Six years in the Malay jungle

The authors story of time spent in Malaya - having taken a contract to work there for two years in 1913. With the outbreak of war, he stayed six years, performing a number of roles around surveying, supervising of railway construction and the operation of railways. He spent time in a number of locations in the Unfederated Malay States, and did very well at his work. Wells' wife joins him for the most part, narrowly avoiding being a war casualty on way over, when her ship is pursued by a German Cruiser.

This book, while not particularly well written, has excellent content. It is simply assembled, following the basic route of Wells' time in Malaya, but with constant stories, side stories, anecdotes and facts. Often these don't fit with the context of the narrative very well, and some are unexplained or feel like part of a story, but they are inevitably interesting nevertheless.

He covers all aspects of life in the jungle and the swamps, from his work to his fellow workers, to his servants and coolies, the jungle flora and fauna, a lot on snakes, birds, insects, the inevitable malaria and other sicknesses, travel and transportation, the native culture and their way of life from their housing to religion, festivals and food. He even provides cocktail recipes on the way through.

This is an easy read, packed with amusing and interesting information. For content 5 stars, for writing and editing 3 stars. Sounds like 4 stars overall from me.