G. E. D. Lewis was lured away from Wales to become a teacher in Malaya by the letters he received from his brothers on colonial service. Concentrating on the daily lives of the Malayasians peoples themselves rather than on the European experience, his amusing anecdotal biography provides keen insights into British methods of colonial administration and education, and includes a harrowing account of the Japanese occupation, during which he was transported to Burma to work on the notorious Death Railway.