254 . EAMBLES OF A NATUEALI8T. [Oh. XV. 



glowing coals shining upon him through the darkness. He 

 was laughed at as a dreamer, but persisted, in his story, and 

 next morning the tracks of a tiger were very apparent about 

 the spot. 



The Gambler plantations are very thick, the plants beiag 

 placed very close together, and growing to the height of five 

 or six feet, so that they form a jungle in themselves ; and 

 there is abundance of rank grass, which affords ample cover 

 for tigers ; but were so many persons killed as asserted, no 

 Chinese could be induced to go and work in them. A very 

 old resident in Singapore told me that he had long been in 

 the habit of rambling about the jungle for weeks together, 

 often penetrating- five or six miles from the government 

 roads, and yet he never saw or heard a tiger, though he has 

 seen their tracks in his plantation. It is difficult to conceive 

 what can induce tigers to cross over to Singapore ; for 

 although there are "a few deer and plenty of pigs in the island, 

 there is a much greater variety of game in the Johore 

 peninsula. Can it be a taste for human flesh, which is more 

 plentiful in the island ? 



An old guide-book stated that so numerous were the 

 tigers that on the arrival of the steamers the passengers 

 might see them come down to the water's edge to drink 

 (salt water, of course). And it was a common statement 

 that the island was infested with tigers. But, at the present 

 day at least, one might walk all through the island without 

 seeing a trace of them ; and the roads, at all events, are 

 perfectly safe, not only from tigers, but also from robbery 

 or violence. 



At Singapore, and also at Labuan, the little luminous 

 beetle, commonly known as the fire-fly (Lampyris sp. ign.) 

 is common. When flying singly it shines with an inter- 



