VI.] DESERTED COAL-MINES. 119 



clergyman in the colony, and no services are held. For a long- 

 time the congregation consisted of two or tliree persons only. 

 Wlien it dwindled still further the church was closed. Around, 

 scattered over the slopes of the little hill, are the bungalows of the 

 Europeans, many of which are now deserted. The colony, in 

 official language, "has only partially fulfilled the expectations 

 formed of it." An American would say that it was " played out." 

 Yet it was here that Low, with incalculable care and trouble, 

 formed one of the finest fruit gardens in the East. Even crime 

 has fallen into desuetude. In the country the sole guardian of the 

 peace is a policeman who has lost both his arms : in the town 

 twenty-five Sikhs form the only force. 



The island is low and flat for the greater part of its extent, but 

 rises slightly towards its northern end. The forest with wliich it 

 was once covered has, for the most part, been cut down or burnt, 

 especially on the eastern side, and a low undergrow"th, in which a 

 small rhododendron -like plant forms a conspicuous feature, has 

 sprung up in its stead. Here and there some wliite-stemmed trees 

 are left standing, and the landscape bears a curious resemblance to 

 that in many parts of Australia. The road, w^hich in the palmy days 

 of the coal-mines was well kept, is now rapidly becoming over- 

 grown. From time to time it leads along the beach, where the sea 

 idly laps the blocks of white coral, and washes the roots of the 

 trees that overhang it. Soon the low sandstone bluffs of Koubong 

 Point come into \dew, and crossing the brow of one of the few hills 

 of which the island boasts, one comes suddenly upon a small valley 

 filled with huts and deserted bungalows. We found the little 

 railway overgrown with grass, and in the sheds the engines stood 

 rusting, jiist as they had been left when work had ceased. Close 

 by were the workmen's "lines," where at one time over five 

 hundred coolies lived ; and on the cliffs overlooking the sea, sur- 

 rounded by a pretty garden and orchards, stood a charming bunga- 

 low, formerly the residence of the manager. It was tenanted 

 by a solitary native, the only inhabitant of the place. All around 



