In striking contrast to the Japanese, small and
sinewy, any two of them weighing no more than one Russian, quiet,
taciturn, genial and abstemious, were the children of the "Little
White Father." The Russians were an aggressive, big, well set up,
heavy type of men, by no means teetotalers, talkative, with
overbearing swagger, always posing, talking contemptuously about the
possible struggle in the East, invariably referring to the Japanese as
"little monkey men." Fortunate for me was it that the _Bayern_ was
carrying both Russians and Japanese; the knowledge I acquired from
Baron Huraki of the Asiatics was invaluable in Singapore; what I
learned of Russians, I needed at Port Arthur. But I am anticipating
my narrative.
Arriving in Singapore, I put up at the Hotel de la Paix on the Marine
Parade. I posed as an ordinary tourist with a leaning toward hunting
and a fad of doing research work in tropical botany. I gradually
became acquainted with a number of English officers and was introduced
at their clubs. The information obtained through these channels about
the new naval base was merely theoretical and I soon found that to
obtain practical results I would have to get in touch with the native
clerks. In the English Eastern possessions, you see, most clerical
and minor mechanical positions are held by natives. It soon was
brought home to me, though, that this cultivating natives was by no
means easy and a rather dangerous thing to do.
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