304 COFFEE. 



trunk is shorter, but from the top of the trunk its tall, graceful 

 leaves shoot out in the shape of a " palm-leaf fan," or, as some 

 persons have described it, like the rising sun. These leaves are 

 deeply grooved, and at their base form quite a reservoir, where, 

 when it rains, a supply of water is collected and retained for 

 many days. In regions where water is scarce, travellers obtain a 

 supply by puncturing these reservoirs ; hence the name of " trav- 

 eller's palm." A stranger is somewhat surprised to see the water 

 follow the knife, pouring out of the puncture in a slender stream, 

 quite reminding one of the " rock of Horeb." 



Everything here constantly reminds me that I am in the 

 tropics ; but few of the houses have any glass in their windows, 

 blinds answering the purpose of keeping out the sun and rain, 

 and yet admitting as much as possible of the always-to-be-desired 

 breeze. The hotels furnish no upper sheet or other covering for 

 the bed, unless requested to do so, and, indeed, this is imnecessary 

 where the thermometer ranges between eighty and ninety degrees 

 throughout the year. Dusky bird-venders, with a long stick 

 perched full of parrots of every hue, and stick peddlers, with 

 their bundle of real malacca canes, everywhere greet you with 

 "Buy a bird? "or "Buy a stick, master?" and in the shops, 

 tigers' claws and bird-of-paradise skins are staple curiosities, of 

 which nearly every traveller buys more or less. 



Here also we met a new type of features, in the Malay race, 

 and a stranger blending of nationalities even than at Hong-Kong. 

 Malay boatmen and fishermen, Hindoo money-changers and shop- 

 keepers, Bengalese washermen and hack-drivers, Parsee merchants, 

 Portuguese clerks from Malacca, Chinese merchants, planters, and 

 coolies, besides a representation of all the nations of Europe, 

 make up a conglomerate population such as probably can be 

 found in no other part of the world. Of these the Chinese are 

 by far the most numerous, and their patient industry has made 

 them a most important part of the population here. Indeed, it 

 has passed into a proverb that " the Chinese are the backbone of 

 the island." They own and cultivate more land than any other 

 class, and pay more taxes ; are quiet, orderly, industrious, and en- 

 terprising, and instead of carrying their bones back to China, as 

 they do from California, they marry, raise families, and most of 



