136 Voyage of the Novara. 



screw corvette Niger ; and having warped ourselves into their 

 vicinity, by 2 p.m. we had cast anchor in 13 fathoms water. 

 Almost immediately afterwards an officer came off from the 

 Amethyst to welcome us, and to impart to us the unpleasant 

 intelligence that cholera had been raging in the city for some 

 weeks past, and had also committed gi^eat havoc among the 

 shipjjing in harbour. Even the captain and one of the crew 

 of an English merchantman had succumbed but a few hours 

 previously to this fell scourge, and the vessel had her flag 

 half-mast high as a signal of mourning. This information 

 at once deranged all our plans and projects with respect to 

 Singapore, and had we not been compelled to victual here, 

 we should at once have set sail. However, under the cir- 

 cumstances there was nothing to do but to spend five or six 

 days at Singapore, and this breathing-space we availed our- 

 selves of to obtain as much information as possible both by 

 eye and ear touching this very remarkable colony, and its 

 not less interesting inhabitants. 



