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124 THE WHITE SLAVE MARKET
with the invitation, (( Come in here, please. "
These prostitutes are one of the sights of the
East, and strange though it may seem, no
tourist who visits Singapore dreams of leaving
without at least driving through Malay Street
to gaze at these "show women," of every
nationality and protected by the British flag.
In fact, I understand that when the Crown
Prince of Germany was in the East arrangements
were made for him to drive through
Malay Street and see the Babylonian quarter
at its best. Once a girl is known to live in
Malay Street she is tainted and tarnished
beyond repair. Each house has its " missus,"
among whom there is an esprit de corps, the
observance of which restrains one " missus "
from taking a girl from another house, and
no " missus " will allow any of their " young
ladies " to respond to pitiful cries or sighs or
sobs of any strange girl brought to Malay
Street and going through the process of
"
having the nonsense knocked out of her."
Malay Street shelters thousands of Japanese
women, ninety per cent, of whom, it is said,
are diseased ; thousands of Chinese women ;
and hundreds of women of Germany, Prance,
Austria, Russia, and other countries. No
English woman is allowed to live in Malay
Street unless she evades the law by marrying
a foreigner. When passing through the street
one sees the outward show of these fearful
dens, but no pen dare describe the doings of
the damned within. The women are not
under Government control, nor are they in