66 



RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON 



all gaily decorated with flags, and as we cast anchor we had a good 

 view of the town nestling at the foot of lofty mountains covered with 

 verdure to their very summits. We all got ready to go ashore and 

 stood watching the swarming native boats containing money changers, 

 curio sellers and jugglers. These gentry were not supposed to come 

 aboard, but whenever they got a chance they ran their boats close to 

 the ship's side, climbed the slender masts, and, swinging toward the 

 vessel, caught hold of the edge of a port, and clinging tooth and nail, 

 came aboard like so many monkeys. While we waited for permission 

 to go shore we learned that the huge, two-story building fronting us, 

 but, alas, an eighth of a mile away, was the custom house, and the factory 

 plant a long distance away with four brick chimneys was a tin smelter. 



JOHNSTON'S PIER, SINGAPORE. 



We were also informed that the town was not Penang, but was George- 

 town, Penaiig being the name of the island on which the town was 

 situated, and then all at once, when we were full of information, the 

 anchor came up and we sailed away. At first we were very much 

 disgusted, but as we circled the island and struck into the Straits of 

 Malacca in plain sight of the low lying shores covered with graceful 

 cocoa-nut palms, with ranges of mountains in the distance, and as island 

 after island appeared in sight, each wilder and more beautiful than the 

 last, we forgot our disappointment and became engrossed in the scenery. 

 Possibly to make us more good natured, we had a magnificent Christmas 

 pudding that night and then a musicale on deck, at which the first 

 officer sang and the fourth officer played, and all joined in games until 

 it was time to retire. 



