CHAPTER II. 



SINGAPOKE. 



Hotels— Singapore — An Eastern Port — A Tropical Island — Chinese Set- 

 tlers — Chinese Play — Tropical Night — Climate. 



This port, which is also the seat of the government of 

 the Straits Settlements, has not inaptly been called the 

 " Liverpool of the East," and the applicability of that 

 title soon becomes evident to the stranger from " home," 

 who finds himself on the landing-stage at Tanjong Paggar 

 for the first time. Here is a range of warehouses or 

 ■"godowns" for the storage of goods, and coaling sheds 

 for the supply of the mail and other steamers moored 

 alongside. One is soon glad to get away from the heat, 

 the noise of the steam winch, and the coal-dust ; and a 

 gharry or cab having been procured, the dusky Jehu 

 springs to his seat on the shaft, from which " coign of 

 vantage " he uses both whip and voice in urging on at a 

 gaUop a plucky little pony, scarcely larger than a donkey, 

 and most probably bred either in Sumatra or Pegu. 

 You meet other little ponies in other little gharries 

 coming full tilt down the road to the wharf, a string of 

 buffalo-carts, or occasionally a neat little private carriage, 

 and you soon become aware of the fact that Singapura, as 

 it is still called, of the Malays is both hot and dusty. On 

 jou go, and the stuffy little gharry, even if it has no 

 windows, soon becomes as hot as an oven, and the per- 

 spiration streams from every pore. By the time you 



