398 SINGAPORE. 



turbaned heads. Without the precincts of the town, a regiment of 

 Sepoys, six hundred strong, and officered by Europeans, is stationed. 

 These are to be seen habited like English soldiers, in close-bodied 

 red coats, than which a more inappropriate dress in such a climate as 

 this can scarcely be imagined. 



Before proceeding with the description of Singapore, it will be as 

 well to give some account of its settlement, and progress to its pre- 

 sent prosperous condition. 



It appears that the idea of occupying a position in the Straits of 

 Malacca did not occur to the East India Company until they were 

 about restoring the possession of Malacca to Holland in 1818. Major 

 Farquhar, then resident at Malacca, in that year entered into a com- 

 mercial treaty with Abdulrahman Shah, who had been acknowledged 

 as sovereign of Johore by the Dutch. By this treaty, British subjects, 

 or persons under the protection of the Company, had equal rights 

 for commercial pursuits with the most favoured nation, in the ports 

 of Johore, Lingin, and Rhio. 



The Dutch had no sooner got possession of Malacca, and received 

 information of Major Farquhar's treaty, than they sent an overpower- 

 ing force to Rhio, where Abdulrahman resided ; declared him their 

 vassal, annulled the treaty made with the English residents, and 

 dictated another with the sultan, by which British commerce was 

 entirely excluded from the ports of the straits. 



In order to counteract this attempt upon the part of Holland to 

 keep exclusive possession of the only passes into the Chinese seas, 

 the Straits of Sunda and Malacca, the Marquis of Hastings, who was 

 then Governor-General of India, despatched Sir Stamford Raffles to 

 the Straits of Malacca, to ascertain if there were not a place at the 

 Carimon Isles, or Singapore, of which the Dutch had not possession, 

 suitable for the establishment of a factory, and in this duty Major 

 Farquhar was associated with him. 



On the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles, he found that the Dutch had 

 taken possession of Rhio, as before mentioned ; and it was then sug- 

 gested by Captain Ross, the able surveyor in the Company's employ, 

 that Singapore offered the most suitable location for their purpose. 

 About this time, Sir Stamford Raffles, while off this place, was visited 

 by the Tumungong of Johore, a chief hostile to the Dutch, and an 

 enemy to Abdulrahman Shah. The Tumungong represented that the 

 rightful heir was the elder brother, Hassain Mahomed Shah, and that 

 the British by treating with him would derive a right to settle from 



