AND THE MALAY STATES 65 



FIFTH LETTER. 



DEPARTURE FROM COLOMBO FOR THE FEDERATED MALAY STATES CHRISTMAS EN 

 ROUTE ARRIVAL AT SINGAPORE THE BOTANIC GARDENS AND DIRECTOR RIDLEY 

 SUCCESSFUL GROWTH OF HEVEA GATHERING GUTTA-JELUTONG IN THE JUNGLE 

 REBOILING GUTTA-PERCHA BY THE CHINESE A VISIT TO JOHORE STARTING FOR 

 SALANGOR. 



MY second experience on a P. and O. boat was when I boarded the 

 Bengal in Colombo harbor, being taken off in a catamaran, 

 whose crew seemed to enjoy narrow escapes so much that they 

 invited collision with every moving craft that came their way. Reference 

 to my notes develops one fact that seemed of prime importance then, 

 and that was that I sailed from Colombo "on the 2oth of December, and 

 had received no mail at all while in Ceylon. In other words, I had got 

 ahead of schedule time, and as a result was facing Christmas on a trop- 

 ical sea with no holiday greetings. However, the Bengal sailed just 

 the same. We got away soon after dark during an exceedingly heavy 

 rainfall. As there were only twelve passengers all told, I had a very 

 roomy, four-berth cabin to myself a great comfort in tropical waters. 



The next morning I was up very early, took my last look at the 

 fading shores of Ceylon, and got well acquainted with a young planter 

 from Penang who was so much interested in India-rubber that he 

 described to me in detail the way the American importers bought it, 

 "melted it up with sulphur and lampblack and sold it to the manufac- 

 turers to be cast into goods." As we were still working south, the heat 

 became even more tropical, yet we were forced to take much exercise 

 to enjoy our meals. We therefore played ping pong, deck quoits, and 

 cricket, being every now and then driven to the smoking room by the 

 floods of water that poured along the decks, in spite of top and side 

 awnings. The air was exceedingly damp; one perspired constantly, and, 

 as one Briton expressed it, he felt like a chewed string. On December 

 24, we sighted the island of Puloh Wea, which, having no awnings over 

 it, was getting mighty wet, and on the following morning, which was 

 Christmas, we entered the harbor at Penang at 6.30 o'clock. 



The rain had left us for a little, the sea was smooth, and all about 

 us were brown-sailed Chinese junks and sampans with double pointed 

 sterns, on which stood half naked dyaks with queer conical hats, sculling 

 with exceeding skill. The harbor was crowded with foreign shipping, 



