SINGAPORE. 419 



instruments were all apparently well mounted ; but I was somewhat 

 surprised at observing that several chronometers were used for mark- 

 ing time, when it could have been more conveniently and accurately 

 made by a single clock. 



Lieutenant Elliot was erecting an apparatus to collect and develope 

 atmospheric electricity, but he had not, as he informed me, been able 

 to succeed. Considering the station was a magnetic one, it was sur- 

 prising to me that he should be trying such experiments, when the 

 two agents of electricity and magnetism are so nearly allied, and 

 especially that he should have done it in such immediate contact 

 with the instruments. The observatory is situated about two miles 

 from Singapore. 



At Singapore there are three American missionaries, Mr. North, 

 Mr. Hepburn, and Mr. Dickinson; the former, who has resided here 

 six years, is the principal. The two first have a school of fifty Chi- 

 nese boys ; but as it was vacation time, we had no opportunity of seeing 

 them at their exercises. Mr. North spoke to several of our gentlemen 

 in high terms of the intelligence of the Chinese children. The Chi- 

 nese boys are received at an early age, and board in the family of the 

 missionaries, to whose guidance they are wholly given up by their 

 parents. They seldom visit their parents, and never without a special 

 request. These children are taught the rudiments of an English 

 education, but no efforts are made on the adult population. The 

 hope is, that the results of educating the young, and impressing them 

 with the truth of the Bible, will be apparent in after years, and may 

 conduce to some good. Only one of the scholars has as yet been 

 baptized. They are all represented as well-behaved and docile. 



The Singapore Institute, another academical establishment, is under 

 the care of the Rev. Mr. Montgomery, an English missionary. It is 

 delightfully situated on the public ground fronting the bay. There 

 are in it about one hundred boys, who are taught on the monitory 

 system. The branches here taught are those comprising a common 

 school education : there are no schools for the higher branches. 



Although the Protestant missionaries have not met with any suc- 

 cess in propagating their tenets, this cannot be said of the Catholics, 

 who have already made one hundred and fifty proselytes to their 

 faith. There is likewise a very interesting establishment here under 

 the name of the Raffles School, of which Mr. Dickinson, the third 

 American missionary, is principal. These gentlemen have given up 



