3U0 SINGAPORE. 



be called, may have been enacted some two thousand years ago, or 

 long prior to the dawning of civilization in Europe; and the con- 

 templation of this probability served to give additional interest to the 

 exhibition. 



The Klings are but transient visiters to Singapore. They come, as 

 before remarked, from the neighbourhood of Madras, remain for two 

 or three years, obtain a little money, and return. Their wages, and 

 that of labourers and servants, are but four dollars a month, out of 

 which they feed and clothe themselves. The cost of doing so, how- 

 ever, amounts to little ; for they subsist almost entirely upon rice and 

 sugar, if they can obtain them, and go nearly naked. Some of them 

 are artisans, in which case they receive the usual daily wages, the 

 amount of which may be understood from the fact that half a dollar 

 a day was paid in the squadron to calkers. 



At Singapore, we met with a Gentoo of the Brahminical caste, who 

 had been sent thither by the Indian government, for some defalcation. 

 Although of the same complexion as the other Hindoos we saw at 

 Singapore, his features were very different from theirs. The great 

 distinction was in the facial angle, which by some of us was thought 

 to be fully equal to ninety degrees, and in the mouth. His lips were 

 quite thin, and the lobes of his ears extraordinarily large, although not 

 perforated. This I was informed was characteristic of the Brahmins. 

 It was somewhat remarkable to find a person of his high caste, trans- 

 ported to a convict settlement; for they generally affect to lead very 

 pure lives, and by the commission of any open immorality are exposed 

 to the loss of caste. 



From the information we obtained at Singapore, from good autho- 

 rity, the burning of widows still takes place in Hindoostan, notwith- 

 standing the enactment by the British government, abolishing the 

 practice. The only difference is that it is done privately; and, 

 according to the Brahmin, it always has been continued among the 

 upper classes. Hook-swinging and walking on burning coals are also 

 practised ; and our missionaries have witnessed them in Singapore. 

 Credulous people have strong inducements to undergo the ordeal, for 

 afterward, it is believed the deity will protect them from all harm. It 

 is said that the former is practised also in China. 



According to the Brahmin, the Gentoos at Singapore are of the 

 fourth caste, called Scedros. There are no Brahmins to the east of 

 Singapore, and neither they nor the other higher classes willingly leave 

 their native country, for they forfeit their caste by so doing. This 

 Brahmin was said to be worth upwards of two hundred thousand 

 dollars, but was living in a miserable tenement near the temple, which 



