ON THE MEDICAL TOPOGRAPHY OF SINGAPORE. 
409 
lost from its insignificance in the district of Tanglin. Into this ri¬ 
ver the drains of the most populous part of the town are supposed 
to empty themselves. On the banks of this river and its divisions, 
hundreds of houses, inhabited by both poor and comparatively weal¬ 
thy natives, are built. These houses are of wood, or attaps, erected 
on posts and covered with attaps, having betwixt the inhabitants and 
the swamp only one open flooring of Nibong . The elevation of these 
houses is just sufficient to place them above high water mark ; their 
aggregation forming certain Campongs or villages, called Bukit Pas¬ 
su and Campong Malacca, and on the Rochor canal Campong Bugis, 
having collectively a population of perhaps 2 to 3,000, constantly 
living in swamps. These mangrove swamps on which the houses are 
built, and other swamps within ^ of a mile of Singapore, occupy a- 
bout 1,000 acres; but previous to the extension of the town and the 
draining that has been practised within a few years, the ground occu¬ 
pied by swamps under tidal influence, must have been 3 or 4 times 
that extent. When the tide is at its ebb these marshes are dry, and 
disclose a bottom of very fine black slimy mud some feet in thick¬ 
ness, saline in its properties, and giving forth Carbonic Acid, Car- 
buretted and Sulphuretted Hydrogen to such an extent, that those 
unaccustomed to live in the vicinity can scarcely breathe from the 
intolerable stench of the last. This is more particularly appli¬ 
cable to the canal running through Canal street and close to the 
Jail, and the canal that skirts the North Bridge Road. The houses 
at Campong Bugis, Rochor, and along the canal of that name, so 
ironically stated as pleasantly situated on its banks, aie all subject to 
the same atmosphere, which is so contaminated with Sulphuretted 
Hydrogen that white lead paint used to the walls oi the buildings is 
almost immediately blackened. To the east of the town and valley 
of Singapore, in the districts of Siglap and Tana Mdra, and in 
other parts of the island, we had and still have swamps of a different 
kind, not subject to tidal influence. These swamps or marshy 
vallies are surrounded by moderate elevations on all sides, except 
one which generally faces the sea. They were formerly used as 
Paddy Grounds, the high jungle having been cut down, but as that 
