PROCEED TO MALACCA. 215 



men, and although sometimes quite black, their 

 features would have been considered singularly 

 handsome, even in an European. 



We had now only one day to look at Singapore, 

 when we went on to join the Admiral, Sir T. Coch- 

 rane, and the Chinese squadron, at Malacca. 



Malacca always seemed to me one of those old 

 places that, having a kind of half- fabulous antiquity 

 about them — a name and a glory long since faded — 

 are peculiarly attractive to the imagination. I was 

 delighted at the opportunity of being able to substi- 

 tute a real image for the shadowy one that had 

 glimmered in my mind ever since, as a boy, I had 

 read of Malacca as the Queen of the East, in the 

 narratives of the older voyagers. 



Down the centre of the southern part of the 

 Malay peninsula, there runs, not a continuous range, 

 but a number of detached hills or groups of moun- 

 tains. These have a bold and striking form, and 

 look like hills of granite. The loftiest is Gonung 

 Leadang, or Mount Ophir, which is said to be about 

 5000 feet high. Around these, and stretching from 

 them to the coast, is a low and generally level coun- 

 try, here and there broken by small rocky eminences. 

 Just south of Malacca are a few islands, called the 

 Water Islands, which are composed of a very hand- 

 some grey granite. 



Malacca, like all these tropical towns, makes little 

 show from the sea. A shallow little brook gives 

 access to canoes, and at high water to boats of a 



