Within these pages the private papers of a doctor, a newly wed bride, a reverend, a schoolgirl, and a judge are revealed. They recreate the life and times of Dr John Bishop King, an East India Company surgeon. His posting to Penang gave him privileged access to its households, and his witty and at times caustic observations of his patients, their families, his friends and enemies provide a unique insight into Penang society in the mid-nineteenth century.