on 
RUBBER PLASTING IX CEYLOX 
all gaily decorated with Hags, and as we cast anchor we had a good 
view of the town nestling at the foot of lofty mountains covered with 
verdure to their very summits. We all got ready to go ashore and 
stood watching the swarming native boats containing money changers, 
curio sellers and jugglers. These gentry were not supposed to come 
aboard, but whenever they got a chance they ran their boats close to 
the ship's side, climbed the slender masts, and, swinging toward the 
vessel, caught hold of the edge of a port, and clinging tooth and nail, 
came aboard like so man)' monkeys. While we waited for permission 
to go shore we learned that the huge, two-story building fronting us, 
but, alas, an eighth of a mile away, was the custom house, and the factory 
plant a long distance away with four brick chimneys was a tin smelter. 
JOHNSTON S PIER, SINGAPORE. 
We were also informed that the town was not Penang, but was George- 
town. Penang being the name of the island on which the town was 
situated, and then all at once, when we were full of information, the 
anchor came up and we sailed away. At first we were very much 
disgusted, but as we circled the island and struck into the Straits of 
Malacca in plain sight of the low lying shores covered with graceful 
cocoa-nut palms, with ranges of mountains in the distance, and as island 
after island appeared in sight, each wilder and more beautiful than the 
last, we forgot our disappointment and became engrossed in the scenery. 
Possibly to make us more good natured, we had a magnificent Christmas 
pudding that night and then a musicale on deck, at which the first 
officer sang and the fourth officer played, and all joined in games until 
it was time to retire. 
