, provide a general explanation of how the Hikayat Abdullah was interpreted and understood by Thomson, which depends on the contents of his manuscript. We shall examine Thomson’s translation and perceptions in the following section.
34 Abdullah Munshi, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed.
Amin Sweeney, 641. 35 Traill, “The ‘Lost’ Manuscript of The Hikayat Abdullah ‘Munshi’,”
130.
30
Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi
In Sweeney’s remarkable edition of the complete works of Abdullah, published in 2005 in three volumes, Thomson’s translation of the Hikayat Abdullah was the only one to be based on the 1843 manuscript.36 Other commentaries, including recent ones, have been based on the 1849 lithographed edition of the missionary press.37 Therefore, it is the 1849 version which we are most familiar. Scholars who have studied Thomson’s manuscript have suggested that it is “perhaps the closest surviving example of the autobiography in its original form.”38 The fact that Thomson was personally presented a copy of the Hikayat Abdullah by Abdullah himself, and asked to make an English translation of his autobiography in 1846, reveals his close relationship with the author. It also illustrates Thomson’s high level of competency in the Malay language. It was possibly because he was one of Abdullah’s best English-speaking students that he was entrusted with such a task. 39 His book, Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, was the first significant attempt at an English translation of the Hikayat Abdullah. It was not until 1918 that another English translation, by W.G. Sheallabear, was published.40 Thomson, among
36 Ché-Ross, 1. Recent
commentaries by Hamzah Hamdani and Kassim Ahmad were based on the 1849 lithographed edition. 37 Ibid. 38 Ché-Ross, 1. Sweeney said that there are features in Thomson’s manuscript that show that it is the closest copy of the original 1843 text: Abdullah Munshi, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney, 12. 39 Traill had suggested that Thomson must have been one of Abdullah’s best students, even surpassing Alfred North himself. See: H.F.O’B Traill, “Abdullah “Munshi”: Pioneer Writer and Raffles’ Aide,” SP 95/A/163, unpublished manuscript by Dato H.F.O’B Traill, Arkib Negara Malaysia, 284-5, quoted in Raimy Ché-Ross, “Malay Manuscripts in New Zealand: The ‘Lost’ Manuscript of the ‘Hikayat Abdullah’ and other Malay Manuscripts in the Thomson Collection,” Journal of The Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 75, no.2 (2002): 17n12. 40 Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munshi, The Autobiography of Munshi Abdullah, trans. W.G. Shellabear (Singapore: Methodist Publishing House, 1918). Thomson had pointed out, in 1873, that English translations of the Hikayat Abdullah had already been done by Thomas Braddell and himself, but were only focused on specific chapters which appeared in the 1852 Journal of the Indian Archipelago, and in Thomson’s Some Glimpses into Life in the Far East. See: Thomson, preface to Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, viii. Also see: Singapore Infopedia: An electronic encyclopedia
31
the commentators on the Hikayat Abdullah, was the only one to know Abdullah personally, had spoken with him, and was also the only one to have actually provided a description of Abdullah’s appearance:41
In physiognomy he was a Tamilian of South Hindostan. He was tall, slightly bent forward, spare, energetic, bronze in complexion, oval faced, high nosed, and one eye squinted a little outwards. He dressed in the usual style of Malacca Klings or Tamils, having an Achean saluar (trowsers), checked sarong (kilt), printed baju (coat), a square skull cap, and sandals.42
Thomson’s ability to translate the Hikayat Abdullah reasonably well “after eighteen years absence from Singapore”, and without the assistance of a munshi, or “native scholar”, with only Marsden’s Malay dictionary as a guide, was, in its own right, an impressive feat, and is a further indication of Thomson’s fluency in the language.43 Thomson’s translation, as we can reasonably expect from his limited means, is not perfect. This was admitted by Thomson himself, who said he could have “done more justice” to the original by translating it while he was still in the Malay Peninsula.44 Nonetheless, the mistakes in his translation, such as the names of minor actors and insignificant words, are nothing major; none serious enough to have caused significant distortion of Abdullah’s narratives.45 Even Malay scholars found it difficult to translate the names of places and
on Singapore’s history, culture, people and events, s.v. “Thomas Braddell,” http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1212_2008-01-30.html (accessed December 12, 2013). 41 Traill, “An Indian Protagonist of the Malay Language: Abdullah “Munshi”, his race and his mothertongue,” 67; Traill, “Aspects of Abdullah ‘Munshi’,” 43, 45; Sweeney, ”Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi: A Man of Bananas and Thorns,” 224. 42 Thomson, Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 4-5. 43 Thomson, preface to Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, vi. 44 Ibid., v-vi. 45 The work of Ché-Ross has shown that this view was also shared by Traill in his unpublished manuscript held in the National Archives of Malaya. See: H.F.O’B Traill, “Abdullah Munshi: Pioneer Writer and Raffles’ Aide,” SP 95/A/163, unpublished manuscript by Dato H.F.O’B Traill, Arkib Negara Malaysia, 284, quoted in Raimy Ché-Ross, “Malay Manuscripts in New Zealand: The ‘Lost’ Manuscript of the ‘Hikayat Abdullah’ and other Malay Manuscripts in the Thomson Collection,” Journal of The Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 75, no.2 (2002): 15n11. Thomson had a copy of Marsden’s Malay dictionary which is now held in the Hocken Collections among the Hall-Jones family Papers: ‘A dictionary of the Malayan
32
individuals in the Hikayat Abdullah from Jawi into romanised Malay.46 We can see that Abdullah’s trust in Thomson was well placed. Thomson’s translation of the Hikayat Abdullah was selectively done, and did not contain all the subjects covered in his manuscript.47 In his book, Thomson mentioned the parts of the manuscript he did not translate (though not all), and provided readers with a concise idea of their contents. He also provided the reason behind his decision not to translate these parts: he considered that they “would be of little interest to general readers.”48 Unfortunately, there were also untranslated parts which were left unexplained, but we can speculate that it was probably because he thought these parts to be likewise of little importance to his readers. But surprisingly, some of the chapters which Thomson considered uninteresting such as the chapter on the ‘T’ien Ti Hui’ where Abdullah recounted the risk he took and what he saw when infiltrating the organisation, disguised as a pauper, in order to find out what went on within its walls are among the most engaging parts of the Hikayat Abdullah.49 This would have surely drawn the attention of his audience. Nevertheless, parts of Abdullah’s narrative on the Chinese criminal organisation had already been mentioned by Thomson in his earlier work, Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East, in order to give his audience an illustration of the notoriety of crime in Singapore, and perhaps because of this, he felt that he did not need to repeat the
Language’ by William Marsden, 1812, MS-3183/002, Hall-Jones family: Papers. ARC-0589, Hocken Collections, Dunedin. There is also evidence of Thomson using Marsden’s Malay dictionary when translating the Hikayat Abdullah: Thomson, Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 176n. 46 Norlaili Talib, introduction to Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, xiii-xviii. 47 This is confirmed by: Ché-Ross, 8,13; Sweeney, ”Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi: A Man of Bananas and Thorns,” 224; Abdullah Munshi, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney, 7. 48 Thomson, Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 199, 296. 49 The ‘T’ien Ti Hui’ was a Chinese secret society in Singapore associated with criminal activities.
33
subject again.50 Another tale involves Abdul Kadir bin Abdul Sahib a Malaccan-born Tamil Muslim who was favoured by Sultan Husin Syah, and had exerted considerable influence over the Sultan, to the extent that he was despised by others which also is not uninteresting as well. Be that as it may, Thomson discounted these “scandals” in the Malay court as “of little interest.”51 In the end, Thomson’s main preoccupation in translating the Hikayat Abdullah was more likely the desire to satisfy the demands of a British audience rather than the zeal to spread Abdullah’s autobiography as Abdullah had hoped for. Even if the latter was his intention, its importance would only be secondary. Since Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla was only a partial translation, one can reasonably expect the book to be thinner than it would have been had Thomson attempted a full translation. However, Thomson’s book was still substantial when compared to a fullytranslated romanised version of the Hikayat Abdullah.52 This was because Thomson’s personal reflections and comments occupied the concluding section of nearly every chapter of his book. Thanks to his personal comments and reflections, the study of Thomson’s views on Abdullah and the contents of his autobiography have been made easier. For instance, even though the Hikayat Abdullah had predominantly presented the Protestant missionaries in the Malay Peninsula in a positive light, we know that this did not change Thomson’s negative view of how they conducted themselves there. Drawing from his personal experience and observations of their activities, Thomson said:
I have observed of the French Catholic missionaries, with whom my feelings are in no way enlisted, that they pursue an active and 50 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in
The Far East, 207-10.
51 Thomson, Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi,
266. I have compared Thomson’s Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi with two other romanised Malay translations (fully translated) that were used in this research: Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 1-353, and Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 1-391. On the scale of word density and total number of pages, the contents of Thomson’s book are equivalent to any of the two books above.
52
34 enterprising line of duty calculated not only to spread their influence but to preserve their European vigour of constitution. At Singapore and other settlements, you might see them walking to [sic] great distances, under the heat of the sun, and at all times of the day and night, pursue their calling. The consequence of this line of action has been that that while they count their converts, Protestant missionaries have, I may say, done nothing, absolutely nothing in the same direction. 53
Thomson’s perspective, such as the above, would be difficult to determine without his comments and reflections in this book. Through this as well, we can establish the extent to which his interaction with Abdullah and the contents of the Hikayat Abdullah, which also represented his experience in the Malay Peninsula, contributed to the development of his thoughts and writings in New Zealand.
The Hikayat Abdullah and its Message to Thomson
The contents of the Hikayat Abdullah were rife with Abdullah’s admiration of the Europeans, with considerable praise directed at the British and the missionaries. Abdullah had portrayed British leaders as benevolent figures, and he suggested that because of their competent leadership, the Straits Settlements had prospered. For example, Malacca, under the leadership of Farquhar, was said to have flourished. The volume of trade increased and the “poor were able to make a living as well as the rich.”54 British notables were shown to be capable of performing great acts of kindness even to those from the lowest orders of society. Munshi Abdullah, for example, stressed the benevolence of Lord Minto in releasing prisoners in Malacca:
On the following day, Lord Minto visited the Malaccan prison... as soon as the door was opened, the prisoners rushed at him. Some 53 Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 93. 54 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 53. Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed.
Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 51.
35 prostrated themselves before his feet, others weeping; each pleading their case. When the jailer tried to restrain the prisoners, Lord Minto said, “No!” For when he saw the condition of the prisoners tears flowed from his eyes and he spoke to them in Hindustani saying, “Don’t be despaired. In a moment, everyone will be freed.” They were pleased as soon as they heard him, and worshipped at his feet...Not long after, Mr. Farquhar, accompanied by the jailer and constables, came with the keys [and released the prisoners].55
Lord Minto’s humility and show of respect to individuals of different social standing were also revealed by Abdullah:
Wherever people met his carriage, both rich and poor and lowly stopped to salute him, and he immediately returned their greeting; at times when people saluted him all along the street, he would merely hold his hat, without putting it on his head, but just waving his hat with a pleasant countenance and a polite manner. I saw that he did not at least exaggerate his own importance, either in his manner or his clothes...56
Abdullah’s accounts of the noble attributes of Lord Minto was typical of the kind of praise afforded to other British personalities such as Raffles and Farquhar in the Hikayat Abdullah. Possessing these positive qualities, it was not surprising they were greatly loved by the people they administered. Thomson, in response to Abdullah’s positive assessments of these figures, said “they are in a position to forward British interests beyond calculation,” in spite of his critical views of the East India Company and its officials.57
55 Abdullah Munshi, The Autobiography of Munshi Abdullah, trans. W.G. Shellabear, 70; Abdullah Munshi,
Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 84-5; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 91-2; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 71; Abdullah Munshi, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney, 638. 56 Adapted from Shellabear’s English translation: Abdullah Munshi, The Autobiography of Munshi Abdullah, trans. W.G. Shellabear, 72. Also refer to: Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 86; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi,73; Sweeney, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney, 626. 57 Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 189-90. For examples of Thomson’s critical view of company officials, see: 264, 330.
36
Abdullah had marvelled at the advances of Western civilisation, especially of science and technology, and he wrote about the wonders of their achievements and applications back in Europe. He recounted how on first seeing a steamship he was utterly amazed at the “intelligence that God have bestowed on mankind”; in a similar way, he repeated this remark on other European ingenuities in his autobiography.58 Most of the Europeans he had interacted with were shown to be individuals of learning and progress, and had also shown good intentions in their attempts to promote education and knowledge amongst the local inhabitants. This was chiefly done through the efforts of the missionaries in the establishment of schools and the production of educational materials through their printing press.59 Besides the missionaries, Munshi Abdullah suggested that notables such as Raffles contributed to education as well, first by establishing the Singapore Institute; and second, by encouraging Malay rulers to send their children abroad for their education.60 The industriousness of the Europeans was also highlighted. In Abdullah’s account of an encounter with an officer of a vessel of the British East India Company, on a mission to survey the straits, he was “bedazzled to witness the energy and diligence of the white man” as soon as he learnt from the officer, “Mr. Smith”, the nature of the ship’s
58 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and
Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 343; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 366; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 307. Abdullah had given a similar praise to the printing press: Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 132. 59 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 117-22; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 131-6; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 90, 92-3. It should be noted that Thomson only did a partial translation of the related chapter on the missionaries. I have checked with Sweeney’s romanised Malay translation of Thomson’s manuscript to confirm. See: Sweeney, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney, 653. 60 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 188-190; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 205, 208-11; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 137-42.
37
assignment.61 Here, we also witness one of Abdullah’s negative views of the Europeans: he found “Mr. Smith’s” fine behaviour and manners to be different from the “rough, drunk, and evil” conduct of sailors.62 Abdullah despised the Dutch, but could be critical of some British officials as well. He described John Crawfurd, who governed Singapore after Farquhar, as an individual who lacked patience, was short-tempered, and yet “whenever he performed a task he did [it] slowly and not immediately”, was fond of wealth, and pompous.63 In his reflection on the Hikayat Abdullah, Thomson said he had “read over the character given by Abdulla...to a gentleman who used to meet Mr. Crawfurd...and imagines it to be very correct.”64 As we know, those from the ranks of missionaries did not escape Abdullah’s negative commentary either, especially Claudius Thomsen and his stubborn attitude towards the Malay language.65 We are also aware, from the earlier discussion above, that Thomson’s manuscript contained more scathing remarks on the missionaries than the 1849 edition of the Hikayat Abdullah. Commenting on Abdullah’s observations and judgements of the Europeans, Thomson said, “It is an erroneous assumption in Europeans to think that their actions are not critically canvassed by the natives of India.” 66 However, Abdullah’s criticisms of the Europeans paled in comparison to the ones that were directed at his native brethren.67 Abdullah had illustrated the native inhabitants
61 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and
Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 261; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 290; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 226. 62 Ibid. 63 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 244; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 271; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 208. 64 Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 209. 65 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 105-10, 115-6; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 115-20, 127-9; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 94. 66 Thomson, preface to Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, vii. 67 When examining Abdullah’s observations of the native inhabitants it must be taken into consideration that the Malay Peninsula, during Abdullah’s time, was already a multi-ethnic community just like Malaysia and Singapore are today. Though Abdullah’s negative criticisms fell on the Chinese, and to a
38
to be the opposite of the Europeans. They were portrayed as ignorant, backward, lazy and superstitious. Building on Abdullah’s comments, Thomson attributed the laziness of the Malays to the nature of the warm climate they were exposed to in the tropics.68 The style of Abdullah’s narratives in the Hikayat Abdullah was orchestrated in a way that placed the ingenuity and advances of the Europeans against the backdrop of native backwardness. This was demonstrated in Abdullah’s discussions of the advances of Western Civilisation in contrast to the uninformed natives:
I spoke of gas burning without wick or oil in thousands and thousands of houses in England, and wagons that were run by steam at a rate of twenties of miles an hour, and furthermore, that there was a road under the earth nine-hundred feet deep in London, over which a river flowed with twenties of ships sailing thereon, and under which horse carriages and men went and came...that there is a lantern which can carry people up into the air, beside many miracles which I have heard of; but were I to even mention them to the Malays, they would certainly shut their ears and turn away their faces, calling me a liar...Again, I have had to bear a great deal of opposition from these people regarding things that I have learnt from intelligent men, who have competent knowledge of the world, which they say is truly round, and which I have repeated to them; and I have especially been answered, that such a fact could not be believed, for [these things were] never heard of before, nor have our ancestors informed us of it. I showed them numbers of signs and proofs that the world was round, yet they would not believe me. 69
In a similar pattern, the Europeans had taken the role of champions of progress in the Hikayat Abdullah knocking down the walls of native superstitions and emerging triumphant while the natives stood in awe of them. Farquhar was one of the actors who played the part as was shown in the demolition of the Malaccan Fort: “Many Malaccans thought the
considerable extent his own Tamil Muslim community, he had one particular group in mind in his critique of the local inhabitants: the Malays. 68 Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 143. 69 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 257-8; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 285-6; Shellabear, The Autobiography of Munshi Abdullah, trans. W.G. Shellabear, 36-9; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 217-8.
39
English will never succeed in demolishing the Fort because of its strength, and because of the presence of spirits and demons within its walls.” Farquhar had hired coolies to break down the fort but hundreds of them “could not even break a single stone after two or three days because of their fear of the fort’s spirits and demons.” Finally, when Farquhar succeeded in blowing it up with gunpowder, the inhabitants shook their heads and said “How intelligent and skilful these white men are!” Hence, those “who did not believe the fort can be demolished” were silenced, “And all the spirits and demons that filled their minds flew back to where they originated from, because of their fear of gunpowder.”70 Thomson, in his personal reflection on this episode on the demolition of the Malacca Fort, wrote:
The commencement of the demolition of the fort shows clearly how inefficient is native labour, and more so when to this is added the weakening influence of superstition; and here we may note how Abdullah himself, by the education and converse [sic] with a superior race, had thrown off the latter. It is curious to observe his glorying in the fort and lamenting its destruction; seeing it was by this that the European powers had overawed the natives...as to the jins or evil spirits, I have often remarked that the natives were thoroughly persuaded that the Europeans were beyond their influences.71
Thomson’s view was that it was Abdullah’s exposure to a “superior race”, the Europeans, that was the reason he was beyond the influence of native superstition, and also had “ideas far advanced beyond his countrymen.”72 Because he had worked with
70 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and
71 72
Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 45-98; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 48-50, 52; Abdullah Munshi, The Autobiography of Munshi Abdullah, trans. W.G. Shellabear, 36-9; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 19-21, 23. Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 25-6. Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 143. The significance of Abdullah’s close contact with Europeans such as Stamford Raffles and his missionary employers in fostering a mindset that was different to his countrymen was also highlighted by Milner. See: Milner, The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya, 50, 66, 83-4.
40
Europeans, he had been exposed to Western ideas throughout most of his life.73 This can be seen earlier, in Abdullah’s account of his attempt to relate to the locals the advances of Western science and knowledge, which he said he learnt from “intelligent men.” These “intelligent men” were without doubt Europeans, as Abdullah himself had told his missionary friend William Milne, as recounted in the Hikayat Abdullah:
Milne: [Said laughingly] It is absolutely stupid for people to believe all these [superstitious] things. Abdullah: A lot of races here believed in such things...I used to believe in such things and was afraid because I was exposed to these tales when I was little by the elderly. However, ever since I started learning and was able to think a little, and read, and additionally, by mixing with men of intellect, that is the white men, I became aware that all of these were false, a big lie.74
In Abdullah’s view, the backward state of his Malay countrymen was for the most part caused by the despotic and evil rule of the Malay Rajas, and he painted them in an abhorrent manner throughout his autobiography. He was an outspoken critic of the Malay elites.75 The Malay Rajas, according to Abdullah, were despotic and evil, and under their tyrannical leadership their subjects suffered rather than prospered.76 Their actions were governed by lust (hawa nafsu) rather than reason and justice.77 Moreover, their tyranny
73 In addition to this, Traill had highlighted that Abdullah was brought up and lived in the
British-governed Settlements, and was closely associated with Europeans throughout his life: Traill, “Aspects of Abdullah ‘Munshi’,” 37. 74 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 114; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 125; Abdullah Munshi, The Autobiography of Munshi Abdullah, trans. W.G. Shellabear, 95. This part was in Thomson’s manuscript, but he chose not to translate it without providing an explanation. Was it because he thought that he had already sufficiently covered the topic of native superstition? We can only surmise. For the romanised Malay translation of this part of Thomson’s manuscript, refer to: Sweeney, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney, 651. 75 Milner, The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya, 13, 31-2. 76 For coverage, see: Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 297-301; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 330-7; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 267-74. 77 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 297-8, 300-1, 303, 345-7; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 331-2, 334-5, 383-6; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 267-8, 271-2, 274.
41
was one of the chief reasons why the Malays “had over time not become smarter, but rather, were becoming increasingly stupid.”78 In their present state, they were “like soil without fertiliser”, that is: nothing could be done to elevate them above their stations.79 Abdullah warned that if the Malays persisted in living in ignorance, they would be trampled by other races.80 The Hikayat Abdullah had, on the whole, suggested that the Europeans were the superior race and through the illustrations of the tyrannical nature of their rulers and the backward nature of the Malay Peninsula’s local inhabitants it justified British rule. It could be used, especially by advocates of European imperialism, to prove that Europeans brought positive influence by improving the lives of those they came in contact with. Abdullah’s autobiography had shown them that the natives were, after all, better off under the benevolent wings of the Europeans than under the rule of their despotic Rajas, as under their rule they could never hope to progress. Abdullah himself stood as a symbol of the positive outcome of European influence. Then again, he was also a figure who had demonstrated that the inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula were capable of achieving a level of civilisation comparable to the Europeans. In Translations of the Hakayit Abdulla, Thomson ascertained Abdullah’s enlightenment to be “far in advance of the opinions of his countrymen,” and found that “indeed they are equal to our most advanced civilisation.”81 Judging from his interactions with intelligent locals in the Malay region, such as Abdullah, he had been convinced that
78 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and
Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 344; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 382. 79 Ibid. 80 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 350; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 388; Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 335. 81 Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 86.
42
“they, by degrees, should be taught to bear the burdens of the public service, according to their intelligence and uprightness.”82 However, at the same time, Thomson attributed Abdullah’s advancement to his exposure to European influence: “the translations will better illustrate the man, modified undoubtedly as his character was by contact with superior European and American intellects, such as Raffles, Milne, and North.” 83 But in truth, Abdullah’s main preoccupation in writing the Hikayat Abdullah was not to advance British imperial power per se, but to encourage his countrymen to improve themselves beyond their stations by disregarding what he saw as pointless customs and embracing education. He had made this clear in his concluding remarks on the Hikayat Abdullah where he pointed out that the English had been once even more savage than the Malays, but had thrown off their backwardness to arrive at their present modern state.84 If the English could achieve such advancement, so too could the Malays themselves.85 He offered his criticisms of the backward practices of the Malays as ‘advice’ (nasihat) and this reflected his aspiration for Malay social reform.86 He ended the Hikayat Abdullah by expressing his sincere hope that the Malays would take his counsel to heart, or in Malay: “dengan sebesar-besar harapku mudah-mudahan mereka itu mengambil ibarat akan
82 Ibid., 328. 83 Ibid., 5. 84 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and
Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 348-9; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 386-7. Abdullah’s concluding remark was in Thomson’s manuscript, but excluded from Translations of the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi. See: Sweeney, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney, 747. 85 Ibid. 86 Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 353; Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 391; This was highlighted by Milner. See: Milner, The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya, 32, 45.
43
nasihatku ini.”87 But sadly, many have not seen the Hikayat Abdullah in this manner. From Thomson’s perspective:
Nature has given a climate that makes the Malays naturally lazy, so for them to be otherwise would be unnatural. Abdullah in this respect is an active disciple of Sir Stamford, having ideas far advanced beyond his countrymen; but it is to be remembered that he had Arab blood in him. Thus he was ambitious to advance the prestige of his adopted countrymen, but in this he, with a practical eye, sees there is no hope. 88
It must also be noted that Thomson did not translate the part of the Hikayat Abdullah that highlighted the savage past of the English.89 Thomson’s disinterest in interpreting this part was likely because it ran contrary to his view of the superior nature of Western civilisation, which will be further clarified in the subsequent chapters of this dissertation. Nevertheless, by observing the intimate relationship Abdullah had developed with the missionaries and other European actors, the Hikayat Abdullah had succeeded in demonstrating the possibility of affiliation and understanding developing between Christians and Muslims; between a people of two different beliefs and cultures. Thomson, in his commentary on Abdullah’s depiction of his emotional farewell of Raffles, said that it:
Gives a very agreeable picture of the intercourse between a Christian and a Mahomedan, and so is well worthy of our attention, as it proves how influential personal knowledge of each other’s good qualities is in subduing animosity and fierce sectarian hatred. That such mutual affection and respect should occasionally be generated is surely subject for congratulation. 90 87 As quoted in: Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and
Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 353. Also see: Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 391. 88 Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 143. 89 Thomson’s manuscript contained the part which highlighted the savage past of the English. See: Sweeney, Karya Lengkap Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah, trans. and ed. Amin Sweeney, 747 90 Ibid., 182.
44
From Thomson’s tone we can gather that through his exposure to Muslims in the Malay region, such as Abdullah, he had garnered respect for them. This will be further revealed in the next chapter which will look at Thomson’s book on his experiences in Malaya, Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East. Abdullah will emerge again, and it will be shown that there were other locals of the peninsula besides Abdullah whom Thomson held in high regard.
45
Figure 3 Norizan Idrus, Artist’s Impression of Abdullah Munshi, seated at the back of a boat when travelling to visit Kelantan, in H.F.O’B. Traill, “Aspects of Abdullah ‘Munshi’,” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 54, no. 3 (1981): 37.
46
Figure 4 Thomson’s Manuscript copy of the Hikayat Abdullah, 1843, in John Turnbull Thomson, Manuscript Volume ‘Life of Abdullah Moonshie Written by Himself. Keddah Annals’, AG-726/5, Hall-Jones family: Papers. ARC-0589, Hocken Collections, Dunedin.
Figure 5 Thomson’s Manuscript Copy of the Hikayat Abdullah [page 1 and 2], 1843, in John Turnbull Thomson, Manuscript Volume ‘Life of Abdullah Moonshie Written by Himself. Keddah Annals’, AG-726/5, Hall-Jones family: Papers. ARC-0589, Hocken Collections, Dunedin.
47
Figure 6 George Francis Joseph, Sir Stamford Raffles, in Anne Chisholm, “Raffles by Victoria Glendining: review,” The Telegraph, 10 December, 2012, Wednesday, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/9729413/Raffles-by-VictoriaGlendinning-review.html (accessed 21 May 2014).
48
Map 4 Colonial Southeast Asia, in Anthony Milner, The Malays (2008; repr., Oxford and Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 104.
CHAPTER 2
SOME GLIMPSES INTO LIFE IN THE FAR EAST
The ties that bound me to the Far East, it is true, had been entirely severed; yet I cast many a fond remembrance back to the friends I had left behind me, and often were my wandering thoughts conveyed to the spots endeared to me by the associations of early manhood. J.T.Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East, v.
Thomson wrote most about his experiences in the Malay Peninsula in Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East, published in 1864. The book is crucial for the information it provides on Thomson’s life in the Malay region, and contains reminiscences of the dangers he encountered in the tropics, his associations with the inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago (both locals and his fellow Europeans), his observations and personal opinions, and in many instances, his emotions. Like Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, examined in the previous chapter, it tells us about his character, and provides an insight into how it was shaped by his time in the region. Among the things revealed by Thomson in Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East was his journey in mastering the Malay language. We know that translating the Hikayat Abdullah would have been difficult, perhaps even impossible, without the tutelage of his Malay teacher, Munshi Abdullah, leading to his competency in the language. His interactions with the munshi gave him an advantage in understanding the autobiography’s contents, and his personal relationship gave him a natural authority in interpreting Abdullah’s work. Nonetheless, Abdullah was not the only channel through which Thomson learnt the language. He revealed in his book that his dealings with the Malays, mainly because of his tasks as a surveyor, had resulted in him gaining a grasp of the language:
50
“Time passes swiftly; and ere long I have learnt the native languages. My duties take me amongst the natives, and I have a new wide world opened to view.”1 What Thomson meant by his phrase “a new wide world opened to view” was that his understanding of the language had given him a better understanding of the Malays. This was clarified by Thomson later in his book:
After about twelve months, I could converse tolerably well in the Malayan language. The conversation of my friends no longer appeared a chattering jargon, tiresome to listen to. The prominent expressions first impressed themselves on the memory; then, by degrees, a soft flowing language issued out of the apparent chaos of words. With the possession of the language of the country, the people no longer passed and repassed as groups of strange folks, in coloured cotton prints of grotesque costume. Our recognitions now were frequent, and our conversations friendly. The Malay the bloodthirsty, revengeful, perfidious Malay had subsided into a good humoured, respectful, unsophisticated, little copper-coloured man, with a scanty light dress upon him. With such men who could not be good friends?...This was the Malay man in his own home in the country of his birth. 2
From this, we can gather that his understanding of the Malay language was an important step that enabled him to better judge the Malays and the other inhabitants of the different races in Malaya at the time, as Malay was the language of communication in the region:
There were others besides the Malays inhabiting the island, i.e., the Chinese, Bugis, Siamese, Burmese, Bengalese, Klings, Armenians, Jews, &c., &c. All spoke the lingua franca of the East, so easy communication could be had by all who had mastered the Malay language.3
1 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in
the Far East. [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 41.
2 Ibid., 60. By examining this statement, we can also see that Thomson had learnt how to speak Malay
before he became Abdullah’s student. This is because in the period in which he referred to in his account, he was stationed in Penang before he was assigned to Singapore as Government Surveyor. It is most probable that it was only in Singapore when Thomson came under the tutelage of Abdullah. Abdullah only taught in Malacca and Singapore. See: Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, 1-353. 3 Ibid., 61.
51
Grasping Malay, no doubt, gave Thomson the encouragement to intermingle with the natives of the Malay Peninsula, and was therefore a factor that led to the creation of his good relationship with them. As was noted earlier, Thomson himself said that his understanding of the language had resulted in a more positive outlook towards the Malays from a people who were bloodthirsty, revengeful, and perfidious, into a “good humoured, respectful, unsophisticated” group.4 When making reference to the Malays in the rest of his writing, he often called them his “friends.”5 This was an indication of Thomson’s positive opinion of them. Malay was not the only language he had learnt while in the Peninsula. “Being anxious to learn Hindostanee language,” he was referred, by his “Parsee friend” to an Indian, Golab Hussain.6 According to Thomson, one of his survey expeditions in the tropics had led him to live “entirely amongst the Malays, seldom seeing Europeans”, and his “conversation was in Malay, and current events were discussed in the language.” 7 Other than the obvious outcome this had on his skills in the language, this isolation led to his acquaintance with a Malay, Oamut, which grew into friendship. Thomson wrote:
Oamut was a true Malay; and...I was more in contact with him than with any other person for a whole year...He was independent in his tone, but respectful in his manners; and, during my long intercourse with him, he neither betrayed a tincture of low breeding, nor a sign of loose and improper thoughts. Indeed his sense was delicate and keen: his ideas had a tone of high standard. He was unmindful of money nor any other object than what was necessary to maintain himself and family. He gradually commanded my friendship. I felt I could not but respect him. 8
4 Ibid., 60. 5 For example, see: Ibid., 168. 6 Ibid., 255. 7 Ibid., 97. 8 Ibid., 97-8.
52
There were other locals besides Oamut who gained Thomson’s friendship, and as we know well from the previous chapter, Munshi Abdullah can be counted as one of them. Another local whom Thomson mentioned in his book was a Chinese merchant from Singapore, Hoo Ah Kay, or as he was known by Europeans Whampoa.9 In the words of Thomson:
I was acquainted with Whampoa for years before we became intimate...Whampoa’s mind was that of a country gentleman of the old school, one whom a Vandyke, a Poussin, or a Gainsborough would have loved, admired, and sympathised with in his pursuits...His business had brought him much in contact with European gentlemen, and especially with officers of Her Majesty’s navy...From constant contact with the officers of the navy, and masters of the mercantile service, he had acquired an English sailor’s habits of thought and style of conversation. These, at times, though manly and jolly, were more bluff-than polished. But what of that? The heart was sound and the intentions generous...Reader, I am writing about a Chinaman a man who wore a long plaited tail hanging down from the crown of his shaven head; who dressed in loose silk or cotton garments, and wore thick soled shoes...Once you knew him, you would easily perceive that he was a man whose actions, motives, loves, joys, and griefs were all hinged on the same great principles as your own. There was not a whit of difference. The first of Christian principles that all are equal in the sight of our Maker was conspicuously proved. I may add that, so far as I was acquainted with Whampoa, he was a man of upright conduct, whether in business or private life.10
Whampoa was not the only Chinese who Thomson built a good relationship with. In his early years in the tropics as a surveyor in Penang, he said “he was very intimate” with a Chinese merchant and planter named Kokchai for several years, and wrote of him as an “intelligent Indo-Chinese.”11 Other than the Chinese and Malay, he had also commented favourably on individuals from the “Kling” community, who were generally Indian migrants
9 Ibid., 307.
Note that Thomson misspelt Whampoa’s Chinese name as ‘Tau Ah Kee’ in his book. The correct spelling is ‘Hoo Ah Kay.’ For example, refer to: John van Wyhe, Misspelling the Darkness: The Voyage of Alfred Russel Wallace and Evolution without Darwin (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2013), 69. 10 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East. [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 307-8, 310-11. 11 Ibid., 61-5. Chinese who live in the Malay Peninsula are called ‘Indo-Chinese.’
53
from southern India, and altogether considered them as useful members of society.12 They were peaceful, “wealth-creating”, although usurious.13 One of them, Ramasamy Pillay, who “exercised the office of native writer and accountant”, was described by Thomson as “energetic, careful, and laborious.”14 Due to his frequent encounters with locals who exhibited attributes that won his respect, it follows that these encounters would have moved Thomson towards the view that the natives of the Indian Archipelago were capable of being equals of Westerners, in vices as much as virtues. Thomson presented Whampoa as an ‘eastern’ character whose conduct and manners exemplified the principle of human equality. Moreover, when Thomson recounted an incident involving the purchase of land belonging to a Malay woman and her sons, he remarked that he was astonished at how easily they were moved by the sight of coin. He concluded the event as “prove that the power of wealth was universal, and the weakness of vice was all-pervading”, and also, “that these bronze and copper-coloured individuals were moved by the same motives as their fellow creatures the white man – and urged by the same necessities.”15 However, these two instances do not imply that he was a believer of the theory that all men are one and the same. The rest of his work, in Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East, resonates with notions of his belief of European racial superiority, as for example in this passage:
12 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in
the Far East. [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 173. Abdullah can also be counted as belonging to the Kling community. See: Abdullah Munshi, Hikayat Abdullah, trans. Hamzah Hamdani, 4; Kassim Ahmad, introduction to Hikayat Abdullah, ed. Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib, trans. Kassim Ahmad, xxxiv; Thomson, Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 4-5. 13 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East. [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 173. 14 Ibid., 174. 15 Ibid., 96.
54 The native of the tropical East has not the vigour and intelligence of the Europeans; he can therefore neither combine for general protection, nor organise such a system of government as is capable of maintaining order.16
While on board a brig at the beginning of his journey from Singapore to Penang, Thomson wrote that he was startled to witness the harsh treatment of the native crew by their captain who was of “Dutch extraction…but afterwards, by residence in the country, having got initiated into the mysteries of the Indian social system.” Thomson explained that:
Europeans in the East have to speak two languages, – their own to their countrymen, the native language to their servants. When they speak to the former they are accustomed to use the polished tone that obtains in good society, when they speak to the latter, it is for the purposes of commanding a weak and lethargic race – the general tone is consequently foul, overbearing, and depraved. 17
When describing the social composition of Singapore, he saw the Europeans living there, even though they were the minority, as “the dominant race.” Although he may have simply implied that as a society they were the ruling elite.18 While the rest of Thomson’s accounts in Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East provides an antithesis against the hypothesis of his belief in human equality, it can also be reasonably assumed that he, at the time when the book was being written, held the view, and later on in his life, changed his position on the subject. As historians are constantly reminded, they are interpreting the past through the lens of the present, so too could the same principle be applied to Thomson when he contemplated events that transpired in his earlier years. It has been highlighted in the previous chapter that in his commentary on the Hikayat Abdullah, translated and published in the years after the production of Some
16 Ibid., 153-4. 17 Ibid., 20. 18 Ibid., 202.
55
Glimpses Into Life in The Far East, he attributed the capabilities and level of civilisation that can be attained by an “intelligent native” of the “Far East”, such as Abdullah, to his exposure to European influence. Thomson’s assertion of the superiority of the “white race” was more obvious and direct in Translations From the Hakayit Abdulla. A case in point, highlighted and discussed above, was Thomson’s linking of Abdullah’s level of enlightenment to his “education and converse with a superior race.” 19 A person reading the Hikayat Abdullah in Thomson’s time would have bought into the belief of Western dominance over the other races. The argument of European superiority was made more convincing in the Hikayat Abdullah because it was coming from the words of a native of the Malay region itself. There is evidence which shows that Thomson had already read the Hikayat Abdullah before he wrote Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East. In the last chapter of his book, dedicated to Abdullah, Thomson recounted his arguments with the munshi on topics that involved Christian and Islamic philosophy, and the “metaphysical.” In the heat of debate on the subject of the Christian Trinity, Thomson used the contents of Abdullah’s own biography to make his point. Thomson told Abdullah:
In your autobiography, I see you have made a happy illustration of the knowledge of mankind. It is much akin to another made by the great Dr. Chalmers. He compares man to one looking from the bottom of a deep well. You have compared him to a frog below a cup, the interior of the cup you call man’s range of thought. You have made it to be very limited.20
Apart from his discussions with Abdullah, and in addition to a partial translation of the Hikayat Abdullah detailing Abdullah’s family background, the last chapter contained
19 Thomson, Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 25. 20 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in
the Far East. [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 330.
56
Thomson’s personal perspectives on him. One of the things he pointed out was that Abdullah “had learnt a freedom of thought and an independent tone not often found in the Southern Asiatics.”21 Here again, as in Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Thomson made the suggestion that Abdullah’s contact with Europeans, such as Sir Stamford Raffles and the Protestant missionaries, had much to do in determining the development of his character.22 He wrote that “it was interesting to observe the effect of such a connection on his mind.”23 Thomson’s debates with Abdullah, which he described as “frequent”, did not adversely affect his respect for the munshi and his religion, as can be observed from the manner of his remarks on the subjects in all his literary works. Summing up his discussions with Abdullah he found that:
They may be crude, but the heat of argument and zeal was not the less on either side. Abdulla, though so long under the tuition of Protestant missionaries, and though well acquainted with the New Testament, was never converted; and I have since learned that he died in the faith of the Koran. He seemed to be convinced that it was sufficient for him. Burrows has said that the faith of the Mahomedan is strong.24
Abdullah’s ability to engage in a debate with him, a Westerner, would have also provided Thomson with further conviction of the intellectual capabilities that could be attained by a non-European. Thomson’s capacity to respect the religious belief of others had already taken shape when he was a young man in Penang. This can be seen in his recollection of a Malay man’s gruesome accident in a sugar-mill in Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East:
21 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in 22 Ibid., 326. 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid., 332.
the Far East. [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 327.
57
I was wrapped in the arms of Morpheus one night, when I was suddenly aroused by my Malay servant Yusof, who, in a great state of fright, and excitement, called me up, for a man had been crushed in a sugar-mill, working close by…Here I found Yusof’s information too true. A poor Malay had allowed his arm to be caught in trying to snatch his bill-hook, which had been carried into the rollers in feeding in the canes. His hand was drawn in, on and on, in two seconds’ time, till the monster machinery ground against his shoulders. No presence of mind could have saved him, as the machinery could not be stopped in a moment. When I arrived, the mill had been stopped, and the poor fellow extricated; and I now found him supported by several awe-stricken Malays, his right arm dangling by his side, a mass of mangled flesh, as thin as a pancake. When he saw me, he cried in agony, “Oh Tuan, Tuan, for the sake of Allah (God), bring down your gun and shoot me. Kasihan, tuan (have pity, sir), and shoot me. Horrified, my heart sank within me (I was then a lad). I directed the Malays to bear him up to a shed, and to send for a European surgeon, and the man’s own relatives…Ere long the surgeon arrived, and the result of his examination was, that, to give even a distant chance of life, an amputation must take place at the shoulder-joint. The poor man was gently informed of this; and a reaction, after his terror and excitement, having taken place, he craved to live…The poor man lingered for three days; and as I tended him at frequent intervals, I saw much of the workings of nature. At times cheerful, he would talk of his prospects with smiles. At other times depressed, he would turn his wan, weary face to me; and with an inexpressible air of hope mingled with fear, say, “Tuan shall I live?” To so earnest and piteous an appeal what could I say but “Ask help from God, and he may hear your prayer!” He was a Mahomedan. Was I right in saying prayers were universal? Conscience tells me “Yes.” The fanatical of my countrymen only would say No [sic]. And I have met such fanatics in the garb of lambs.25
Thomson’s regular encounters with scenes of death during his time in Southeast Asia, such as that described in this account, provided him with a lesson on the fragile nature of human life. After witnessing the deaths of crew members from disease on board a ship when he was first making his way to Malaya, he said, “I read my first lesson in the weakness of humanity, and the uncertainty of our earthly tenure.”26 Deaths were common in
25 Ibid., 67-8. 26 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in
the Far East. [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 11-13.
58
nineteenth-century Malaya. It was a hazardous region that was troubled by pirates and robbers, ridden with disease, and populated with dangerous animals and insects. 27 His undertakings as a surveyor, time and again, took him to places that could have resulted in his demise; these dangers were regularly cited by Thomson in his book. The following excerpt provides the overall picture of the hazards he faced, in what he regarded as “the savage wilds of the Malay peninsula”:
For miles the plain was waste, excepting at these two places, – a haunt for tigers, wild hogs, thieves, and cut-throats…The site of the bungalow was called Kubang Boyah, that is, alligator bog – a fit name. The spot was dismal, lonely, and hideous; for, along the shores, the alligator infested the muddy flats, monthly, nay weekly pouncing on the prawn fishers…At night clouds of mosquitoes darkened the rooms – a source of torment not to be evaded, excepting under the curtains…In such a place, there was a feverish insecurity….Pirates and petty thieves were known constantly to be roving about. The footprints of the tiger were often scanned in the morning near and about the buffalo pens…Every one [sic] was armed here. If the Malay had not his villainous kris by his side he had a huge golo (chopper), so loaded pistols were the constant companions of my pillows.28
With the above account, Thomson was also portraying the risks that surveyors had to undertake and the dangers they braved when performing their duty in the tropics. His mention of “Swarms of mosquitoes” indicates something about the prevalence of disease, such as malaria and yellow fever, in the warm tropical region of Malaya. Thomson referred to miasma and climatic effects as key factors in the cause of illness because their actual
27 The Malay Archipelago, throughout
history, has had a notorious reputation as a haven for pirates. Piracy was also an activity that was undertaken by the local nobility. See: Simon Layton, “Discourses of Piracy in an Age of Revolutions,” Itinerario 35, issue 2 (2011): 82-4, 86-93. Piracy was a common topic in Thomson’s reminiscences of Malaya which can be seen in: Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East. [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 88, 92, 100, 121, 134, 137-8, 141, 219-21; Thomson, Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 106-13, 121. 28 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East. [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 87-8, 240.
59
causes were not then known.29 Recalling young Thomson’s first voyage to Malaya, he believed the death of a member of the crew to have been caused by his exposure “to the night air and miasma.”30 The poor fellow “had his bunk in the round-house, heated by the fierce rays of the Sun.”31 According to Thomson, “A fellow-passenger exposed himself in the same way, as did many of the crew, and he and they were all taken ill of fever.”32 This belief was what propelled Thomson to leave for the colder climate of his homeland, to recover from an illness contracted while constructing the Horsburgh Lighthouse on Pedra Brance, Singapore. Two years of being exposed to the harsh elements on the white rock, overseeing the building of the lighthouse, took a toll on his health.33 However, the adverse climate of the tropics did not just affect the fragile health and constitution of the ‘cold sons of the north.’34 Thomson believed it had a deteriorating effect that altered the character of a person as well, most of all the ‘white man.’ Speaking from his personal experience, Thomson recalled how Ramasamy Pillay had approached him one day and offered his niece in marriage.35 Thomson’s “young imagination may have portrayed the young lady to be an Indo-Malay, of handsome features and elegant form as many of that class are” and “whatever way it may have been [portrayed in his] fancy”.36 Thomson said that in reality Pillay’s niece was a “squat figure, flat-nosed, black and
29 It was only towards the end of the nineteenth century that the role
of microorganisms in causing disease was established. See: James Belich, Making Peoples: A History of the New Zealanders: From Polynesian Settlement to the End of the Nineteenth Century (North Shore, New Zealand: Penguin Books, 2007), 173. Also see: Mark Harrison, Climates and Constitutions: Health, Race, Environment and British Imperialsim in India 1600-1850 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999), 206. 30 Ibid., 12. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid., 13. 33 Hall-Jones, Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in Otago and Southland, 23; Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 27. 34 This term was often used by Thomson to refer to Europeans. For example, see: Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East. [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 200. 35 Ibid., 177. 36 Ibid., 178-9
60
filthy.”37 From his encounter, Thomson found how it was “strange that the tastes of Europeans [were] modified by the climate; and what would repel them in their own land, does not do so in the tropics.”38 Later on, he related an incident which involved a Eurasian household which he personally knew, and their local servant, Menga – a daughter of the family’s former slave:
The family having been long settled in the country, held slaves prior to the abolition of slavery in the British dominions. Some of the slaves still clung to the family. One of them, an old woman, had a young daughter, who served in the house as ayah (nursemaid); now as she became marriageable, the lady of the house began to think of danger to her elder sons, and the old slave woman began to think of the advantage of creating a connection with her mistress’s family…Suspicions, at first only suggesting themselves, at length became apparent, so the ayah had to be got rid of by marriage to one of her kindred as fast as possible. A committee of old ladies was held on the subject, and Menga was told of her destiny. But to the horror of the mamas, Menga stoutly gave them to understand that she would take no one but the white son of her mistress. Try as they liked, she would have nothing to do with an orang itam (black man).39
It was in the conclusion of this story that he made clear his beliefs on climate and race. He also informs us that his theory was commonly held at this time:
I relate these things with no idle object, but with the view of clearly illustrating the fragile ground on which families of Europeans in the East maintain their purity of origin. Climate weakens their energies, and deteriorates their moral powers, which are the real foundations of their great influence. The cold, virtuous, Anglo-Saxon habits, are by inexorable nature, too surely replaced by self-indulgent patriarchal tendencies. I recollect once meeting with an intelligent Dutch civilian, of great experience in the government of the Netherlands India. He assured me that a great grandchild of pure European blood, was not known in the wide extent of the Dutch possession; and, further, that it was the opinion of the medical faculty, that pure blood could not be propagated there. This is 37 Ibid. 38 Ibid., 178. 39 Ibid., 253.
61 so much agreed with my own limited observations that I was strongly impressed with the curious physiological fact at the time.40
That said, Thomson had noted that the lady of the Eurasian household in his tale “though of pure European blood, had more of the native in her than had her husband”, a half caste, and identified “her oriental rearing” as an explanation of her behaviour.41 Racial deterioration was also used by Thomson to make sense of the despotism and poor administration of some English officials, which he himself had experienced at first hand during his time in Province Wellesley. He found the local inhabitants living in a state of oppression, and recorded the many injustices done to them by the chief official of the East India Company and his native mistress, “the Nonia.” Together they governed the province, the former directly and the latter indirectly.42 Thomson testified that his account of the lamentations of the local settlers was “what I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears.”43 He asked his readers what “has changed his [the chief official’s] nature from the healthy, fair-play-loving Briton to the bloated tyrant?”44 And the answer was:
Native connections of a low and illicit kind. Why so? Because he has been flattered for thirty years, and flattery insidiously impairs the mind; and the climate, impairing the energy, has made flattery the more destructive. Flattery and climate destroy the original independence of the European. He is now under the trammels of his native connections; they are hated with a gnawing hate, and live under the fear of treachery. They suggest oppression under their marked enemies to discomfit them; and, by flattering his vanity, and pandering to his avarice, he falls a victim to their wily toils, and the British official becomes a tyrant! Oh, how unfit a representative of England’s manly Christianity! [sic] how unlike the noble disinterestedness of England’s most noble statesmen!45 40 Ibid., 253-4. Italics were
included by Thomson.
41 Ibid., 251-2. 42 Ibid., 100-15. 43 Ibid., 114. 44 Ibid., 126 45 Ibid. Italics
included by Thomson.
62
In Thomson’s mind, native influence had a detrimental effect on Europeans. In the case of the chief official, his connection with the locals, chiefly his “Nonia” mistress, was identified as a key basis of the degeneration of his Western attributes.46 He had let his guard down and allowed the natives and environment to corrupt his Western virtue. European contact, on the contrary, was thought to have been beneficial to other races. Needless to say, Abdullah was a fine specimen of the subject. Thomson would later criticise Edward Dowes Dekker, in Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, for his argument that “the Europeans have corrupted the natives” of Java, and found the Dutchman’s view strange: “when we know that all good comes from Europe.”47 Mark Harrison has revealed that the concept of climatic determinism on race, as held by Thomson, was at its peak during the nineteenth-century and was well recognised in Western medical and scientific scholarship at this time.48 It coincided with European imperial expansion in India and Southeast Asia, which resulted in a surge of interest in the region’s environment and its effects on the health and livelihood of Europeans.49 The warm and wet climate of the tropics was generally considered incompatible with European constitutions.50 Its effects were not only detrimental to their health, but were also believed to have a degenerative impact on character as well.51 Harrison underlines that “the
46
Ibid., 104.
47 Thomson, Translations
From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 158. Edward Dowes Dekker was also known by his pen name of Multatuli. He was best remembered for his novel on Dutch colonial rule in the Netherlands Indies, Max Havelaar, which was published in 1860. The novel highlighted the illtreatment of Dutch colonial subjects and systemic injustice towards natives in the Indies. It was drawn from the author’s own personal experience. See: Darren C. Zook, “Max Havelaar: Multatuli, Colonial History, and the Confusion of Empire,” Comparative Literature Issue, MLN 121, no. 5 (December 2006): 1171, 1184n1. 48 Harrison, Climates and Constitutions: Health, Race, Environment and British Imperialism in India 16001850, 25, 56, 100. 49 Ibid., 4-5. 50 Ibid., 3, 9-10, 18, 65. 51 Ibid., 11.
63
supposed ‘lethargy’ or ‘timidity’ of Indians was attributed to the consequence of prolonged exposure to the climate.”52 Furthermore, the consolidation of British rule sharpened racial distinctions and encouraged the belief that Britons were inherently superior to their Asian subjects.53 This “superiority”, according to Harrison, “had often been explained in terms of climate: the bracing climates of the north were thought to act as incentives to physical and mental effort, whereas the enervating climate of the tropics predisposed to stagnation…sufficient to account for the ‘torpor’ and ‘backwardness’ of tropical peoples”, and even “moral laxity.”54 Many Europeans feared that long residence in the warm climates of Asia would also affect them, believing it would lead to the loss of attributes that distinguished their “imperial race.”55 This conviction can be observed in the work of Adam Fergusson, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University, in his Essay on the History of Civil Society, written at the end of the eighteenth century, in which he perceived “the Hollander [to be] laborious and industrious in Europe [but] he becomes more languid and slothful in India.”56 Given that climatic determinism was an established convention in nineteenthcentury medical and scientific thought, we can spare Thomson any present-day ridicule for his racial beliefs. Furthermore, he had revealed in his work that his conclusions were not formed without careful analysis and study. He had demonstrated the capacity to understand that other races, because they lived in an environment and culture that was different, held beliefs and perceptions that contrasted to those of the West. This was also
52 Ibid. 53 Ibid., 16. 54 Ibid., 16, 59-60, 102. 55
Ibid., 19, 25, 96. Moreover, Mark Harrison noted that “some writers speculated that an individual’s mental and spiritual outlook could be profoundly altered by residence in the tropics.” See: Ibid., 89, 215. 56 Adam Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil Society (Basil: J.J. Tourneisen, 1789), 181. This was also quoted in Harrison’s work. See: Harrison, 96.
64
partly due to the substantial amount of time he had spent in the tropics, which gave him the opportunity to cultivate an understanding of the races he had intermingled and lived with. His following observation of a Malay wedding will show that he was not the type who would jump to conclusions on first sight:
The Malay owner of the house, being a poor man, did not shake hands with us; but with a cheerful tabbeh, or Malay salute, ushered us into the room, where the preparations for the ceremony were completed. The apartment was small...and fifteen or twenty Malay relatives were assembled in it…As this was the first time that I had come socially in contact with the Malays, my observations were close, though my ignorance of the language prevented me from understanding much. I need not say my preconceived ideas were unfavourable to the race; but the first sight was sufficient to allay disagreeable feelings.57
Furthermore, Thomson mentioned the importance of being acquainted with the language and social economy of a people before passing judgment on them – when describing his observation of a Chinese family’s visit to a burial ground:
The burial-grounds of the Chinese are not places to be shunned, but are the sites for picnics and family plays. The last resting-places of the father, mother, sister, and brother, are visited with hilarity…It is the widow only who indulges in grief; and to listen to the vent of a Chinese widow’s grief, would break your heart, it is so loud, so long, and so piteous! She hangs over the tomb, and bewails her loss in tears and lamentations; and within a few yards may be seen her children, her mother, her brothers, and sisters amusing themselves eating, laughing, talking in the midst of perfect enjoyment. The scene puzzles the conjectures of the intruding European, whose first impulse is to sympathise with the inconsolable lady, and whose next is to childe the heartless relatives. But this is better left alone, so he turns aside with curious thoughts, and finds, if he had not found it before, that the habits of a people differ in their genus, and that their manners are inexplicable to those who are not familiar with the language and social economy.58
57 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life In The Far East [By J.T. Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 58 Ibid., 283. Italics included by Thomson.
57.
65
He understood that “every nation has its customs, every people its peculiar notions.” 59 Thomson had said that the ties that bound him to the ‘Far East’ “had been completely severed”, and this research recognises that a person’s view does not remain unchanged over time. But in Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East, and in Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, we see the many attachments to Southeast Asia in his character that remained unbroken over the years despite having left the region.60 Moreover, his ties to the Malay Peninsula can also be observed in his other literary works written in New Zealand, which will be revealed in the fourth chapter of this dissertation. But before connecting his experience in the Malay Peninsula to New Zealand, it is necessary to examine his writings on the Malay Peninsula that were produced while he was still residing in the region. This will enable us to further analyse the relationship between his time in the tropics and his writings and thoughts in New Zealand.
59 Ibid., 309. 60 Thomson, preface to Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, v - vi.
Thomson had also said in the preface this book was written in New Zealand.
66
Figure 7 John Turnbull Thomson, Malays of the Salat, Malay Peninsula, 1848, in Otago University Research Heritage, Hocken Pictorial Collections - 92/1249a1228, http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/index.php/items/show/4766 (accessed May 24, 2014).
67
Figure 8 John Turnbull Thomson, Singapore Town from the Government Hill looking southeast, 1846, in Otago University Research Heritage, Hocken Pictorial Collections 92/1217a12197, http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/index.php/items/show/4736 (accessed May 24, 2014).
Figure 9 John Turnbull Thomson, Pulo Tinggi, Pahang, 1849, in Otago University Research Heritage, Hocken Pictorial Collections - 92/1206a12186, http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/index.php/items/show/4726 (accessed May 24, 2014).
68
Map 5 John Turnbull Thomson, Plan of Prince of Wales Island [Penang] and Province Wellesley by J.T.Thomson, MS-3183/030, Hall-Jones family: Papers. ARC-0589, Hocken Collections, Dunedin.
CHAPTER 3
THOMSON’S WRITINGS IN THE MALAY PENINSULA
Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East and Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi were significant works that tell us about Thomson’s experience in the Malay Peninsula. But equally important were his writings produced during his time in the region itself. Research on Thomson’s life in the Peninsula will not be complete without examining these materials. Other than complementing the information already provided by his books on the ‘Far East’, these writings add further detail to his experience in the Malay Archipelago. What is more, the advantage of these materials, unlike his books, lies in the fact that they were written in the region, and so, reflected his personal opinions when he was there. The volume of Thomson’s writings in the East – from his survey and engineering reports on the British Straits Settlements and their surrounding regions, to his writings in The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and East Asia – were not insignificant. However, this chapter will only emphasise his writings that are relevant in explaining the connection of his life in Southeast Asia with his literary works and perceptions in New Zealand. Therefore, attention will be narrowed to one of his articles in The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia and his personal correspondence during his time as Government Surveyor of Singapore.
70
Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia
Thomson’s engagements with the native inhabitants of the Malay Region was regularly featured in The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia along with his reports on the settlements and the surrounding areas. Of note is his 1847 article on his encounter with the Selatar and Sabimba tribes, from which his position on racial difference can be discerned.1 The Selatar and Sabimba were among the indigenous groups inhabiting the Malay Archipelago; the former were river nomads while the latter inhabited the forest. In his first attempt to interact with the Selatar, Thomson and his group found them “too shy and timid to allow of a near approach.”2 But later, with the help of a former Malay pirate, they managed to induce the tribe to approach them.3 Thomson recounted that on their first approach he:
Could not help being struck with the extreme squalidness of their appearance, united as it was to dull insensibility to what was going forward, a marked contrast to their pert Malay conductors, who assumed over them an air of superiority and command, which is never witnessed in the latter when in the presence of Europeans alone, and [afforded] at once…a standard for judging of the place which the Oráng Slétar should hold in the ranks of civilisation.4
At the time of his writing, he found the Selatar to be “the most degraded of [the] human race” in that quarter of the globe.5 Thomson thought their personal appearance
1 See: John Turnbull Thomson, “Remarks on the Sletar & Sabimba Tribes,”
and Eastern Asia 1 (1847): 341-51. 2 Ibid., 341 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid., 341-2. 5 Ibid., 343.
Journal of the Indian Archipelago
71
was “unprepossessing, their deportment lazy and slovenly, united to a great filthiness of body.”6 Their mode of living was meagre:
To one accustomed to the comforts and artificial wants of a civilized life, theirs as a contrast appears to be extreme; huddled up in in a small boat hardly measuring 20 feet in length, they find all the domestic comfort that they are in want of; at one end is seen the fire-place, in the middle are the few utensils they may be in possession of, and at the other end beneath a kadjang or mat not exceeding six feet in length, is found the sleeping apartment of a family often counting 5 and 6 together with a cat and dog, under this they find shelter from the dews and rains of the night, and heat of the day.7
Thomson highlighted that even the Malays found the Selatar’s stinted quarters miserable.8 He established also that the Selatar too were atheistic, neither knowing the “God nor Devil of the Christians or Mohamedan…nor any of the demigods of Hindoo mythology” and did not harbour any beliefs in local superstitions.9 They spoke Malay and possessed “Malayan type” features.10 Thomson considered them to be merely “unconverted Malays”, though a distinct class from the Malays in general.11 However, Thomson saw the Sabimba in a different light:
The personal appearance of these denizens of the forest is, to say the least, pleasing; well formed features in the young and a contented placidity of conference in the old, would at once show them to be an improveable [sic] race; unshackled with the dogmas of the Islam and infantine in their perception of all things, they stand as its [sic] were on the threshold of such a faith as Christianity presents in its primitive, most humble, and purest form, but they have no
6 Ibid., 345. 7 Ibid., 344-5. 8 Ibid., 345. 9 Ibid., 344. 10 Ibid., 343, 347. 11 Ibid., 346.
72 one to invite them in. It is such races as these that call for missionary enterprise.12
He also deduced that their close relations with the Malays had given them a taste for dress, as he found them wearing cloth instead of the bark of trees.13 Their manner of speaking was “open and simple, their demeanour respectful.”14 Even so, he observed that the Malays spoke to them as if they were “little better than baboons, and treated them as a much inferior class to themselves.”15 Like the Selatar they were also “atheistical”, spoke Malay, and had a physiognomy that resembled the Malay.16 It was clear from Thomson’s article that of the three local groups present in his discussion – the Malay, the Selatar, and the Sabimba – he considered the Selatar to be the lowest in the order of civilisation. The Malays were superior to the two tribes, although, he considered the Sabimba to be capable of being civilised and presented them as good candidates for such an enterprise. Perhaps, he thought at a certain point in the future, they might even equal the Malay. In the Selatar however, Thomson placed no such hope. We can observe from Thomson’s analysis that attributes such as personal appearance, mannerisms, and conduct were important factors when judging the level of civilisation of a human group, which led him to the belief that the Sabimba were superior to the Selatar in all aspects. The same can be said for his judgment of character. We have seen in Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East that individuals he held in high esteem, such as Whampoa, possessed the mind of a country gentleman and whose “actions, motives, loves, joys, and griefs were all hinged on the same principles as your own.”17 Oamut, his
12 Ibid., 349-50. 13 Ibid., 350. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid., 347-9. 17 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in
the Far East [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 307, 311.
73
Malay friend, “was independent in his tone, but respectful in his manners.”18 Nevertheless, at the end of his article, concluding from comparative skull measurement of the river nomads, he wrote that the Orang Selatar would be placed halfway between the European and Negro.19 It was clear from Thomson’s viewpoint that the Europeans held the highest position in the ladder of civilisation; the Selatar, the lowest of its kind in the Malay Archipelago, occupied the middle; while the ‘Negro’ was placed on the bottom rung.20
Thomson’s Correspondence in Singapore
Examining Thomson’s correspondence with his superiors, colleagues, and East India Company administrators, written in the last years of his career as a Company surveyor (1847-1855), enables us to uncover more about his experiences in the region which are otherwise not found in his publications.21 Moreover, letters generally are more personal and revealing than printed works. Other than progress reports and cost analysis of his construction projects and surveys, his letters also conveyed his private opinions and thoughts. One of the key aspects that can be established from reading his letters is his attitude towards the locals he had to regularly work with. In a letter dated 27 May 1851 to Thomas Church, who was the resident councillor of Singapore at the time, Thomson highlighted the complexities of performing a survey in a crowded town like Singapore and urged the need
18 Ibid. 19 Thomson, “Remarks on the Sletar & Sabimba
Tribes,” 351.
20 Ibid., 347-9. Thomson’s manner of thought was consistent with the philosophy advanced by the Scottish
Enlightenment, in which every aspects of a society can be measured by an evolutionary scale and placed on a civilisation ladder running from ‘savage’ to ‘refinement.’ See: Jane Rendall, “Scottish Enlightenment: From Robertson to James Mill,” The Historic Journal 25, no.1 (March 1982): 20. 21 These letters are now held in the collection of the National Library Board in Singapore. See: Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore.
74
for competent assistants to aid him in his task. 22 He was confident that these positions could be undertaken by “natives of superior intelligence” and noted that:
Surveying operations in India [are] universally carried forward by native surveyors for when taught[,] they under superintendence are found quite competent to the task and as their salaries are small such work is done at very small cost to what could be done for by Europeans.23
Thomson hoped that these posts could be filled by “three Chinese or other natives of superior intelligence…whose salaries on becoming competent should be [increased].”24 He pointed out the availability of intelligent locals in the region, “who easily procure employment in mercantile offices – which is preferable to the unsettled life of a surveyor.”25 Thomson’s encounters with locals, during his time in the Malay Peninsula, who had shown high levels of intellect such as Munshi Abdullah and Whampoa, may have been a crucial factor in his advocating the employment of native surveyors and expressing confidence in their capabilities to undertake such a task. It is also interesting to note that at this juncture, he considered the recruitment of “natives” as assistant surveyors to be preferable to Europeans, but we can only say with certainty that this was due to the cost advantage of employing the former. Nevertheless, over a month later, Thomson would write to Church to complain about the incompetence of his native assistant, Saiboo, and request his dismissal.26 This, however, did not cause Thomson to discard his position on
22 Thomson to Church, 27 May, 1853, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson
– Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore. 23 Thomson to Church, 27 May, 1853, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore. Thomson also commented on the value of native assessors in the Indian Archipelago in: Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 328. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid. 26 Thomson to Church, 14 July, 1853, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore.
75
their capabilities. He simply requested the engagement of another local to take his place, preferably, “one who could read and write English.”27 This view did not change in the years after he left the tropics. He would write in Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla that men such as Abdullah should be “taught to bear the burdens of the public service according to their intelligence and uprightness.”28 We can perceive that these intelligent personalities of the ‘Far East’ had left a lasting impression on Thomson. Another noticeable feature of Thomson’s letters were his thoughts on climate and its effects on health and constitution. In a letter to Church on 3 August 1853, we see his conviction that his exposure to the harsh elements of the tropical climate while overseeing the construction of the Horsburgh Lighthouse had affected his health. He requested his superior to grant him leave to return to the colder climate of England to effect his recovery:
Sir, I have the honor to inform you that the state of my health is such that an immediate return to my native country is absolutely necessary to my recovery…My health as you are aware gave way under the great experience I had to undergo in carrying out that very important and difficult work the Horsburgh Lighthouse and I trust you know me sufficiently to depend that the necessity of attending to my health alone drives me away at the peculiar juncture…[hope] that the Government will generously be pleased to allow me to forward to England for 12 or 18 months without prejudice to my present appointment…I feel confident that such liberty towards me would be well repaid by the improvement of both mind and body which I would derive from a visit to England.29
Thomson would return to Singapore the following year and in his letter to Church, as part of his application to fill the vacant position of Assistant Resident in Singapore, dated 21 November 1854, he wrote that:
27 Ibid. 28 Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 328. 29 Thomson to Church, 3 August, 1853, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson
National Library Board, Singapore.
– Correspondence,
76 The Chinese…are the only eastern tribe having mechanical skill and energy equal to the requirements of such undertakings (manual labour). I flatter myself that I possess that control which long and intimate knowledge of their peculiar habits alone can give. Under European guidance they are singularly well fitted for carrying out difficult and superior works in the Torrid Zone where Europeans cannot be employed as labourers.30
Other than expressing his familiarity with the Chinese, a product of his interactions with the locals over the years in the tropics, he admitted that their bodies could tolerate the hot equatorial weather that was otherwise disadvantageous to Europeans. This conviction was crucial in driving his resignation in Singapore to move to a region better suited for ‘a cold son of the north’:
Sir, I have the honor of informing you that in consequence of continued indisposition since I returned to this settlement from sick leave to Europe I feel convinced that I can no longer execute my duties with satisfaction to myself or my employers. I would therefore humbly tender the resignation of my appointment…Accompanying is a certificate from the senior surgeon which I forward not with the [hope?] of further soliciting the indulgence of Government…but to move authorities to relieve me as early as possible after the above date so that I may depart for a cold climate a permanent residence in which seems now essential.31
This letter, among the last written by Thomson before he left the Malay Peninsula, provides a fitting end to the story of his life in the ‘Far East’ which could
30 Thomson to Church, 14 July, 1854, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson
– Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore. In The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, he mentioned that Europeans, who were more accustomed to temperate climates, lose their strength when placed under a hot climate. The Chinese however, were able to labour and tolerate the heat. See: John Turnbull Thomson, “General Report on the Residency of Singapore Drawn Up Principally with a View of Illustrating its Agricultural Statistics,” The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia 3 (1849): 749. 31 Thomson to Church, 28 December, 1854, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore. Note that there is a possibility that his negative attitude towards the East India Company, which can be frequently observed in his writing, was driven by his inability to secure himself the position of Resident Assistant. However, this remains an assumption as I am unable to find any evidence to suggest that this was the case.
77
otherwise not be obtained in his published works on the Region.32 This dissertation has so far explored the central elements of his life in the tropics, which will come into play in forming the discussions of the final chapter – where the region’s attachments to his writings in New Zealand will be ascertained.
32 Even in Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East, Thomson made
no mention of the closing chapters of his life in the tropics. His book only ended with his reminiscence of Abdullah and a partial translation of the Munshi’s autobiography. The same can be said with his commentary in the translation of the Hikayat Abdullah.
78
Figure 10 John Turnbull Thomson, Selatars of Singapore, 1848, in Otago University Research Heritage, Hocken Pictorial Collections - 92/1259a12238, http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/index.php/items/show/4776 (accessed 24 May, 2014).
Figure 11 John Turnbull Thomson, Sabimbas of Johor, Malay Peninsula, 1847, in Otago University Research Heritage, Hocken Pictorial Collections - 92/1248a12227, http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/index.php/items/show/4765 (accessed 24 May, 2014).
79
Figure 12 John Turnbull Thomson, Pedra Branca, 1850, in Otago University Research Heritage, Hocken Pictorial Collections – 92/1232a12337, http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/index.php/items/show/4869 (accessed 24 May, 2014).
Figure 13 John Turnbull Thomson, Hosburgh Lighthouse, 1851, in Otago University Research Heritage, Hocken Pictorial Collections – 92/1231a12335, http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/index.php/items/show/4868 (accessed 24 May, 2014).
CHAPTER 4
THE MALAY PENINSULA AND ITS PLACE IN THOMSON’S WRITINGS IN NEW ZEALAND On penetrating into the forest reminiscences of similar scenery traversed on similar duties in the tropical East returned forcibly to the memory. Though these forests are not so high as the forests of the tropics, yet they are equally compact, abounding in vines, creepers, orchideous plants, and ferns. The cabbage tree that here grows on the skirts of forests very much resembles the pandan, so often met with in analogous positions in the East Indies. J.T.Thomson in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, volume 28 (1858): 300.
Aside from Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East and Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, we see Thomson making references to Malaya in many of the writings he produced after he left the region in 1855. In “Extracts from a journal kept during the performance of a Reconnaissance Survey of the Southern District of the Province of Otago, New Zealand”, in a similar fashion as the above quotation, he made a reflection on his past in Malaya comparing the scenery of the Oreti River to the admirable backdrop of “the rivers of the tropics, regions exuberant of vegetation.”1 At the end of his article, he would contrast his experiences surveying in the Malay Peninsula with his one in New Zealand:
After serving so many years in the Survey Service of India, on this my first entry on the rough duties of the Colonial Surveyor, I had the contrast of circumstances pretty sensibly defined on my memory. The species are broadly distinct…Having partaken of the bitters and sweets of both 1
John Turnbull Thomson, “Extracts from a journal kept during the performance of a Reconnaissance Survey of the Southern District of the Province of Otago, New Zealand,” Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 28 (1858): 299. In Thomson’s article, the Oreti River was called New River instead. This was because the Oreti River during Thomson’s time was also known by that name. See: William H.S. Roberts, “Maori Nomenclature: Early History of Otago,” Otago Witness, 12 May 1909, 65.
81 services pretty freely…I prefer “dum vivimus” cold air and stout appetite, to a hot air and general prostration. I prefer the homely enjoyment of colonial life.2
We can also observe the influence of Thomson’s attachments to the Malay Archipelago in his book, Rambles with a Philospher, or, Views at the Antipodes by an Octagonian – inspired by the experiences of his surveys in the southern districts of New Zealand. Thomson mentioned two individuals who accompanied him in his travels but did not give their names. One, whom Thomson encountered while journeying “the sharp, razor-back ridges that extend between Waikouaiti River and the Snowy Mountain”, was referred to as ‘the Companion.’3 Thomson became acquainted with ‘the Companion’ and they agreed to prolong their travels together. The other, ‘the Squire’, was identified as “another party, who agreed to go with us.”4 ‘The Companion’ was depicted as a philosophical character whose favoured topic of discussion was his theory on ‘the laws of contraries’ – which concept involved the existence of opposing forces in the world that maintained the natural order of things. Should extremities occur, these forces would act to return matters to the equilibrium.5 There were attributes of ‘the Companion’ that were strikingly similar to Thomson’s own character. First, both had long resided in the tropics; second, ‘the Companion’s’ experience of the region mirrored Thomson’s very own. For instance, in Rambles with a Philosopher, or, Views at the Antipodes by an Octagonian, the Companion remarked:
2 Thomson, “Extracts from a journal kept during the performance
of a Reconnaissance Survey of the Southern District of the Province of Otago, New Zealand,” 327-8. 3 John Turnbull Thomson, Rambles with a Philosopher, or Views at the Antipodes by an Octagonian (Dunedin: Mills, Dick & Co., 1867), 1-3, 24. 4 Ibid., 24. 5 Examples of this concept can be found throughout Rambles with a Philosopher, or Views at the Antipodes by an Octagonian. See: Thomson, Rambles with a Philosopher, or Views at the Antipodes by an Octagonian, 7-248.
82 Slavery is indigenous to the tropics --freedom to the temperate zones. Polygamy also is the institution of the former -- monogamy of the latter. By these diversities the opposite principles engender change from one to the other. The tropics are the seat of the black man -- the temperate zone the seat of the white; and the red man sits between. The black man sells his offspring for slaves and concubines; and the white man deteriorates by the contact. 6
We see the resemblance of this quote to Thomson’s commentary in Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla:
The institution of slavery was almost universal during the last century…it is inherent in all unorganised tribes or nations, and is closely allied to polygamy…it is a righteous thing that slavery, under such instruments, should be abolished. But it is not to be concealed that the worst effects of the institutions are on the whites themselves, as it deteriorates their moral status and instils decay and corruption into their own hearthsides.7
Another of ‘the Companion’s discussions that paralleled Thomson’s encounters in Malaya can also be noticed in his following remark:
My personal study of the baser races of mankind, has convinced me that they do not see with your own eyes, oh squire, nor do they discriminate so nicely. A tiger to the wild man of the tropics is treated in conversation with as much respect as you treat your grandfather. 8
In Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East, Thomson wrote:
We were astir early in the morning; and after a cup of tea, we started to have a look at the country. We first had to go through some thick tall forest…We had not proceeded far before I started back at the sight of a recent print of a large tiger’s foot. This was my first acquaintance with the footprint of a tiger, so I felt nervous…The Malays said: “Never mind, tuan, that one is a dato; it will not harm you.” “How so?” said 6 Ibid., 201. 7 Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 151, 159. 8 Thomson, Rambles with a Philosopher, or, Views
at the Antipodes by an Octagonian, 177.
83 I. “It is one of our ancestors, so will not meddle with mankind.”…Strange idea of the Malays to call so terrible a scourge as the tiger by the reverential name of “grandfather.” Yet when we consider how prone uncivilised man is to propitiate the evil influences, rather than to honour the Author of all Good, we need not wonder at this. 9
Last but not least, Thomson’s encounter with the Selatar of Malaya was also recounted by ‘the Companion’:
A close observer of these has said of the Orang Selatar, a tribe of Indo-China, that their appearance was so wild and remarkable, as to require no more than a minute’s look to impress itself upon the mind. One expression was strongly stamped on their countenances – that of a dull, blank, stupidity, almost idiotical – in its excess, animated for the time by the startled and frightened look with which they gazed us at our approach. This expression was stamped on the face of each of the tribes at once to reveal life so miserably contracted as to exclude all that social expansiveness of individual nature, which produces free growth of mind and wide range of idea. 10
By scrutinising the similarities between ‘the Companion’s’ thoughts and experiences and Thomson’s, it is obvious that these resemblances went beyond pure coincidence. ‘The Companion’ (and perhaps ‘the Squire’), was very likely a fictional character invented by Thomson as a way of representing his thoughts.11 In the event that
9 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in
the Far East [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 135-6. Thomson, Rambles with a Philosopher, or, Views at the Antipodes by an Octagonian, 180. 11 The question of the Companion’s fictional role was discussed with Dr. Michael Stevens of the Department of History and Art History, University of Otago. He did not dismiss the possibility that “the Companion” – or if he was an actual person, the role he played – was imaginary. However, he emphasised Thomson’s assistant, Alexander Garvie, as a possibility. Studying the work of Thomson’s biographer, Hall-Jones, has revealed Garvie and Roderick MacRae as likely candidates: Hall-Jones, Mr Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in Otago and Southland, 29, 39. Also see: Hocken, Contributions to the Early History of New Zealand Settlement of Otago, 169-70; Thomson, “Anniversary Address of the President, J.T.Thomson, F.R.G.S.,” 442; Thomson, “Original Exploration in the Scottish Settlement of Otago, and Recent Travel in Other Parts of N.Z,” 457, 62. Nonetheless, I was unable to find evidence linking either of them to the role. Thomson never revealed ‘the Companion’s’ identity. At best, judging from the similarities of the Companion’s quotes and his works on the East, we can say that his role was fictional. On the contrary, in the copy of Rambles with a Philosopher, or Views at the Antipodes by an Octagonian held in Hocken Collections, there was a note suggesting that “the Squire” was a man named 10
84
‘the Companion’ and ‘the Squire’ were actual personalities, their arguments would have been fabricated by Thomson to serve the same purpose. Thomson shed further light to his approach in his preface to Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East when he said: “Incidents cannot be related without having persons to speak and act for you.”12 Suffice it to say, it can be safely assumed that ‘the Companion’s’ opinions, which occupied a substantial part of Rambles with a Philosopher are a depiction of Thomson’s own. Therefore, considering its incorporation of Thomson’s experiences in the ‘Far East’, this book can be added to the list of his writings that were shaped by his time in the Malay Archipelago. Other works in which his connections to Malaya were brought to surface include: his article “Original Exploration in the Scottish Settlement of Otago and Recent Travel in other Parts of New Zealand”; his book, Social Problems: An Inquiry Into the Law of Influences; and his writings in the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. In “Original Exploration in the Scottish Settlement of Otago and Recent Travel in other Parts of N.Z.,” his observations in Southeast Asia were put into context when analysing the Māori. For instance he:
Went in the evening to see a troupe of American negro [sic] singers and dancers. The contrast with the Maori is broad. In the latter we see the gestures of nature’s people; in the former the antics of a black race for a century and more in close contact with European civilisation. The negro buoyant, child-like, joyous, volatile, ludicrous; how unlike the genius of the Asiatic race, from which the Maori mainly drives his origin. The Javanese wayang is sedative; the Malay menari slow, graceful, and apathetic; the Siamese menara, listless.13
Peter Napier. Ali Clarke of Hocken Collections – who I am grateful for her assistance – identified the writing on the note as Hocken’s. However, there was no mention of the Companion. 12 Thomson, preface to Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, vii. 13 Thomson, “Original Exploration in the Scottish Settlement of Otago, and Recent Travel in Other Parts of N.Z.,” 494.
85
In Social Problems: An Inquiry Into the Law of Influences, his observations during his time in the Malay Archipelago provided exemplars to support his arguments:
But as the learned are few, and the ignorant many, the world of morals becomes balanced by the two; for though the minds of the ignorant be small, their power is manifested in numbers. By this means they protect themselves and drive off intruders. Though their comprehension is small, their vigour and spitefulness great. This reminds us of a scene we once witnessed, in the Malay Peninsula, between a labourer and a nest of ants, between which parties a difference of opinion arose. In clearing his ground, the Malay came upon a tree which had to be cut down, so he set to…fell it; but thereupon, as he laid the axe to the roots, hundreds of red ants of a very pugnacious type, called the krunga, issuing from their nests and dropping from every branch and leaf, fell upon him. Thus, before he could get away he was so bitten all over, and his blood so poisoned by their bites, that he fell into a fever; further, the wounds, which did not heal for months afterwards, ulcerated. How many are the moral wounds made on man in the same manner, and how foolish it is to attack the ignorant.14
In addition, in Some Glimpses Into Life in The Far East, he mentioned an interesting encounter with a group of elephants that was terrified by a mere kitten:
The elephants were busy eating their morning meal, consisting of plantain stalks, leaves, and sugar-cane. A kitten had lost its mother, and wandering out approached these huge animals. The elephants were female ones. They trumpeted with terror, rolling up their trunks into their mouths and making strong struggles to break their tethers.15
This incident was also recounted in Social Problems: An Inquiry Into the Law of Influences:
To proceed, we will grant to the lower animals much intelligence and many good and bad traits, but we cannot grant to them what is the root of man’s moral and social responsibilities, viz. restraint, – i.e. power over self, and hence reason…They may move by the cry of their fellows, but 14 John Turnbull Thomson, Social Problems: An Inquiry Into the Law of Influences
(London: C. Keegan Paul &
Co, 1878), 244. 15 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in
the Far East [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 91.
86 they can take no bearing, the cry is of collection or dispersion only. That they have no reflection, properly so termed (though they may do certain acts in sequence, from inherited instincts), we conclude from what we have ourselves seen. Thus we have seen that most sagacious of animals, the elephant, tremble with terror at the sight of a kitten. Had it had restraint, and from restraint reason, it would have known that a kitten was not a tiger; and though of the tiger species, that it was too small to injure it. 16
Thomson’s references to Southeast Asia can be found in nearly every chapter of Social Problems. By analysing Social Problems and his other literary works discussed in this chapter so far, it is clear that his Malayan experiences provided a rich store of anecdotes, memories and images that continued to shape his thoughts and writings while in New Zealand. Thomson’s knowledge and familiarity with the Malay Peninsula, its inhabitants, and its languages was used in the formulation of his racial theories in a series of Thomson’s publications in the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute.17 His overall intention of undertaking such research was explained in his 1871 article, “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori”, where he stated that his object was “to examine the ethnographical relations of the Maori with other races of the world, in as far as his physical form, customs, and language to guide us.” 18 Thomson divided the human race into three primary divisions – “by colour, white, red, and black; or by name, Caucasian, Mongolian, and negro, between which there are innumerable subdivisions and
16 Thomson, Social Problems: An Inquiry Into the Law of Influences, 58. 17 For articles on Thomson’s racial theories, see: Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence
of the Maori,”23-51; Thomson, “Moriori Connection,” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 12 (1879): 223; Thomson, “On Barata Numerals,” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 5 (1872): 131-8; Thomson, “Philological Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 6 (1973): lxiv-lxv; John Turnbull Thomson, “Pronouns and other Barat Fossil Words compared with Primeval and Non-Aryan Languages of Hindustan and Borders,” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 12 (1879): 233-7. 18 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” 23.
87
modifications of shade, and diversity of form, customs, and language.” 19 The seat of the first “was confined to the area extending from Iceland over Central Europe to the confines of Hindustan”; the second, over North Europe, North Central, and Eastern Asia; and the third, “the continents and islands of the tropics, extending from Cape de Verde to Mallicolo.”20 Each of these groups were separated by geographical barriers, thus, “the black and white divisions were separated in a great measure by the Deserts of Zahara [sic] and Arabia, and the red and white by the Himalaya Mountains and the arid steppes of Tartary.”21 Thomson pointed out that it was “a remarkable fact that upon one point of the surface of the earth all three divisions had easy convergence” and identified the Indian peninsula as the point.22 The ‘Negro’, he thought, should have, at one era, “populated the plains of Hindustan, as well as Africa and Papuanesia.”23 Abutting closely to the region “were energetic hordes of white and red men settled in the mountain valleys of Aria and Thibet [sic].” The hordes of these regions descended on the fertile plains of India “driving out or enslaving the simple and unwarlike black inhabitants.”24 Thomson argued that the language of this ancient race of South India spread from “Barata to Madagascar on one side, and to the Moluccas on the other.”25 He asked his readers “what power could have given the Negro so wide an expansion?”26 The answer was that:
19 Ibid. Also see Map 6. 20 Ibid. Mallicolo is also
known today as Malekula – one of the chain of islands of Vanuatu.
21 Ibid., 24. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 24 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the
Whence of the Maori,” 24, 26. Also see: Thomson, “On Barat or Barata Fossil Words,” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 12 (1879): 165. Also see map 7 on page 103. 25 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” 41. ‘Barata’, which according to Thomson was an ancient term for India, was used in his articles when referring to the region. 26 Ibid.
88 The power is not in himself, for he has never been known to increase beyond the limits of a petty and disjointed tribe. The Barata expansion can only be ascribed to the first infusion of the energy drawn from Central Asia, and from whence there has been constant flow, or tides of migration, if they may be so called. The negro controlled, propelled, and directed by such infusion, now named the Barata, was then quite capable of issuing forth from the teeming plains of his native country…and planting his race and language east and west amongst a sparser and simple cognate people.27
Thomson stressed that the widespread expansion mentioned would have occurred over centuries.28 With the passage of time “the ever restless waves of migration continued their flow from the regions of Aria and Thibet [sic], and ultimately absorbed the Barata on his own soil, expunging his race and language.”29 In a similar fashion, in the course of history, “clouds of the Caucasians and Mongolian races…extended themselves, descending on the southern coast line of Asia and the Indian Archipelago, mixing with or obliterating the dark shadow of Negro races.”30 These incursions were the cause of the transformation of their features, as well as the coloration of their skin.31 Thomson used his familiarity with the physiological and facial characteristics of the Malay Archipelago’s inhabitants to prove his point:
Now we come to the Bajow or Oranglaut, of the Indian Archipelago…evidently allied to the Mongolian division, but the Negro features in him are slightly apparent…This tribe is evidently derived from the Mergui Archipelago, and remotely from the valleys of Irrawaddy and Bahrumputra [Brahmaputra]. They are strong and muscular, also piratical and regardless of shedding blood. These I would point out as being most likely the descendants of the first intruders on the Negro Equatorial area. Next are a man, woman, and child of the Seletar tribe of Johore – river nomads – whose closer contact with the present natives of the Malay Peninsula 27 Ibid. 28 Ibid. 29 Ibid., 42. 30 Ibid. 31 Ibid., 48.
89 graduates them further into the Mongolian type, as shown by their square faces, small oblique eyes, and yellow complexion. The next in order may be classed together, all having Mongolian features, viz, a Jakun of Johore, Muka Kunings of Batam…Sabimba of Johore…Mintera of Selangore…All these are wild tribes, living solely in the dense forests of the interior of the islands and peninsula of Malacca, evidently deriving their origin in archaic times from the valleys of the Menan and Irrawaddy. These are now popularly known as the primitive inhabitants, but the ethnological researches already quoted prove them to have been preceded by the Negro.32
Māori, in Thomson’s concept, were part of a wave of “migrations emanating from …South India or Barata – the first and most distant wave reaching far Polynesia, the second Madagascar, Sumatra (interior), and Mindana[o].”33 Hence, he concluded: “With the Moluccas as a basis, a stream of the mixed race flowed eastward, from island to island, over Polynesia – one branch finding its way to New Zealand, via Tongabatoo…Barata, or South India, was therefore, the whence of the Maori.”34 Using comparison of languages to back his argument – some from his proficiency in languages such as Malay, ‘Hindustani’, and Māori, while others from secondary readings – he inferred the existence of a lost Archaic South Indian language that could be linked to the languages spoken in Madagascar, Asia (Southeast and Central Asia in particular), Polynesia, and New Zealand. 35 Though different, there were shared characteristics that can be found in these languages – both in the sound and meaning of certain words. These common words were, in Thomson’s term, “Barata fossil words” – remnants of the ‘Negroid’ language of ancient India “which have
32 Ibid., 29-30. 33 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the
Whence of the Maori,” 45, 47; Thomson, “On Barata
Numerals,” 135. 34 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations
on the Whence of the Maori,” 48; Thomson, “On Barata Numerals,”135. 35 Thomson, “On Barat or Barata Fossil Words,” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 12 (1879): 164; Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” 26-48. Thomson admitted that he was also knowledgeable in Maori: Thomson, “Philological Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” lxiv.
90
not been eradicated by foreign influences.”36 Presence of fossil words in a language, he thought, would provide an indication of common ancestry.37 The language skills gained from his long residence in the Malay Archipelago were mobilised to demonstrate the similarities. For example, ‘dua’ (two) in Malay; was ‘daua’ in Mindanao, Philippines; ‘do’ in Hindi; ‘rua’ in Malagasy; ‘rua’ in Papua New Guinea, and ‘rua’ in Māori.38 Whereas api (fire), in Malay; was agg, in Hindi; and ahi, in Māori, and so forth.39 The common archaic roots among the inhabitants of these areas which connected them to the “country of Barata” were hereafter established.40 In total, Thomson compared 34 languages that were regarded as “off-shoots of the…archaic and wonderfully expansive race of Southern India.”41 He stressed that although “the blood of the Negro had almost entirely disappeared, yet the roots, phonology, and ideology of his language remain an indelible proof of his former sole occupation of the region[s].”42 A person who studies Thomson’s comparison of the languages in the Pacific and Asia will notice that Malay was a major component of his framework. This was because more focus was placed by Thomson in using Malay words when matching linguistic similarities than any other language, and it can be surmised that this was due to his higher competency in Malay than in others.43 In his 1879 article, on “Barat or Barata Fosil Words”,
36 Thomson, “On Barat
or Barata Fossil Words,” 158; Thomson, “On Barata Numerals,” 131-8. or Barata Fossil Words,” 158-9. 38 A breakdown of this analysis can be found in appendix III of Thomson’s work: Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” 50. 39 Ibid. 40 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” 33, 37-9, 43, 47-8; Thomson, “On Barata Numerals,” 131. 41 Thomson, “On Barata Numerals,” 131; Ballantyne, Orientalism and Race: Aryanism in the British Empire, 71. 42 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” 36. 43 See: Thomson, “On Barat or Barata Fossil Words,” 157-67; Thomson, “On Barata Numerals,” 132-8. Thomson stated that he was acquainted with the Malay language: Thomson, “Pronouns and other Barat Fossil Words compared with Primeval and Non-Aryan Languages of Hindustan and Borders,” 233. His 37 Thomson, “On Barat
91
he admitted that “the basis of my investigations have been the Malayan Language, with which my long sojourn in the Far East made me more familiar.”44 This is another instance of the outcomes of Thomson’s language skill gained as a result of his surveying adventures in the ‘wilds of the tropics’, which led him to live “entirely amongst the Malays seldom seeing Europeans”, and the tutelage of Munshi Abdullah in fostering his proficiency in the language.45 As noted by H.F.O’B. Traill, Thomson must have been one of Abdullah’s best students to have been personally given the Hikayat Abdullah and entrusted by the Munshi with the task of undertaking an English translation of his autobiography.46 As a whole, Thomson utilised his knowledge of Malaya in the workings of his Barata theories: firstly, in his physiological analysis, and secondly, in the comparative study of languages.47 As with the other examples of his published works shown in this dissertation, Thomson’s ethnological articles – which occupied a substantial portion of his publications in the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute – demonstrated the Malay Peninsula’s significant presence, and henceforth, its importance in determining the output of many of his writings.
The Malay Peninsula in Shaping Thomson’s Perceptions
One of the measurements used by Thomson in his attempt to connect Māori to their alleged aboriginal South Asian ancestors was to contrast them with the inhabitants of
emphasis on Malay when in his linguistic analysis is most pronounced in: Thomson, “Philological Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” xxv-lxiv. 44 Thomson, “On Barat or Barata Fossil Words,” 158. 45 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 97, 326. 46 Traill, quoted in Raimy Ché-Ross, “Malay Manuscripts in New Zealand: The ‘Lost’ Manuscript of the “Hikayat Abdullah” and other Malay Manuscripts in the Thomson Collection,” 17n12. 47 Thomson’s proficiency in Malay, which was useful in his comparison of the Māori language with the languages of the Indian Archipelago, was noted by Flora Byar: Byar, “A Contribution to the History of New Zealand: John Turnbull Thomson,” 159-60.
92
Malaya. In doing so, his understanding of the region was invoked. He reminded his audience that “on this subject” he should be “allowed to speak as one who has had experience, having resided in countries where both races [Māori and the Dravidians of South India] were to be daily seen.”48 During the time of Thomson’s residence in the region, the Dravidians, or ‘Klings’, also populated the Straits Settlements.49 As was mentioned in Chapter 1, Abdullah himself was part ‘Kling’, and according to Thomson, had South Indian features and carried himself in the manner of a “Malacca Kling.”50 Thomson argued that Māori were clearly a mixed race, whose affinities were Dravidian of the oldest class.51 Nevertheless, he stated:
While I would ascribe the affinities of the Maori physiognomy to be nearest to the Dravidian, yet I would also support an hypothesis that the race was also affected by an archaic connection with some of the first off shoots of the Thibetan [sic] and ultra-Gangetic races, such are now represented by the Bajow or Oranglaut, to whose physiognomy there is a striking approximation in many individual Maoris whose countenances have been scanned by me. This tribe are sea nomads, and frequent all waters and islands of the Indian Archipelago. The above opinions would indicate a more remote and westerly origin to the Maori than has yet, as far as I am aware, been enunciated by prior writers.52
No doubt, the years spent living in the Malay Peninsula amongst the local populace and intermingling with them had a significant outcome on Thomson’s character and beliefs. This was decisive in shaping the results of his writings and perceptions in New Zealand – which allowed him to make observations such as the above. Needless to say, from the discussions provided in Thomson’s writings on the ‘Far East’, we need not go far to
48 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the
Whence of the Maori,” 31. the Far East [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 173-4. 50 Thomson, Translations From The Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 4-5. 51 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” 31. 52 Ibid. 49 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in
93
establish that he knew very well the traits and habits of its inhabitants; well enough to measure them against the Māori in New Zealand and other races around the globe. Nevertheless, Thomson found in his analysis that Māori bore more resemblance to the languages spoken in the Moluccas than Malay and theorised that:
The Maori and hence the Polynesian race, was not originally from the Malay (though it might be through or with them), but from a race or races which in pre-historic times inhabited Hindustan…Malaya may have acted as a vein or path [while] the Moluccas acted as a gland or stepping-stone.53
However, physical characteristics were not the only comparison he made when evaluating Māori with the inhabitants of the Straits Settlements as behaviour was accounted for as well. While Thomson was positive towards the Malays (even though they were regarded lazy and treacherous) and the Chinese – even making friends amongst them – he did not share the same attitude towards the Māori:54
Between the Malay, whom I knew by long experience, and the Maori, though belonging to a cognate race, there is a great difference and climate has much to do with this. For instance, the Malay is always courteous and obliging; the Maori cannot be said to be so, and travellers do not improve him…It is easy to anticipate the future history of the Maori; indeed, it is well known to themselves. The European power of restraint enables him to build up capital. That capital fosters the one side of the commonwealth, grinds the other; it favours the strong and informed, but crushes the weak and the ignorant. Thus, may this fact be seen any day in London, Glasgow, or Manchester. So it will be the case here, not because the Maori is the dark man, but because he has no restraint to curb his inclination for ease and enjoyment. The Chinese is also dark, but he holds his own and increases even in cold Otago. There he displaces the English gardener, the
53 Thomson, “On Barat
or Barata Fossil Words,” 158, 166. Also refer to: Thomson, “Philological Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” lxiv. 54 Thomson mentioned that the Malay, beyond all other nations, had a character for treachery and bloodthirstiness: Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 296. For example of his view on Malay laziness, see: Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 143.
94 gold miner, and the navvy. He marries his English or Irish wife, and goes to church and communion as Christian.55
Whereas Thomson’s perception of the Māori was shared among some Pakeha settlers of New Zealand at the time, his respectful comments about the Chinese were not: they were generally viewed with contempt.56 Tony Ballantyne has shown that the growth of a substantial community of Chinese miners in Otago, the province of Thomson’s residence in New Zealand, and later on the West Coast, precipitated a series of fractious debates over the ‘character’ of Asians and the regulation of immigration.57 The Chinese, who began to flock to the Otago gold fields in the mid-1860s, were received with deep suspicion and were ill-treated.58 Their presence led many to fear the prospect of a ‘racial pollution.’59 From an economic perspective, European settlers felt threatened because the Chinese provided a cheap source of labour and were industrious.60 On social grounds they were resented for their cultural difference.61 One such thought was that if they were not Christianised, the presence of these ‘idolaters’ in the province would soon become an evil which will corrupt “the religious life of the community.”62 At this juncture, Thomson’s close association with the Chinese in the Malay Peninsula, with men such as Kokchai and Whampoa, accounted for his positive opinion of them, as his writings on the ‘Far East’ had
55 Thomson, “Original Exploration in the Scottish Settlement of Otago, and Recent Travel in Other Parts of
N.Z.,” 483, 489. 56 For adverse Pakeha views on Maori, see:
Belich, Making Peoples: A History of the New Zealanders: from Polynesian Settlement to the End of the Nineteenth Century, 20-1, 81, 124-6, 190. 57 Ballantyne, Webs of Empire: Locating New Zealand’s Past, 56. Also see: Brian Moloughney and John Stenhouse, “’Drug-besotten, sin-begotten fiends of filth’: New Zealand and the Oriental Other 18501890,” New Zealand Journal of History 33, no.1 (1999): 47. 58 McLintock, 472. 59 Olssen, A History of Otago, 89. 60 McLintock, 472. 61 Ibid. 62 Anon., “Report, Meeting, Otago Bible Society,” Otago Daily Times, 21 September 1865, quoted in McLintock, 472.
95
shown. His statement quoted above, that the Chinese was “also dark, but holds his own and increases even in cold Otago”, was drawn from his observation, when working with them in the tropics, that they could carry out “difficult and superior works in the Torrid Zone”, the climate which was otherwise disadvantageous to a European labourer.63 This observation would underscore this view – which was crucial in the construction of his racial theories:
It is a fact well known to physiologists that the pure offspring of the white man, when confined to the tropics, dies out in the third generation, and again, much beyond the same limit, we know of no purely black race existing; the red man alone appears to have a constitution fitted to endure in all regions habitable by the other two. Hence, he extends across the Equator, from Cape Horn to North Siberia. 64
Thomson’s belief in climate and its determinism on race, an inseparable component of his Barata theory, may have been shaped by the medical and scientific literatures of the period, but his personal experience and observations in the Malay Archipelago would nonetheless have provided confirmation of its concepts which would later be mobilised to fuel his racial theories in New Zealand.65 As can be discerned from his writings, he was convinced that his health had been affected by his exposure to the intense heat of the tropical sun while constructing the Horsburgh Lighthouse.66 His decision to settle in New Zealand was motivated by medical reasoning and the thought that its temperate climate was more comparable to European bodies.67 The warm climate
63 This was shown in Chapter 3, in Thomson’s letter to Church, 14 July, 1854, Letters: J.T.Thomson, John
Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence, National Library Board, Singapore. Whence of the Maori,” 24. 65 Harrison has shown that in the nineteenth century, India’s climate was generally considered incompatible with European constitutions. See: Harrison, 3, 9. 66 Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 27. 67 Europeans tended for medical reasons to settle in climates similar to their own: Harrison, 10. Also see: Hall-Jones, John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand, 27; Thomson, “Original Exploration in the Scottish Settlement of Otago, and Recent Travel in Other Parts of N.Z,” 455. 64 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the
96
provided sensible rationalisation – to what seemed to be the case to a European observer like Thomson – of the supposedly lazy and listless nature of the Malayan natives. Thomson also used climate to make sense of the negative attributes shown by Europeans living in the tropics which he himself witnessed. Their Western traits that distinguished them from the locals were altered by the environment of the ‘Torrid Zone.’ These experiences were central in underscoring his racial beliefs in his literary works written in New Zealand – as Thomson demonstrated in “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori”:
Northern nations may cross the tropics, and implant themselves and their languages in their respective zones, but if they intrude beyond the iso-thermal lines of their original habitat, they degenerate, and their languages deteriorate or die out.68
This view can also be found in his other writings that he produced during his time in New Zealand such as in Rambles with a Philospher:
Thus, the Macedonians degenerated on the plains of Babylonia, as the British at the present day on the plains of Hindostani; the New Englanders on the plain of Mississippi; the Portuguese in the Valley of Amazon…the power thus gathered in the middle latitudes is dissipated in the tropics. The power of education is paralysed by the weakening influences of climate. The natural energy is absorbed by contact with the enervating influences of the opposite zone.69
The intelligent personalities he met in the ‘Far East’ such as Abdullah, Kokchai, Whampoa, and Bawasab would encourage him to later advocate that ‘intelligent natives’ be given a stake in the administration of British India.70 He also believed that the
68 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the
Whence of the Maori,” 35. at the Antipodes by an Octagonian, 211. 70 Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 328. 69 Thomson, Rambles with a Philosopher, or, Views
97
Government of the British Straits Settlements should work on elevating the lives of the inhabitants they administered, as shown in Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East:
I found the general population while steeped in ignorance, poverty, and superstition, possessed many amiable characteristics. They were invariably civil and obliging in their demeanour. No doubt, in the back-lying parts, thieves and petty pirates, and even murderers, abounded; but, in the cultivated districts, the people were quiet and orderly. Their habits and customs might be repugnant to our European moral code; but is that not as it always has been from time immemorial? I could not but feel that here was a grand field for a benevolent and philanthropic government. A small portion of the knowledge of the arts and science imparted to the people, would have afforded many advantages to the governors and governed; even the knowledge of reading and writing could have been a great boon to the population in increasing their powers of observation, enlarging their experience, and in improving their condition. A retrogressive government might fear this, an intelligent and vigorous one would cherish it.71
Nevertheless, in Thomson’s view, different races had different capacity for improvement. This can be ascertained from his article in The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, examined in Chapter 3, on the Selatar and the Sabimba where he considered the Sabimba to be better candidates for civilising than the Selatar. Given the chance, he believed the Sabimba would progress. With regard to the Māori, however, Thomson was pessimistic of their capacity to advance and only anticipated their decline:
Again, the native population were idle and drunken. How long would they last? The answer suggested itself – viz., till the older generation had died out; for there is not a younger. Thus the end could not be far off. With an energetic, industrious people pressed for land on which to settle, even the policy of waiting appeared to be better than the policy of fighting, perchance exterminating…Crude sentiments regrets the waning of the aboriginal race; mature judgment cannot. For we ask ourselves, Is it better to have a forbidding wilderness 71 Thomson, Some Glimpses Into Life in
the Far East [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel, 142-3. Italics included.
98 fixed in gloomy forest and tangled fern, or a lovely garden set in green fields and waving corn? 72
From Thomson’s quote above, it is obvious that he did not see the degeneration of Māori, which he considered to be “the most savage of aboriginal tribe”, as a cause for regret.73 He made a similar remark in Rambles with a Philosopher, in which he asked his audience:
Will the face of nature be the less blythsome with the presence of the fair haired lassie tending her goats on the braes, the red cheeked, freckled ploughboy whistling o’er the lea, instead of the rough shaggy Maori stealthily moving through the fern thicket in search of roots?74
On this point, by examining Thomson’s writings, it is apparent in the context of his racial philosophy, the Europeans were placed at the top of the racial hierarchy while the ‘Negroid’ races of Africa were positioned at the bottom. Notwithstanding his encounters with progressive Asians and the acquaintances and friendships he had forged with its locals, this did not change his position on the supremacy of the European race which he held throughout his life. The primary notion of his Barata theory rested on the assumption of Western superiority above others. He noted, in “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori”, that the ‘white man’s’ geographical confinement to the cold climate
72 Thomson, “Original Exploration in the Scottish Settlement of Otago, and Recent Travel in Other Parts of
N.Z,” 478. Thomson’s view of the Māori as a dying race was not unique for his time. During the nineteenth century, due to their declining population, it was widely believed by European settlers in New Zealand, and also external observers such as Charles Darwin, that the Māori were ‘dying out.’ This view persisted to the early twentieth century when census showed that the Māori population was increasing. See: Belich, 247-9, 254, 174; John Stenhouse, “Alfred Kingcome Newman, the Dying Maori, and Victorian Scientific Racism,” New Zealand Journal of History 30, no.2 (1996): 124-7; Raeburn Lange, May the People Live: A History of Maori Health Development 1900-1920 (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1999), 558. There were a number of Pakeha settlers such as Alfred Kingcome Newman who thought that Māori decline should not be regretted, since their disappearance was giving way to European progress: Stenhouse, “Alfred Kingcome Newman, the Dying Maori, and Victorian Scientific Racism,” 126; Lange, May the People Live: A History of Maori Health Development 1900-1920, 57-8. 73 Thomson, “Original Exploration in the Scottish Settlement of Otago, and Recent Travel in Other Parts of N.Z,” 495. 74 Thomson, Rambles with a Philosopher, or, Views at the Antipodes by an Octagonian, 87. Also see: Ballantyne, Orientalism and Race: Aryanism in the British Empire, 73.
99
of Europe throughout much of history explained his “skill, boldness, and intelligence”, and, he argued, must be acknowledged to be superior to the other races. 75 He added: “May we not accept this as one of the proofs of his later development or increase? Otherwise, how are we to account for his tardy intrusiveness on the habitats of the other divisions, and which within the last three centuries have had such mighty exposition[?]”76 Although the Hikayat Abdullah was in itself proof of the intellectual capacity of a native of the Malay Archipelago, its contents were rich in its praises of European prowess and painted the region’s locals as backward, ignorant and prone to superstitions. These aspects would confirm rather than undermine Thomson’s view of Western racial dominance. As Milner pointed out, Abdullah can be (and has been and still is) seen as an agent of European imperialism “and in one sense a cog” in its machinery.77 Although Thomson was positive about the elevation of colonised subjects, as he made known in Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East, it must be mentioned that a decade later, in 1874, he was more cautious on the topic. Commenting on Raffles’ initiative of educating the locals of the Malay Peninsula in Translations From the Hakayit Abdulla, he asked, “Would not a superior intelligence create an influence that would sway the population independently of all British control?”78 It is not impossible that this scepticism was the result of the New Zealand wars of the 1860s, when Pakeha rule was challenged by Māori, which hardened the former’s views of the latter.79 This, however, did not cause Thomson to discard his confidence that natives who had shown high potential should be granted greater responsibly in the empire.
75 Thomson, “Ethnographical Considerations on the
Whence of the Maori,” 24.
76 Ibid. 77 Milner, The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya, 13. 78 Thomson, Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla, Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi, 328. 79 Belich, 125-6.
100
Figure 14 John Turnbull Thomson in New Zealand, Sandy Cleary Private Collection, Dunedin.
101
Figure 15 John Turnbull Thomson, Reko’s Slave Girl, Tuturau, 1856, Otago University Research Heritage, Hocken Pictorial Collections -92/1307a12287, http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/index.php/items/show/4824 (accessed May 26, 2014).
102
Map 6 John Turnbull Thomson, Primary Era, in Thomson, Plate II, “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 4 (1871).
103
Map 7 John Turnbull Thomson, Secondary Era, in Thomson, Plate I, “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 4 (1871).
104
Map 8 James T. Collins, The Global Distribution of the Australasian Languages, in Anthony Milner, The Malays (2008; repr., West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 20.
CONCLUSION
To those who have travelled, to those who have visited various countries and peoples, to those who by usage have become familiar with their circumstances, wants, and necessities, – a different conclusion strikes the mind. J.T.Thomson, Social Problems: An Inquiry Into the Law of Influences, 194.
Thomson’s comment above was inspired by his personal experience of long residence and travels in the Malay Archipelago. He recognised that his time spent in the region had been central in influencing his perception of New Zealand and the wider world. We see this in the literary works he produced after his arrival in New Zealand, in 1856, which this dissertation has demonstrated. The intelligent local men Thomson encountered during his stay in the Straits Settlements, such as Munshi Abdullah, Whampoa, Kokchai, and Bawasab, had convinced Thomson that they, being “natives of superior intelligence”, should be afforded greater participation in the administration of the empire. This however did not erode his standing on the supremacy of the ‘white men’ above other races, which views he maintained throughout his writings. Although Abdullah and his superb work, the Hikayat Abdullah, offered proof that a non-European could achieve a level of intellect that was comparable to Westerners, this notion was undermined by his portrayal of the local inhabitants and elites of the Malay Peninsula as the negative counterparts of the Europeans. The Hikayat Abdullah had, on the one hand, shown the West to be progressive: its individuals energetic and scholarly, and its leaders benevolent and wise. The locals of the Malaya Peninsula, on the other hand, were portrayed as ignorant, lazy, superstitious and primitive; their leaders despotic, foolish and morally corrupt. This would have given a
106
reader such as Thomson the conviction of the superior nature of the West which would have, undoubtedly, influenced his global perception of race and would have acted as a stimulus to his ‘Barata’ theory in which the assumption of European superiority was key. Apart from that, Thomson associated Abdullah’s high level of enlightenment to his exposure to the positive influence of Europeans, as did Abdullah himself. Abdullah was also instrumental in fostering in Thomson the proficiency of the Malay Language which would enable him, in the following years, to construct his ‘Barata’ theory of race where linguistic analysis of the languages of Asia, India, Madagascar and Polynesia, including Māori, was used to construct his argument on their origins. Although Thomson had also learnt ‘Hindustani’ while in Malaya which would have been an asset in his linguistic study, the Malay language was used as a major component of his framework in his philological comparison of languages to support his racial concept. This focus was, no doubt, due to Malay being the language in which he was most proficient. Before giving Abdullah full credit, we must also consider the impact of Thomson’s close interaction with the locals of the Malay Peninsula, especially the Malays, in nurturing his mastery of the language. As shown in Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East, his surveying expeditions brought him into close contact with the locals of the Straits Settlements and this not only provided him with the incentive to put his Malay into practice, but led to his close relationship with them. Of course, the Malays were not the only local group Thomson befriended while in the region. We know, from Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East, that he was also close to individuals belonging to the Chinese community such as Kokchai and Whampoa. These acquaintances would influence his writings in the years after he left the region. For instance, in New Zealand, at a time when its settlers were predominantly hostile to the Chinese community, he would write positively about them. The same can be said of
107
the Malays where, in spite of his occasional negative remarks about their lazy and treacherous nature, and that they were a weak race, he maintained a respectful tone towards them throughout his literary works. His occasional use of the term ‘friend’, when referring to the Malays, highlights his affinity with them. Thomson’s familiarity with the peoples of the Malay Archipelago and the region was central in its contribution to his writings in New Zealand. His encounters and experiences in the tropics often featured in his works such as Rambles of the Philosopher, or, Views at the Antipodes by an Octagonian; Social Problems: An inquiry Into the Law of Influences, his articles in the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, and others. In some of these works, the Malay Archipelago was time and again utilised as a basis of comparison. This can be observed in “Original Explorations in the Scottish Settlement of Otago,” where he compared Māori with the Malays. In “Extracts from a journal kept during the performance of a Reconnaissance Survey,” the landscape of New Zealand was contrasted with the scenery of the Malay Peninsula, and we see him doing the same with his surveying experience. Due to his time spent in the region, in addition to the languages he picked up, Thomson became accustomed to the facial characteristics, physiological traits, and behaviour of its diverse populace. Thomson used his observations to support his ‘Barata’ theory on race. In a series of his publications in the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute he pointed out that ‘Negroid’ features were apparent in the Bajow or Orang Laut of the Indian Archipelago and used this observation to stress their Indian Origin. The same method was used in his attempt to establish the origin of Māori in which he also connected them to ‘Barata.’
108
Other than philology and physiological comparisons, climatic determinism was also a major part of his ‘Barata’ theory. While the belief that climate was a major determinant of health and constitution was already established within the medical and scientific community in the nineteenth century, Thomson’s personal experience in the tropics would have convinced him of the validity of that principle. He noticed from his supervision of the construction projects in the Malay Peninsula (and we know this from his letter to Thomas Church) that Chinese labourers could work well in spite of the hot weather and realised that they could perform equally as efficiently in cold climates. He believed, as did many others at the time, that the warm weather of the ‘Torrid Zones’ was detrimental to European constitutions which were more habituated to the temperate climate of their home regions, and that they would deteriorate if they moved beyond their cold boundaries into warmer climates. When Thomson’s health broke down in Singapore during the two years of his involvement in the building of the Horsburgh Lighthouse, he believed his illness to have been caused by his exposure to the intense tropical heat. This conviction led to his decision to settle in New Zealand, because he believed that its colder climate would be better for his wellbeing. No doubt, he thought his health would continue to falter if he remained in the Malay Peninsula. It was also widely supposed that climate could have an effect on an individual’s personal attributes. In his writings, Thomson used the warm climate to explain what he saw as the lazy and passive nature of the Malays and the bad conduct of European settlers in Malaya. These principles of climate and its effects on health, constitution, and behaviour occupied the main body of his racial theories that were underscored by his observations and experience in the tropics. Overall, the importance of the ‘Far East’ in defining Thomson’s character, which in turn played a significant part in shaping the outcome of his thoughts and writings in New
109
Zealand, cannot be ignored. Studying the impact of Southeast Asia in the outcome of Thomson’s literary works is part of a larger discourse of understanding the impact of crosscultural contact between the West and other inhabitants worldwide. Cross-cultural contact occurred rapidly during the nineteenth century, with imperialistic expansion bringing the peoples of the West into closer contact with the inhabitants of foreign places and cultures, shaping the way each other understood the world around them. Moreover, Thomson’s writings on New Zealand and the ‘Far East’ – from his literary works such as Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East to his articles in the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, and The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia – formed part of the vast network of colonial knowledge that helped define Western conception of the world during the nineteenth century.1
1 Ballantyne, Webs of Empire: Locating New Zealand’s Past,
19.
110
BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources Printed Anon. “Obituary: Mr. J. Turnbull Thomson.” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography 7, no. 1 (1885): 46-7. Anon. “Report, Meeting, Otago Bible Society.” Otago Daily Times, 21 September 1865. Quoted in Alexander H. McLintock. The History of Otago. Dunedin: Otago Centennial Historical Publications, 1949. Anon. The Missionary Register for M DCCC XXII. Containing the Principal Transactions of the Various Institutions for Propagating the Gospel; with the Proceedings at Large of the Church Missionary Society. London: L.B. Seeley, 1822. Anon. The Missionary Register for M DCCC XXII. Containing the Principal Transactions of the Various Institutions for Propagating the Gospel; with the Proceedings at Large of the Church Missionary Society. London: L.B. Seeley, 1828. Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munshi. Hikayat Abdullah. Translated by Hamzah Hamdani. Batu Caves: PTS Publications, 2008. . Hikayat Abdullah. Edited by Hassan Ahmad and Norlaili Talib. Translated by Kassim Ahmad. Kuala Lumpur: Yayasan Karyawan, 2007. . Karya Lengkap Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi, jilid 3: Hikayat Abdullah. Translated and edited by Amin Sweeney. Jakarta: Kepustakaan Poupler Gramedia, 2005. . The Autobiography of Munshi Abdullah. Translated by W.G. Shellabear. Singapore: Methodist Publishing House, 1918. Ferguson, Adam. An Essay on the History of Civil Society. Basil: J.J. Tourneisen, 1789. Medhurst, Walter H. China: its State and Prospects, with Especial Reference to the Spread of the Gospel; Containing Allusions to the Antiquity, Extent, Population, Civilization, Literature, and Religion of the Chinese. Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1838. Thomson, John Turnbull. “Anniversary Address of the President, J.T. Thomson, F.R.G.S.” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 6 (1873): 440-6. . “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori.” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 4 (1871): 23-51. . “Extracts from a journal kept during the performance of a Reconnaissance Survey of the Southern District of the Province of Otago, New Zealand.” Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 28 (1858): 298-332.
111
. “General Report on the Residency of Singapore Drawn Up Principally with a View of Illustration its Agricultural Statistics.” The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia 3 (1849): 744-55. . “Moriori Connection.” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 12 (1879): 223. . “On Barat or Barata Fossil Words.” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 12 (1879): 157-85. . “Philological Considerations on the Whence of the Maori.” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 6 (1973): xxv-lxv. . “Pronouns and other Barat Fossil Words compared with Primeval and Non-Aryan Languages of Hindustan and Borders,” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 12 (1879): 223-37. . “On Barata Numerals.” Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 5 (1872): 131-8. . “Original Exploration in the Scottish Settlement of Otago, and Recent Travel in Other Parts of N.Z.” Royal Scottish Society of Arts 10 (1878): 455-97. . “Remarks on the Sletar & Sabimba Tribes,” The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia 1 (1847): 341-51. . Rambles with a Philosopher, or, Views at the Antipodes by an Octagonian. Dunedin: Mills, Dick & Co., 1867. . Some Glimpses Into Life in the Far East [By J.T.Thomson]. [With] Sequel. London: Richardson & Co., 1864. . Translations from the Hakayit Abdulla Bin Abdulkadar, Munshi. London: Henry S. King & Co, 1874.
Manuscripts, New Zealand Hall-Jones family. Papers. ARC-0589, Hocken Collections. Dunedin. Sandy Cleary Private Collection.
Manuscripts, Singapore John Turnbull Thomson. Letters: J. T. Thomson. John Turnbull Thomson – Correspondence. National Library Board, Singapore.
112
Secondary Sources Books Ballantyne, Tony. Orientalism and Race: Aryanism in the British Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. . Webs of Empire: Locating New Zealand’s Past. Wellington, New Zealand: Bridget Williams Books, 2012. Bastin, John. “The Thomson Paintings: Mid-Nineteenth Century Paintings of the Straits Settlements and Malaya by John Hall Jones.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 48, no. 2 (1985): 408-9. Belich, James. Making Peoples: A History of the New Zealanders: from Polynesian Settlement to the End of the Nineteenth Century. North Shore, New Zealand: Penguin Books, 2007. Hall-Jones, John. John Turnbull Thomson: First Surveyor-General of New Zealand. Dunedin: John McIndoe, 1992. . Mr. Surveyor Thomson: Early Days in Otago and Southland. Sydney, Australia: A. H. & A. W. Reed Ltd., 1971. Harrison, Mark. Climates and Constitutions: Health, Race, Environment and British Imperialism in India 1600-1850. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999. Hocken, T.M. Contributions to the Early History of New Zealand Settlement of Otago. London: Sampson Law, Marston and Co., 1898. Lange, Raeburn. May the People Live: A History of Maori Health Development 1900-1920. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1999. Olssen, Erik. A History of Otago. Dunedin: John McIndoe, 1984. McLintock, Alexander H. The History of Otago. Dunedin: Otago Centennial Historical Publications, 1949. McRae, J.A. New Zealand Institute of Surveyors 1888 - 1988. Dunedin: New Zealand Institute of Surveyors, 1989. Milner, Anthony. The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya. 1995. Reprint, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. .The Malays. 2008. Reprint, Oxford and Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Van Wyhe, John. Misspelling the Darkness: The Voyage of Alfred Russel Wallace and Evolution without Darwin. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2013.
113
Thesis Byar, Flora. “A Contribution to the History of New Zealand: John Turnbull Thomson.” M.A. thesis, University of Otago, 1933.
Journal Articles Ché Ross, Raimy. “Malay Manuscript in New Zealand: The ‘Lost’ Manuscript of the ‘Hikayat Abdullah’ and other Malay Manuscripts in the Thomson Collection.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 75, no. 2 (2002): 1-50. Layton, Simon. “Discourses of Piracy in an Age of Revolutions.” Itinerario 35, issue 2 (2011): 81-97. Moloughney, Brian and John Stenhouse. “’Drug-besotten, sin-begotten fiends of filth’: New Zealand and the Oriental Other 1850-1890.” New Zealand Journal of History 33, no.1 (1999): 43-64. Proudfoot, Ian. “Malay Materials in the Houghton Library.” Kekal Abadi 19, no. 1 (2000), 2-3, 8-9, http://myais.fsktm.um.edu.my/9569/1/malay materials in the boughton library. pdf (accessed December 10, 2013). Rendall, Jane. “Scottish Orientalism: From Robertson to James Mill.” The Historical Journal 25, no.1 (1982): 43-69. Roxborough, John. “Early nineteenth century foundations of Christianity in Malaya: Churches and missions in Penang, Melaka and Singapore from 1786-1842.” Asia Journal of Theology 6, no.1 (April 1992): 54-72. Skinner, C. “Transitional Malay Literature: Part 1 Ahmad Rijaluddin and Munshi Abdullah.” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie 134 (1978): 466-87. Stenhouse, John. “Alfred Kingcome Newman, the Dying Maori, and Victorian Scientific Racism.” New Zealand Journal of History 30, no.2 (1996): 124-40. Sweeney, Amin. “Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi: A Man of Bananas and Thorns,” Indonesia and the Malay World 34, no. 100 (Feb. 2007): 223-45. Traill, H.F.O’B. “A Note on the ‘Lost’ Manuscript of the Hikayat Abdullah Munshi.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 57, no. 1 (1984): 67-9. . “The ‘lost’ Manuscript of The Hikayat Abdullah ‘Munshi’.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 55, no.2 (1982): 126-34.
114
. “An Indian Protagonist of the Malay Language: Abdullah “Munshi”, his race and his mother-tongue.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Societry 53, no.2 (1979): 67-83. .“Aspects of Abdullah ‘Munshi’.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 54, no. 3 (1981): 35-56. Van Der Putten, Jan. “Adbullah Munsyi and the Missionaries.” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Landen Volkenkunde 162, no. 4 (2006): 407-40. Zook, Darren C. “Max Havelaar: Multatuli, Colonial History, and the Confusion of Empire.” Comparative Literature Issue, MLN 121, no. 5 (December 2006): 1169-89.
Articles Hole, Robert. “The American Declaration of Independence of July 4 th, 1776.” History Today, http://www.historytoday.com/robert-hole/american-declarationindependence-july-4th-1776 (accessed December 3, 2013). Roberts, William H.S. “Maori Nomenclature: Early History of Otago.” Otago Witness, 12 May 1909, 65.
Other . SP 95/A/163. Unpublished manuscript by Dato H.F.O’B. Traill Arkib Negara Malaysia, 284-5. Quoted in Raimy Ché-Ross, “Malay Manuscripts in New Zealand: The ‘Lost’ Manuscript of the “Hikayat Abdullah” and other Malay Manuscripts in the Thomson Collection.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 75, no.2 (2002): 1-50.
![Dissertation thesis [draft title] - MADOC](https://m.moam.info/img/260x300/dissertation-thesis-draft-title-madoc_59bcbeb81723ddc9c97ec695.jpg)
![Dissertation Draft 10 - The Taos Institute [PDF]](https://m.moam.info/img/260x300/dissertation-draft-10-the-taos-institute-pdf_647dea36098a9e36518b45da.jpg)
