The Hidden Force

First published 1922
All rights reserved

Printed in Great Britain
by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh

Translator’s Note

The Hidden Force gives a picture of life in the Dutch East Indies in the last year of the nineteenth and the first year of the twentieth century. Conditions have altered slightly since then—Dutch ladies no longer wear “sarong” and “kabaai” so generally, and there are other minor changes—but the relations between the Europeans and the natives remain very much as they were.

I have translated nearly all the Malay and Javanese words scattered through the text, agreeing with my publisher that the sense of colour throughout the book is strong enough without insisting on these native terms, and I have done my best to reduce foot-notes to a minimum.

Alexander Teixeira de Mattos

Chelsea, 20th November 1921

Contents

•      Page
• Translator’s Note      5
• Chapter One      9
• Chapter Two      19
• Chapter Three      26
• Chapter Four      39
• Chapter Five      46
• Chapter Six      54
• Chapter Seven      59
• Chapter Eight      69
• Chapter Nine      78
• Chapter Ten      94
• Chapter Eleven      102
• Chapter Twelve      111
• Chapter Thirteen      116
• Chapter Fourteen      123
• Chapter Fifteen      129
• Chapter Sixteen      140
• Chapter Seventeen      150
• Chapter Eighteen      153
• Chapter Nineteen      165
• Chapter Twenty      174
• Chapter Twenty-one      188
• Chapter Twenty-two      193
• Chapter Twenty-three      204
• Chapter Twenty-four      214
• Chapter Twenty-five      225
• Chapter Twenty-six      234
• Chapter Twenty-seven      244
• Chapter Twenty-eight      251
• Chapter Twenty-nine      258
• Chapter Thirty      275
• Chapter Thirty-one      287
• Chapter Thirty-two      294