84 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



land. He was the only surviving son of Benjamin Raffles, one of 

 the oldest captains in the West Indian trade at Port London. His 

 school education ceased at the early age of fourteen years, when 

 he was removed from the seminary and placed as extra clerk in 

 the East India House. He never overcame the deficiencies aris- 

 ing from imperfect early education. The habit of study which in 

 after years made him remarkable for his attainments was due to 



utilizing the moments 

 which he described as 

 " stolen " either before 

 office hours or after 

 them in the evening. 



In 1805 the Court of 

 Directors determined 

 to make an establish- 

 ment at Penang, a 

 small island on the west 

 coast of the Malacca 

 Peninsula. Raffles was 

 appointed assistant 

 secretary to Sir Hugh 

 Inglis, the representa- 

 tive of the Court of Di- 

 rectors in the East In- 

 dia Board. He was at 

 this time but twenty- 

 four years of age. In 

 1811 namely, when he 

 was thirty years of age 

 he was appointed by 

 the directors agent to 

 the governor-general. 

 He suggested to the 

 Indian Government 

 the conquest of Java, 

 and after this was accomplished in 1811 he was appointed lieu- 

 tenant-governor. 



The Spice Islands, so called because they yielded cloves, nut- 

 meg, coriander, mace, ginger, pepper, and cinnamon, were so impor- 

 tant to Europe that their possession was eagerly sought for by the 

 maritime powers. As condiments the demand for many of the 

 spices is much less now than formerly was the case. The esteem 

 in which ginger and pepper especially are yet held is low in com- 

 parison with that entertained in the period from the fifteenth to 

 the beginning of the present century. Are the relatively few 

 dishes into which these spices enter to be regarded as survivals of 



Thomas Stamford Rapfles. 



