CHAPTEE II. 



SINGAPORE. 



(A sketch of the town and island as seen during several visits 

 from 1854 to 1862.) 



T^EW places are more interesting to a traveller from 

 Europe than the town and island of Singapore, fur- 

 nishing, as it does, examples of a variety of Eastern races, 

 and of many different religions and modes of life. The 

 government, the garrison, and the chief merchants are 

 English ; hut the great mass of the population is Chinese, 

 including some of the wealthiest merchants, the agricul- 

 turists of the interior, and most of the mechanics and 

 labourers. The native Malays are usually fishermen and 

 boatmen, and they form the main body of the police. The 

 Portuguese of Malacca supply a large number of the clerks 

 and smaller merchants. The Klings of Western India are 

 a numerous body of Mahometans, and, with many Arabs, 

 are petty merchants and shopkeepers. The grooms and 

 washermen are all Bengalees, and there is a small but 

 highly respectable class of Parsee merchants. Besides 

 these, there are numbers of Javanese sailors and domestic 



