178 



bilities, or tlie picturL'scj[ue sceiiery and fertile 

 foil It i3<mt$lKti^ ik^ mmUm hmg merely cozi- 

 $xiJ&i to e^&mng ismm, oaf M^dJss,. in the imme' 

 diate vicinit}' of tlic settlement. 



We went a sliort distance up tlie Singapore 

 river in a sampan ; the banks abounded in 

 tbe ^Gtifk green and rank mangrove trees, be« 



dwelling's. We did not proceed far before 

 we landed among some Malay liouses, sur- 

 rounded with numerous palm, fruit, and flower 

 trees; among which the lofty Jack tree, with 

 its «K6r!n^ firoit p6xid2% irdta the triiiik ov 

 larger branches, the featbered cocoa palm, 

 the erect Areka ]>uliii, a beautiful sliriib of 

 mbiscus rosa-chmenm covered by a profusion of 

 large flowers of a delicate nankin colour, and 

 ser^ial large trees of the Wssa m'ttksimf m amotto 

 of commal^e, the Caslnimjiu of the Malays, (some 

 of whom occasionalh' nsed it as ;i dye,) were nu- 

 merous. One uf these dwellings was a manufac- 

 tory for the rehning of sago, and another a native 



gu^nd at the very early hour of the morning we 

 arrived, wln'U the sparkliugdew-drops liad not yet 

 forsaken the herbage, the sun not having yet the 

 power to cause tlteir gUstenlng and refreshing 

 decorati<?ii» to ?ani^u 



