Ch. XV.] OCCUPATIONS OF THE KLINGS. 247 



from her ears and nose, and wrested the armlets and anklets 

 from off her Hmbs ; and the wonder only seems to be that 

 this does not more frequently happen. The little black 

 Kling children 6f both sexes dispense with all clothing more 

 commonly than the Malays. 



The Klings are universally the hack-carriage (gharry) 

 drivers, and private grooms (syces), and they also mono- 

 polise the washing of the clothes of the dressed commu- 

 nity. The Singapore Dhobies, as they are termed, who 

 are nearly aU men, certainly produce whiteness in Unen, 

 but sadly at the expense of material. Standing in a stream 

 beside a large flat stone, they rinse and soap the clothes, 

 and then, instead of rubbing them in the fashion of Western 

 laundresses, they dash them over their head repeatedly with 

 great force, and with a loud sough, upon the stone, which, 

 however rough it may be at first, is soon worn smooth by 

 the contact of the unfortunate linen. 



But besides this class, there are Klings who amass money 

 as tradesmen and merchants, and become rich. I visited 

 their silk shops, in the busy part of the town, kept by men 

 who from their scanty and poor attire were scarcely dis- 

 tinguishable from coolies, but nevertheless had a balance 

 at their bankers', and were in the habit of buying goods 

 to the amount of thousands of dollars at a time from the 

 merchants with whom they deal. One was pointed out to 

 me who had just purchased for 5500 dollars a small cocoa- 

 nut plantation, which he was anxious to possess, simply 

 because, since* it adjoined his own property, he did not wish 

 another to hold it. 



The wild, barbaric habits of these people were, however, 

 best exhibited in their religious ceremonies. Having 

 observed a brilliant display of lights on the shore for several 



