PLEASANT ASPECT. 217 



of fruits and flowers, run in every direction along 

 the roads, while the lanes round the outskirts of the 

 town are perfect avenues of cocoa-nut trees and 

 other palms, affording the most grateful shade. 

 Several very fair roads also run in different direc- 

 tions for some distance into the country. 



Altogether I was far more pleased with the aspect 

 of Malacca than that of Singapore. Singapore looks 

 like one of our spick and span new colonial towns 

 dropped by some accident into the tropics, where it 

 is totally out of place. The trees have been most 

 injudiciously cleared away, leaving bare white 

 houses and dusty roads gleaming in the sun. 

 Malacca on the contrary, seems to be the natural 

 growth of the country, a native town just suffi- 

 ciently elevated by the mixture of European charac- 

 ter, without losing its own. Its houses seem to 

 have grown up under the trees that shelter them, 

 and its narrow shadowy alleys and green lanes form 

 a most delightful contrast with the glaring streets 

 of Singapore. To a stranger like myself unem- 

 ployed in business, the very air of indolence and 

 contentment that Malacca wears is far preferable to 

 the stir and bustle of its rival. This character 

 seems fully appreciated by its inhabitants, as on my 

 asking a native boatman one day, which he liked 

 best, he said he had been at Singapore, but did not 

 like it at all ; adding in his own language, " every- 

 body was running here, running there, and doing 



