Comparison - the problem

“Watson! I hoped you'd come soon!” Mr Sherlock Holmes greeted me as I came in the door, late in a Tuesday afternoon,October 9, 1888.

I quickly replied, “I dropped in at the Science Museum, which now houses the old Patent Office Museum collections. Charles Babbage's plan for an analytical engine caught my eye. I'm afraid I lost all track of time, talking to the person who is putting together a working model. I also read about the efforts a generation ago of the Countess of Lovelace to direct its working by indicating the order in which its available operations are to proceed. Babbage's device could do much for us physicians!”

“A perfect logical engine indeed, after my own heart!” exclaimed Holmes. “I must have a look myself some time.But not now: I have a telegram from the Foreign Office that they seek consultation on a matter. You'll stay, won't you?”

Before I could answer we heard a horse and cab stop at the kerb, followed by a pull on the bell. Mrs Hudsonbrought the caller up.

“Mr Sherlock Holmes, I presume? My name is Bond -- Rupert Bond, on Her Majesty's service.”

“Pray tell, Mr Bond, what brings you here. You may speak as confidently in front of Dr Watson as if you spoke tome alone. You are, I see by the healthy yet darkish tone of your skin, but newly returned from the tropics.”

“From the Malay States, sir, whence I return next week. As you may know, the British East India Company hasdeveloped its enterprises there so well, that even the minor rajahs are now linking up with the Company in hopes of sharing in itsprosperity.

“The Company has been getting feelers from yet farther east, where Portugal dominates the Spice Islands andHolland would like to. And coming back to our English boiled mutton after savouring the fine cooking of the Malay States, I fully concur withGovernment's interest in extending our trade beyond its present limits.”

“But what,” injected Holmes, “brings you to me?”

Bond replied, “The Indies are thousands of islands, separated by dangerous channels. One trade route for usmight go from Singapore to British North Borneo, on to the Straits of Makassar, thence south, then east, to the trading centers forspices. Less infested by pirates and Dutchmen than a straight run through the Java Sea, you know.

“For a time, the Kingdom of Makassar on the southwest of the island of Celebes welcomed free trade. But overtwo centuries ago the freebooters of Bugis, across the peninsula from Makassar, joined the Dutch in taking over that unfortunatecity. Now the Dutch control those straits.

“South of Celebes lies Saleyer Island, a narrow piece of land separated by a deep and treacherous channel.It has long been a stopoff both for east-west and north-south travel. Our current interests lie to the east of there: Saleyer could be ourstepping stone to the spice trade – if its people were to become convinced that we and Makassar are better partners than the Dutchand their allies.

“To ascertain how strong the bond is among these three peoples, my superiors have urged me to look into themethods for comparing languages pioneered by a judge in the British Raj, over a century ago. If the language ofSaleyer proves more like that of Makassar than like Buginese, could we not suppose a greater affinity among those peoples, that couldopen a door for us?”

“But why,” rejoined Holmes, “why do you not rather ask this of a philologist, than of a detective?”

“Because, sir, the academic mind, be it ever so finely tuned, is infernally slow about arriving at a conclusion; whereas you, sir, arerenowned for digesting facts quickly and coming up with answers! Nor do I see that their use of logic is all that different fromwhat I read about yours,” he said with a nod toward me. “I sail next week.”

Holmes smiled slightly in agreement, and the other pulled from his pocket some sheets of paper. On them were written lists of words hehad taken down from the three languages. The first sheet began like this:

“I regret the wear and tear that render these papers somewhat hard to read, but if you must know, I had to leavethe area rather in haste,” said our guest. “I also realize that I do not know how to write foreign speech sounds, nor am I conversantwith the International Phonetic Alphabet proposed recently, so my transcription is certainly at fault in places. For example, Ibelieve the phoneticians would use a single symbol where I have used ng to represent the sound in English 'sing', and possibly capital R and small r for the sounds the Spaniards write with 'rr' and 'r' respectively. The apostrophe is for the hiatus that Ibelieve philologists refer to as a glottal plosive.”

“Pray give me till this same time tomorrow to see where this may lead,” said Holmes.

“I shall,” said our visitor, and left.