8 MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN LIGHT, 



forth as the champion of Penang. We have had other cham- 

 pions since, and ardent ones too, but must give FRANCIS 

 Light the palm. In the same despatch he alludes to the dis- 

 covery of tin on Bukit Timah (the spur to the north of the 

 " Crag" where the new Sanitarium of the Pulau Tikus Col- 

 lege now stands), and the discovery of a wild nutmeg " whose 

 ''fruit so nearly resembles a nutmeg that the Buggesses and 

 " a Dutchman who had been at the spice islands declared to 

 " be the real nutmeg.'^ He goes on to say : " I have great 

 " hopes that the fruit may be improved so as to become an 

 "article of commerce." This prediction was verified, but 

 not for some years after, till Mr. Christopher Smith's 

 Agricultural Mission in 1802; and then it was the imported 

 nutmeg plant from Amboyna which for a time flourished so 

 greatly in the island. The whole tone of Captain Light's 

 letters bears testimony to the singleness of purpose and ad- 

 ministrative insight that characterised this remarkable man, 

 and it is matter for deep regret that he was not spared longer 

 to bring his labours to full fruition. The use he made of his 

 short period of power in the Far East, and his great capacity 

 as a leader of pioneer enterprise, prove him a worthy fore- 

 runner to Sir Stamford Raffles, who founded Singapore, 

 35 years later, on very similar lines. 



Captain Light died at Penang, like so many of the early 

 Chiefs of the Settlement, on the 21st October, 1794. Some 

 fever like that severe one recorded in his Journal in February, 

 1787, probably caused his death; at any rate he was able to 

 make a Will on the previous day. 



A letter to Government published in Vol. V of Logan's 

 Journal, p. 7, is the last official record of his work, bearing 

 date 25th January, 1794. In this he pleaded that a Civil 

 Assistant trained to the work might be his successor, ''in 

 case of his removal by death or otherwise," instead of the 

 Officer Commanding as arranged in 1787. He also advocates 

 "a mild and at the same time an active Government" as 

 necessary for the "most wealthy and useful inhabitants " — 

 that is, the Chinese, whose numbers he estimated at about 

 3,000. 



