SINGAPORE. 



131 



In addition to the tigers there are deer and wikl boars found upon tlie island^ and several 

 varieties of smaller animals, the monkey, the wild hog or peccary, the jjorcupine and the sloth. 

 Birds abound, and among them are some of great beauty. Serpents are not very numerous, but 

 among them is the venomous cobra. A singular animal, called the water buffalo, was more 

 particularly observed at Singapore. It apjjroaches in size to the ox of our country, and like it 

 is used as an animal for draught, being harnessed to the shafts of a cart and guided by a driver, 

 who holds a rope which is fastened to a ring or thong passed through the cartilage which 

 divides the nostrils of the animal. The skin of this beast is rough and not unlike that of 

 the rhinoceros, and though the water buffalo has somewhat the general appearance of the ox, 

 its head is altogether different. Notwithstanding the seeming thickness and toughness of its 

 hide, it suffers greatly from the flies, and to avoid them keeps, except during feeding time, in 

 the water ; hence, probably, its name. 



Inquiries were made about two remarkable inhabitants of the waters about Malacca and 

 Sumatra, described by Kaffles : the sailing fish, called by tlie natives ikan layer, and the duyong, 

 mentioned by Valentin, and so long talked of as the mermaid; but the Commodore was told by 

 the inhabitants of Singapore that these fish had become very scarce, if not entirely extinct. 



Malay Tombs, Xear Singapore. 



Shells collected upon the adjacent coasts and along the Straits of Malacca are brought in large 

 quantities to Singapore for sale, and some excellent specimens were obtained. 



The various people who inhabit Sumatra, the Malayan peninsula, and the numerous islands in 

 tlie adjacent seas, are all of the JIalay family. This race is widely distributed, not only over 



