SINGAPORE. 297 



I have yet become acquainted. First, last, and all the time, he is un- 

 compromisingly American, loyal to the backbone, and devoted heart 

 and soul to the interests of the government he represents. In ad- 

 dition to this he has the stamina which such a position requires, 

 and does his duty without the sHghtest fear of what those around 

 him may say or do. I was not sui-prised to learn that his ofificial 

 acts have not always met the approbation of those most affected by 

 them, for to my mind no coustd can do his duty unflinchingly 

 without making some enemies. From him I learned more of the 

 pohtical history of the Straits Settlements, and the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, both inside and out, than I could ever have obtained else- 

 where. 



It was at the IMajor's, one evening after my return from Borneo, 

 that I met two Americans of the kind one is proud to meet abroad, 

 and pleased to meet at home. ]\Ir. Andrew Carnegie and Mr. Van- 

 devorst (" Vandy ") had just then reached the "half-way house" 

 on theu- pleasm-e trip around the world, where they stopped for a 

 few days to see the sights. In spite of his Scotch blood, Mr. 

 Carnegie is quite an ideal American, with nothing but praise for his 

 adopted country and all her institutions. More than this, he is what 

 I should call a model millionaii'e, whom great gain has not rendered 

 insatiably greedy for more, and who industriously coins his money 

 into human happiness instead of reversing the operation, as most 

 of our wealthy men do. 



It increases one's estimate of human nature to meet such a man, 

 who, in manner, is as cordial and unassuming as one's best fx'iend, 

 whose human sympathy is his most conspicuous trait, and whose 

 greatest happiness is found in making others happy. While these 

 tardy pages have been in course of preparation, iVIr. Carnegie has 

 finished that journey, and made another ; and now the public 

 knows him well through the charming pages of " Around the 

 World," and "An American Four-in-Hand ia Britain," both of 

 them books of the kind which it warms one's blood to read. 



The city of Singapore is situated on an island of the same name, 

 twentj'-five mUes long by fourteen broad, which is separated from 

 the mainland of the Peninsula by a strait from one-half to three- 

 fourths of a mile wide. The island is covered with low hills, the 

 highest of which has an elevation of about five hundred feet. Al- 

 though Singapore is only seventy miles north of the equator, the 

 temperature is by no means so hot as might at first be supposed. 

 The thermometer seldom rises above eighty-seven degi'ees in the 



