FOREWORD

ni

he  is  still  a  young  man  with  a  modern  viewpoint. ­
  He  speaks  the  languages  of  many
countries  and  speaks  them  well.  His  information ­
  is  first-hand,  reliable  data  gathered  on
the  ground  where  he  lived  and  worked,  whose
people  he  knew  and  could  speak  to  in  their
own  tongue,  not  the  unreliable,  superficial  vaporings
  of  some  dilettante  globe-trotter  who
has  given  the  high-spots  of  civilization  the
“once  over”  and  therefore  considers  himself  a
competent  authority  to  write  upon  the  commerce, ­
  customs  and  manners  of  foreign  countries ­
  the  very  languages  of  which  he  does  not
understand  without  the  aid  of  an  interpreter,
or  who  could  not  find  his  way  back  to  the
railway  station  or  dock  without  the  assistance
of  a  guide.
Doctor  Aughinbaugh  is  no  such  lightweight.
He  has  not  written  this  book  because  he  believes ­
  he  knows  it  all.  Left  to  himself  he
would  never  have  written  it.  It  was  only
after  repeated  urgings  on  the  part  of  some  of
his  friends  who  appreciated  his  ability  to
write  an  unusual  book,  that  he  consented  to