16 
This is one of the great shipping ports of the world, ana the harbor 
was filled with ships of all sizes and nationalities. We made our 
way at once to the Raffles Hotel, but were disappointed to hear that _ 
the hotel was full and they had no accomodations for us. The Acelphi 
however, was more hospitable, and although they told us the only rooms 
they had were so bad that they were ashamed to show them to us, we 
were pleased to have any sort of shelter, and quite liked the room 
assigned to us. It has wooden, half -doors, that swing open off a 
a balcony that overlooks a little garden. The beds were well draped 
in mosquito net, and furnished with two pillows, a Dutch wife, and 
a small piece of cotton- flannel sheeting to pull over one if "the 
night turns chilly (it doesn't). I tried in vain the first night 
to find some comfortable way of sleeping with the elongated bolster 
down the middle of the bed,' but soon gave it up and threw Gretchen 
on the floor. Bill insisted on hugging his, and I wanted him to 
paint two eves, a nose and a mouth on i$. The bathroom also 
contrined one of the institutions of the East of which we had he: rd - 
the Shanghai jar instead of a tub. There was running water, so one 
held an enamel bucket under the tap and poured cool water over one- 
self. It was surprisingly refreshing. The water runs off the floor 
and down the drain eventually. 
Our first concern was to visit the American Consul, and see 
if he had any permits for us. Mr. Monnett Davis, the Consul General, 
was most cordial, and anxious to be of any possible assistance. 
No permits had come through, but he offered to take the matter up 
with the Colonial Office. 
In the afternoon Bill and I went for a walk. Singapore is 
like anv tropical town, with all the buildings making an arcade along 
the street, furnishing protection from both sun and rain, of which 
there is plenty. I doubt if any other city in the world hps quite 
the variety of nationality among its shopkeepers. Here are Chinese, 
Japanese, Indians, sh* Malays and Europeans side by side, selling a 
tempting varietv of things. Prices in general i re much higher than 
Shanghai or Singapore; in fact they compare quite well with American 
prices. We are paying $80 a day for our room, and with the dollar 
at 58 cents U.S. that is not cheap. 
In the evening we visited a number of bird stores in North 
Bridge Road and Rochore Road. They were well stocked, and had numbers 
of Australian birds as well as Malay things. One of them had a tiny 
Malay bear cub, which I was allowed, to hold for a minute. It was 
sucking its enormous paw, and whining in a most pathetic way. 
About nine o'clock we went out to the Great World, a big amuse- 
ment park where we heard there was 8 circus playing. The grounds were 
amazing: Booths selling everything from modern furniture to silk 
handkerchiefs; cabarets; Chinese, Malay and Indian theatres, open in 
back so that if you wanted to stand you could see the show free; 
what the carnivals at home call ,! g;mes of skill"; open air restaurants 
with enticing displays of young chickens and pickled octopus; jugglers 
and snake charmers - and eventually the circus. 
A ten-foot wall of corrugated iron barred our way to the circus. 
A sign proclaimed that the house was full, "come back early to-morrow". 
We pounded on the wall, and at intervals a bearded and turbanned 
sikh would climb up and put his head over the fence and tell us to 
go away. We finally persuaded him to let us in, and to find the 
manager for us. "Bell's Hippodrome Circus and Touring Zoo r , with 
"Richard Bell, Sole Proprietor" was a good-sized European-type cir- 
