MECCANIA THE SUPER-STATE MECCANIA THE SUPER-STATE BY OWEN GREGORY METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON _First Published in 1918_ INSCRIBED TO W. H. S. IN TOKEN OF TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS' FRIENDSHIP CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION: A FEW WORDS ABOUT MR. MING AND HIS JOURNAL ix CHAP. I. I BECOME A FOREIGN OBSERVER 1 II. BRIDGETOWN, TOUR No. 1 17 III. INTRODUCTION TO MECCO 53 IV. PROFESSOR PROSER-TOADY'S LECTURE 82 V. CULTURE IN MECCO 97 VI. MORE CULTURE IN MECCO 122 VII. A MECCANIAN APOSTLE 139 VIII. THE MECHOW FESTIVAL 163 IX. MECCANISATION 177 X. CONVERSATIONS 193 XI. AN ACADEMIC DISCUSSION 240 XII. THE LATEST INSTITUTION 260 XIII. NEVER AGAIN 289 INTRODUCTION A FEW WORDS ABOUT MR. MING AND HIS JOURNAL As this book is little more than a transcript of a document originally written in the form of a journal by a man who, until about a year ago, was an entire stranger to me, and as the document itself contains not a few statements which make large demands upon the credulity of the average reader, it seems necessary to offer some explanation regarding both the journal and its author, Mr. Ming--or, to give him his full name, Ming Yuen-hwuy. If I were able to go bail for Mr. Ming and assure the British Public that he was an entirely credible and impartial witness, the book might have stood on the same foundation as other volumes of 'revelations' concerning a country with which Englishmen are still insufficiently acquainted. But I cannot go bail for Mr. Ming. The chief source of my knowledge of him is the journal itself. It has even been suggested to me that Mr. Ming did not write the journal, but must have stolen it from some European, probably an Englishman. On this point I shall have something to say presently. Perhaps the best solution of these difficulties will be to say what I know of the origin of the book.