150 Voyage of the Novara. 



the Arabs are the descendants of those Mahometan priests 

 and merchants whom the Portuguese found Iiere when they 

 first visited tliis quarter of the globe, and are recruited from 

 time to time, but on the whole rarely, by fresh arrivals from 

 their mother country. 



One very marked peculiarity of the population of Singa- 

 pore is the enormous disparity between the numbers of the 

 sexes. The proportion of females to males is as one to seven. 

 The most probable explanation of this phenomenon is the 

 circumstance that hitherto the emigration of females from 

 Cliina has been entirely prohibited, and consequently almost 

 all the Chinese residents, who constitute by far the majority 

 of the whole population, are unmarried. Among them the 

 proportion of females to males is as one to thirteen. 



The health of Singapore is not always so bad as at the 

 period of our visit ; indeed, judging by perquisitions made for 

 the purpose, the climate may rather be regarded as salubrious, 

 particularly since the immediate vicinity of the town has been 

 so extensively cleared. The outbreak of cholera was entirely 

 new, and on that account an all the more appalling visitation. 

 The temperature is tolerably equal throughout the year. Ob- 

 servations carried on uninterruptedly during five years give 

 an average of 8P 3. Fahr. for the hottest month (May), and 

 of 79** 5. Fahr. for the coldest (January). Once only during 

 the five years (in June) did the thermometer attain a 

 lieight of 87° 2. Fahr. and once only in January did it fall 

 as low as 74" 8. Fahr. By comparing the present range 



