140 VIEW OF THE STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE BRITISH 
and of Malays more or less civilized. To set down the population of 
the country at one person per square mile is not thought to be an 
under estimate by those who have had the best opportunities of judg¬ 
ing after exploring the interior. This estimate of course does not 
refer to the large towns 3n the occupation of Europeans. - 
The climate of the Straits is rather more humid than dry. There 
can' hardly be said to be, as in most other tropical countries, a dry 
and a wet season, and hence an agreeable temperature and continual 
verdure prevail throughout the whole year. The thermometer ranges 
from 70 ° to 85° and even down as low as C6° in the cool nights in 
January. 
The general character of the country has been described by one 
whose means of inspection have been considerable, and whose geolo¬ 
gical attainments constitute him a competent judge, thus, 
t£ The elevated parts of the Straits Settlements are composed either 
of plutonic (principally granitic) rocks, or stratified clays, shales and 
sandstone, varying in their texture and composition, and frequently 
impregnated with iron. The Island of Pinang is one granitic mass, 
which changes its mineralogical, and consequently its agricultural, 
character as we proceed from the north to the south. From the sur¬ 
face of the channel and of Province Wellesley many low hillocks and 
ranges rise, some of which are granitic and others sedimentary. Ma¬ 
lacca (including Naning) and Singapore consist of groups and ranges 
of hills, amongst which long and narrow vallies ramify. Granite and 
allied plutonic rocks are largely developed, forming extensive tracts 
in the Malacca territory, and, contrary to the opinion that has gene¬ 
rally prevailed, composing the larger part of Singapore. The pluto- 
nie action which the sedimentary rocks have undergone in a greater 
or less degree has, in many places, veined and impregnated them with 
iron, and sometimes so largely as to give them a completely iron- 
masked or lateritic character, a circumstance very necessary to be 
remarked in an agricultural point of view* 
“ The vallies and plains are for the mo§t part alluvial and consist 
chiefly of clay. Amongst this sand appears, occasionally forming 
bands of some breadth, but more often extending in long narrow 
