134 BOTANIC GARDENS MENAGERIE. 



order was received to abolish the menagerie in 1903, which 

 had to be gradually carried into effect. 



Perhaps there are few places in the world more suited for 

 a Zoological Garden than Singapore. The climate is well 

 suited for all the tropical animals, the cost of keeping them is 

 much lower than in most parts of the world, for firing, an 

 important and expensivejtem in many gardens, is unnecessary ; 

 forage for the deer and other herbivorous animals, costs little 

 or nothing, and fish for the piscivorous birds is readily pro- 

 cured. Animals of great interest can be procured for a small 

 cost, and indeed a great number have been presented and 

 offered to the gardens. The neighbouring islands and main- 

 lands produce many animals which cannot be kept in any of 

 the European or American Menageries, but which thrive 

 well in Singapore, and even breed in captivity. Notable succes- 

 ses in this way in the Singapore Gardens are the successful 

 breeding of the Jackal, the Kijang, (cervulus muntjac) the Napu 

 (Tragulus Napu) and the hybrid monkeys and the green viper 

 none of which, as far as I know, have previously bred in captivi- 

 ty elsewhere. 



To the large number of passengers who visit Singapore on 

 their way eastwards or westwards a Zoological collection is 

 very attractive, and the menagerie in its best days was known 

 all over the world, and was the first thing' asked for by the 

 visitor. There seems also something eminently suitable in 

 having a menagerie in the colony founded by Sir Stamford 

 Baffles who was also one of the founders of the finest Zoologi- 

 cal Gardens in the world, — that of London. 



Animals in captivity. There are a certain number of 

 people in the world who assume that an animal must be very 

 unhappy in captivity, and especially if their ideas of what any 

 given animal should enjoy do not concur with those of the 

 animal itself. I suppose all keepers of menageries have 

 received from time to time the most ridiculous letters with 

 suggestions as to how to treat animals, of winch the writers 

 often know not even the name still less the habits. The 

 descendants of the man who buttered the hay for his horse 

 are by no means extinct. 



JourJ Straits Branc 



