60 MEMOIR OF 



and almost every other island of note in these seas ; 

 my intended account of the establishment of Sin- 

 gapore ; the history of my owa administration ; 

 eastern grammars, dictionaries, and vocabularies ; 

 and last, not least, a grand map of Sumatra, on which 

 I had been employed since my arrival here, and on 

 which, for the last six months, I had bestowed al- 

 most my whole undivided attention. This, however, 

 was not all ; all my collections in natural history, 

 all my splendid collection of drawings, upwards of 

 2000 in number, with all the valuable papers and 

 notes of my friends Arnold and Jack ; and, to con- 

 clude, I will merely notice, that there was scarce an 

 unknown animal, bird, beast or fish, or an interest- 

 ing plant, which we had not on board ; a living ta- 

 pir, a new species of tiger, splendid pheasants 5 &c. 

 domesticated for the voyage ; we were, in short, in 

 this respect, a perfect Noah's Ark> 



" All all has perished ; but, thank God, our 

 lives have been spared, and we do not repine. " 



After this heavy dispensation we might suppose 

 a person desponding, it was not so with Sir Stam- 

 ford ; and in no event of his life did he exhibit so 

 much energy. He had seen the labours of twenty 

 years, his collection of drawings, manuscripts of his 

 own, and of his companions, who had fallen victims 

 to their researches, the greater part of his private 

 property, the presents of his friends, and testimonials 

 of his services, all swept away, reduced to ashes in 

 a few hours. But truly thankful for the preserva- 



