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