294 By Stream and Sea. 



latter assertion, of course, is the same as saying that the 

 majority are low-class Chinamen. Some of our good re- 

 formatory workers at home would have been gratified 

 beyond measure at the excellent way in which the institu- 

 tion is conducted. The prisoners, up to the present time, have 

 been housed — one might almost say caged — in common 

 sheds and dormitories. Now, under the presence of pres- 

 sure from without, the separate system is to be tried, and 

 solitary cells are being built. The men, especially the 

 Malays, are generally very tractable. 



All being in chains, the prisoners move about with the 

 old-fashioned clank-clank familiar to the present generation 

 in England only on the melo-dramatic stage. Out of 620 

 prisoners there were only two women (not bad for a set of 

 heathens), and the few prisoners in the European quarter 

 were soldiers and sailors, who had been overtempted by the 

 low grog shops (there are by far too many of these) into the 

 commission of minor misdemeanours. Formerly there were 

 not more than half a dozen European warders to manage 

 this large prison, to which, perhaps, it should be mentioned, 

 are brought long-sentence men from other portions of the 

 Straits Settlements. 



Last year there was an outbreak, and Mr. Dent, the 

 superintendent, was murdered. The plot was, no doubt, 

 hatched in the common dormitory, or in the gangs, and 

 for a wonder the conspirators united sufficiently to effect 

 their purpose, a fact to be noted when it is known that the 

 Chinese and Malays have different languages of their own, 

 and that the Chinese and Malays have no fervid love for 

 each other. Many readers may dimly remember the story 

 as briefly told in the English newspapers at the time, but 

 I cannot call to mind that one particular incident was in- 

 cluded in the account. I will give it for the benefit of the 



