74 SOUTHERN INDIA AND TJE STRAITS 



the Tamil influence would have grown in strength, and perhaps 

 eventually have led to a considerable fusion of the races, es- 

 pecially along 1 the coasts. Some such fusion has in later times 

 produced the mixed race known as Jawi Pekan ; but in this the 

 Bengali element is quite as strong as the Tamil, owing to the 

 large number of north Indians who came to the Straits, either 

 as voluntary immigrants or against their will as convicts, in 

 the days when the Straits Settlements still formed an appanage 

 of the East India Company. 



