Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II / (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the / Austrian Navy.

The island of Singapore or Singhapura[27] is situated at the southernmost point of the peninsula of Malacca, from which it is only separated by a strait nowhere above a mile in breadth. It is about 29 ¹⁄₃ statute miles in length from east to west, by 16 ³⁄₅ in breadth from north to south. The superficial area of the island is estimated at 206 square geographical miles, which will make it about one half larger than the Isle of Wight.

Up to the year 1819, Singapore was a howling wilderness, and the only settlement upon its shores was a couple of wretched Malay fishermen's huts; a lurking-place for the pirates, who at that period made it dangerous to navigate those waters. After the rendition of the Dutch colonies in the Indian Archipelago, which it will be remembered were the property of England throughout the great continental war up to the year 1814, Sir Stamford Raffles, the former Governor of Java, was intrusted with the office of founding on it, as the most suitable spot in all the Malay seas, a free emporium where the general trade in those seas of all the sea-faring nations of the world might be concentrated and exchanged. England had further in view to leave not a single foot to stand on to the Dutch, whose interests in those seas clashed with her own, to obtain an emporium in which to collect all the more important products of the Archipelago for exchange against the teas and silks of China; and, lastly, to procure for the reception and repairs of the ships of war and merchantmen, a suitable harbour, such as, being in the vicinity of the teak-growing countries, would also have the advantage of supplying timber for her ships at any period when there might be in England a deficient supply of oak.

Sir Stamford, having previously examined several other localities, ultimately selected Singapore, and on 6th February, 1819, the English flag was hoisted on this solitary island, thus unsuspectedly inaugurating the beginning of a new era for the sea-faring world! At last, in 1824, came the Treaty of Cerum, by which Holland withdrew her pretensions in favour of England, and Singapore became an inalienable possession of the British Crown for a sum of 60,000 Spanish dollars paid over to its previous owner the Sultan of Djohore, together with a life-rent of 24,000 dollars annually payable to the same Malay chief. The slaves on the island were set at liberty, slavery was entirely abolished, and Singapore proclaimed a Free Port. The importance of Singapore as a site for a colony had already been pointed out and justified a century since by Captain Alexander Hamilton, who visited these seas at the beginning of the 18th century, and in a work entitled "A New Account of the East Indies," describes most circumstantially his stay at Djohore in 1703 on his voyage to China. In that work Hamilton narrates how the Sultan of Djohore wished to make him a present of the island, and how he declined this proposal with the remark that this island could be of no use to a private man, but would be eminently suitable for a colony and an emporium of trade,[28] because the winds were at all seasons favourable for egress from and entrance into these waters on every side. A hundred years later, the choice of Sir Stamford Raffles, to whom this relation of Hamilton seems to have been entirely unknown, fell upon the same locality, thus testifying alike to the eligibility of its position, and to the wise forecast of the founder of this British settlement.

Before the arrival of the Europeans in India round the Cape of Good Hope, towards the commencement of the 16th century, the trade of these countries was exclusively confined to the Arabs and Hindoos, who acted as a medium between the far East and Europe. Every island in the Archipelago, in proportion to the abundance and value of its vegetable produce and its foreign intercourse, had one or more harbours, at which the products of the surrounding districts and islands were gathered and heaped up until the monsoon permitted the arrival of the merchant vessels from the West. At the beginning of the fine season, Arabs and Indians entered these harbours in their ships, and brought Indian and other manufactures and merchandise, which they were in the habit of exchanging for gold, gum, spices, tortoise-shell, rosin, jewels, and such like. Acheen in the north of Sumatra, Bantam in Java, Goa in Celebes, Bruni in Borneo, and Malacca in the peninsula of the same name, were the most important of these depôts for merchandise and centres of trade. At present the importance of all these places has faded into history, whereas Singapore, from its singularly favourable geographical position, and the liberality of its political institutions, has made such a stride, as is entirely without parallel in the history of the world's trade. From a desolate haunt of piratical foes, the island has been converted into a flourishing emporium; about 1000 foreign vessels, and fully 3000 Malay prahus and Chinese junks, flit backwards and forwards annually with all sorts of merchandise and produce, while the value of the goods annually exchanged here amounts to about £11,000,000. Such is the change that has come over the old unhealthy, ill-omened Malay pirate abode: thanks to a clearly defined Free Trade policy! If a doubt should still obtrude itself as to these brilliant results of the utmost freedom and absence of restriction upon trade, it must give way before the spectacle presented to the view of the astonished beholder in the harbour of Singapore, the Alexandria of the 19th century!

Unfortunately, however, our stay in this harbour, so interesting in a scientific as well as in a commercial point of view, was sensibly curtailed by the prevalence of such exceedingly unfavourable conditions of the public health. Hardly had we cast anchor ere an officer of the English frigate Amethyst came on board to salute, and to inform us that for several weeks past the cholera had been ravaging the city, especially what is known as the Chinese quarter. In another war-ship then in the harbour, the screw corvette Niger, several of the crew had already succumbed to the pestilence; and even in our own immediate neighbourhood was anchored a ship with flag half-mast high, a melancholy signal that the angel of death was once more seeking victims. Our original plan of passing several weeks at Singapore had of course to be abandoned, and we determined at once to get under weigh, so soon as the ship had been re-victualled and sundry other matters of imperative necessity carefully looked to. Meanwhile the naturalist corps landed, and proceeded to see and examine as much as they possibly could.

The town of Singapore, situated at the southern extremity of the island of the same name, is divided by the river Singapore, on whose banks it is built, into two parts, in the northernmost of which are the churches, the law courts, the residences of the European settlers, and a little further away the native dwellings, as also the Kampong-Klam or Bugis quarter, so called from the number of Bugis from Celebes who congregate there to do business; while on the south bank of the river, only a few feet above the level of the sea, are the warehouses and offices of the various European and Chinese merchants. Still farther to the southward and in another small cove, called New Harbour, are the buildings and docks of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam-Ship Company.

Behind the city are visible three hills of inconsiderable height, called Pearl Hill, Government Hill, and Sophia Hill. The middle one, on which stands Government House, rises on the left bank of the river, about half a mile from the sea-shore, to a height of about 156 feet above sea-level. On Pearl Hill, which commands the Chinese and mercantile quarters of the town, a citadel has been constructed. The environs of the town on every side consist of a rolling sweep of hilly country, diversified in outline by about 70 different eminences varying in height from 60 to 170 feet, crowned with the elegant villas of the European merchants or government officials, or the residences of wealthy Chinese or Malays. The loftiest point is Bukit Turiah or Tin Hill, lying about the centre of the island, and 519 feet in height. Although accessible in a few hours from the city, it is very rarely made the scene of any excursions, in consequence of the forests which encircle it having for long been frequented by great numbers of tigers. These animals, eager for prey, cross from the mainland by swimming the narrow strait, hardly more than half a nautical mile in width, which separates it from the island. Dr. Logan, the excellent editor of the Singapore Free Press, assured us that till within the last six or seven years, 360 natives had annually been carried off by the tigers! Even at present, over 100 persons a year are killed in the forest by the tigers that prowl there. Shortly before our arrival, in the month of March, four persons had perished by these voracious animals. For an explanation of such horrible occurrences, we must consider the heedlessness of the natives, and the peculiar conditions affecting the mode of agriculture followed on the island. The soil of Singapore is not sufficiently fertile to make the cultivation of land a customary occupation. Even for rice-growing it is found to be unsuitable, so that the greater part of that chief staple of subsistence has to be imported from the neighbouring islands. So far as the island has been cleared, viz. to a distance of about five miles round the city, attempts have been made to plant nutmeg, clove, and fruit-trees. But the majority of the natives busy themselves with sowing the Gambir and Betel shrubs in the jungle, the leaves of which are readily disposed of at a good profit among the betel-chewing inhabitants of the Indian Archipelago for an ingredient of their beloved masticatory. The mode of cultivating these, however, is very peculiar. As Gambir speedily exhausts the soil in which it is planted, and renders it quite barren, the cultivators find themselves compelled to advance as though by a sort of perpetual emigration. They hew their way into the jungle, where they plant the Gambir (Nauclea Gambir),[29] the withered branches and leaves of which, after it has served their purpose, are used as manure for the next shrub planted, the Betel (Piper methysticum). After a short time the soil becomes unsuited for this also, and needs several years' rest before it can again be made to produce any crop.

In the prosecution of this thriftless cultivation the natives are compelled to penetrate deeper and deeper into the forest, in order to clear away with the axe spots of virgin soil for the planting of the Gambir. They frequently pass months at a time in the jungle, and with the carelessness characteristic of all southern races, constantly allow themselves to be surprised by wild beasts. Government, however, does not neglect publishing ordinances, by which as far as possible to discourage these formidable invaders. They have offered a reward of 50 dollars for every tiger killed. So soon as the track of a tiger has been struck, the natives usually dig a pit fifteen or twenty feet deep, which they cover slightly with grass and brushwood, and fasten close by a goat, a dog, or some other living creature. As soon as the tiger, eager for his prey, seeks to seize the poor animal, the brushwood gives way under him and he falls into the pit, where he is speedily finished with muskets.

The entire population of the island amounts to about 100,000 souls, of which the greater number, say 60,000, inhabit the town itself or the surrounding villages. One meets here with a singular mixture of races, Europeans, Malays, Chinese, Klings (as the natives of the Coromandel coast are called), Arabs, Armenians, Parsees (Fire-worshippers), Bengalees, Burmese, Siamese, Bugis (from Celebes), Javanese, and from time to time visitors from every corner of the Archipelago. Of these the Europeans, although exercising far the largest and most preponderating influence upon the trade of the place, are much the weakest in point of numbers, the entire community not exceeding 300 or 400 on the whole island. On the other hand, the Chinese out-number all the rest, and are still constantly on the increase. Every year, as the N.E. monsoon sets in, in December and January, vast swarms of Chinese flock hither, fleeing from the poverty and distress of their native land. There are individuals, who make a regular trade of importing into Singapore coolies from China and the Coromandel coast. At the port of embarkation, each coolie engages with the captain, to serve one year after his arrival in Singapore with a European or native master, and to repay the cost of his passage out of his monthly wages. He usually receives at first 3 dollars a month (about 12s. 6d.), out of which he lays aside 1 ¹⁄₂ dol., and so gradually pays off his indebtedness to the ship captain. The passage-money, which a few years back was only about 10 or 12 Rs. (£1 to £1 4s.), is at present as high as 20 Rs., or £2. After the first year his earnings may amount to about 4 or 5 dols. a month. If, however, the coolie have repaid his debt, he is free, and may either earn a very good wage as a servant, or start in any business for himself. The facilities for earning money are so great here for men of industry and steadiness, that a few years' stay suffices to convert these naked, filthy, hang-dog looking wretches into clean well-to-do workmen, and some of them even attain a certain status in the community, as planters and merchants. Many a Chinese, who is now an important and wealthy man, possessed not a farthing when he landed on the hospitable shore of the English colony. The number of Chinese resident in Singapore is estimated at 60,000, or nearly two-thirds of the entire population of the island.

We need not feel surprised therefore to find that the long-tailed children of the Flowery Land living in Singapore have begun to develope a certain taste for luxury. They already boast a theatre of their own, a wooden booth, like a gigantic dolls' house, in which actors from China yell out their "sing-song," while the auditory, penned in within a carefully-locked court-yard, chant a vociferous accompaniment to this somewhat monotonous exhibition. Moreover, Singapore possesses a Chinese temple of such splendour, that one would hardly find its match in the Flowery Land itself. This is called the Telloh-Ayer, situated in the street of the same name, and is decorated with handsome carvings, innumerable mysterious inscriptions, and grotesque figures of stone and wood. The Chinese who conducted us all round were exceedingly friendly, and when, at parting, we slid a few pieces of silver into their hands as a recompense for their trouble, they gave vent to their feelings in repeated chin-chins, a mode of greeting which corresponds to the Salaam of the Mahometan races.

Many of the Chinese of Singapore belong to secret societies (Hóes), the members of which seem banded together for both good and bad objects and for mutual protection. Their rules are so strict, and their slightest infraction is so fearfully punished, that hardly an instance has ever been known of an associate having been denounced or proved a traitor. In the British possessions, where the government attaches no sort of importance to these associations, and suffers them to pass unmolested so long as the laws of the country are not violated, these societies are unimportant, and are productive of no evil consequences; but in the Dutch East Indies, where the government has always kept their subjects in a state of tutelage, and is in a marked degree adverse to the Chinese settled in their colonies, these secret societies assume a far more dangerous character, and murders on purely political grounds are far from infrequent.

The natives proper of Singapore are Malays, and their language is that most in use for general intercourse and trade. But as open-air labourers they are far inferior to the Chinese, who are much more enduring, more contented, and more sociable. In this connection the following comparative statement, prepared a few years since by W. J. Thompson, Esq., government engineer in Singapore, of the relative values of English and Chinese labour, will be found of much interest. To build a wall in England containing 306 cubic feet would, according to Mr. Thompson's estimate, employ one bricklayer and one ordinary labourer 4 ⁴⁴⁄₁₀₀ days, the former receiving 5s. 6d. per day, the latter 3s. 6d., the total expense amounting to 30s. In Singapore a similar piece of work, executed by Chinese labourers, would require 8 ⁵⁴⁄₁₀₀ days, and the daily wage would amount to 2s. 9 ³⁄₅d. for the bricklayer and 1s. 7 ³⁄₅d. for his assistant, the total expense amounting to 37s. 6d. Thus, English labour shows an economy over Chinese in the proportion of 52 to 100 in time, and of 4 to 5 in actual expense. The following is also interesting by way of confirmation. It had been resolved to fill up a swamp in Singapore, the material for which was at hand at either extremity. The swamp was 1200 feet long, 1 foot deep, and 21 feet wide. The contract was allotted to the Chinese, and completed in 326 working days, at 13 cents or 11 ¹⁄₂d. a day. An English, or indeed any other European labourer, would have completed the same in 187 days, so that here also English or European labour in general is more valuable than Chinese or any other Asiatic labour in the proportion of 100 to 57.

These results must not however be held to indicate that the Chinese labourer possesses less physical strength than the European, nor must we leave out of view this element in the calculation, that the one executes his work in a temperate, the other in an excessively hot climate, to which European labourers speedily succumb, or at all events lose their powers and their strength in a very marked degree. Indeed it seems to decide the question in favour of the Chinese over the European labourer, that the former can work without taking any heed for his health in even the most variable temperatures. These instructive comparisons seem to be in so far especially valuable and useful, wherever it is projected to carry out certain undertakings, the cost of which may be estimated, due reference being had to the well-ascertained expense of constructing similar works in Europe.

Next to the Chinese, the Klings, or natives of the Coromandel coast, are in the greatest request as boatmen, coachmen, pedlars, porters, and house-servants, by Europeans as well as by their own successful fellow-countrymen. From their habits of extreme sobriety, they speedily save money, and generally return home, although a certain number continue permanent settlers in Singapore. The Armenians resident here are the most like the European mercantile community; the Arabs are the descendants of those Mahometan priests and merchants whom the Portuguese found here when they first visited this quarter of the globe, and are recruited from time to time, but on the whole rarely, by fresh arrivals from their mother country.

One very marked peculiarity of the population of Singapore is the enormous disparity between the numbers of the sexes. The proportion of females to males is as one to seven. The most probable explanation of this phenomenon is the circumstance that hitherto the emigration of females from China has been entirely prohibited, and consequently almost all the Chinese residents, who constitute by far the majority of the whole population, are unmarried. Among them the proportion of females to males is as one to thirteen.

The health of Singapore is not always so bad as at the period of our visit; indeed, judging by perquisitions made for the purpose, the climate may rather be regarded as salubrious, particularly since the immediate vicinity of the town has been so extensively cleared. The outbreak of cholera was entirely new, and on that account an all the more appalling visitation. The temperature is tolerably equal throughout the year. Observations carried on uninterruptedly during five years give an average of 81° 3. Fahr. for the hottest month (May), and of 79° 5. Fahr. for the coldest (January). Once only during the five years (in June) did the thermometer attain a height of 87° 2. Fahr. and once only in January did it fall as low as 74° 8. Fahr. By comparing the present range of temperature with that of thirty years since, it appears that since the foundation of the settlement it has gained three degrees in temperature, a phenomenon which may be ascribed to the increase of buildings, and to the large clearings for a distance of five miles round the town, and perhaps also to the spot itself where these observations were made being exposed.

There is no regular rainy season in Singapore. Rain falls every month throughout the year, the heaviest falls occurring in August and December. According to observations carried on during four years, the annual rainfall averaged 93 inches. The tolerably regular distribution of the rain throughout the year imparts to the vegetation a freshness that makes the change of seasons pass almost unheeded.

In Singapore as elsewhere the members of the Novara Expedition experienced from all classes of society the most cordial and hospitable reception. Every one bestirred himself to point out to us everything that was worth knowing, or that the city could present of interest or deserving special attention. After a cursory stroll through the most frequented streets, with their dense crowds of people, which sufficiently proved to us that trade was in fact the chief occupation of the inhabitants, we turned our attention to the shops of some of the Mahometan merchants, when our eyes were dazzled with all the most various products of India.

In one of these we were shown some exceedingly valuable diamonds from Borneo, one of which weighed 17 carats, and was worth £4000 sterling, while another of 19 carats, but less pure and brilliant, was for sale for £2000. The seller, a Mahometan, himself wore on his finger a diamond-ring which our companion estimated at £1000. In the stores of several other merchants we saw the Malay servants sitting cross-legged on the bare floor of the porch, with huge heaps of Spanish dollars before them, which they were busy counting. The Spanish or Mexican dollar is here almost the only medium of exchange, payments being made all but exclusively in that currency, whereas gold, even English, is but sparingly used, and then with ill-concealed reluctance! The utter want of any other recognized medium of exchange than silver makes all extensive money transactions exceedingly onerous, owing to the expense of transmitting the precious metals, in consequence of which any one wishing to pay in a certain sum of a few thousand dollars in cash, must employ a convoy for the purpose of transporting the money![30]

Although, as already remarked, the chief business of the island is purely commercial, and although, ordinarily speaking, every branch of industry merges in that predominant occupation, there is yet one manufacture in Singapore which calls for most special notice. This consists in the preparation of pearl, or white sago, from the raw state, which is brought from the N.E. coast of Sumatra, and the N.W. coast of Borneo. Almost the whole of the sago of commerce is prepared here, and all but exclusively by Chinese labour. Sago is chiefly obtained from the pith of several species of palm, but more particularly from the Sagus Rumphii and the Sagus Laevii, both of which are rather limited in their area of cultivation, and are not, like the cosmopolitan cocoa-nut palm, found in every quarter of the tropical zone, both in the Old and New World, but are indigenous to the Indian Archipelago alone. The trunk of the sago-palm, when felled, is a cylinder of about 20 inches in diameter, and from 15 to 20 feet in length, which, when the woody fibres have been separated, contains about 700 lbs of clear fine fecula. One may form some conception of its extraordinary productiveness on learning that three sago-palms contain as much nutritious matter as an acre of land grown with wheat! One piece of ground of the extent of an English acre planted with sago-palms occasionally yields 313,000 lbs of sago, or as much food as 163 acres of wheat. The sago however is neither as palatable nor as nutritious as it is productive, and nowhere, where rice is in common use, will it be displaced by this article of food. We visited the largest sago manufacture in Singapore, in which the sago, as it comes in the raw state from Borneo and Sumatra, is washed and roasted, when it becomes the pearl sago of commerce. The quantity thus prepared annually amounts to about 100,000 cwt.

Singapore was also the first place where we found an opportunity of becoming acquainted with opium-smokers, and of observing the noxious effects of this custom, which was forced upon the Chinese for the purpose of compelling commercial relations. Although in almost every street in Singapore there are houses in which opium is sold and can be smoked (the so-called "Licensed opium shops"), there is, in order to keep more control over it, only one single place where the opium is prepared for smoking from the raw material, called by the English the "Opium farm," from which all retail dealers must purchase their supplies of stock.

Before describing our visit to this curious factory we shall indulge in a few observations upon a plant whose intoxicating, poisonous milky sap produces such singular effects upon the human system. The poppy (papaver somniferum), is chiefly grown in Hindostan in the districts of Benares, Patna, and Malwa. Its cultivation is exceedingly arduous, and very precarious, since the tender young plants require constant care and attention in the way of repeated watering, as well as weeding and turning up the soil, besides which there is the ever-present danger of its destruction by insects, or its loss through storm, or hail, or untimely rains. The plant blooms in the month of February, and three months later the seed is ripe. The incision into the capsule however is made three or four weeks earlier, so soon, in short, as it is covered with a fine white mealy dust. The instrument employed in this operation has three prongs with very sharp points, with which the plant is carefully scratched. Each plant is thus tapped for three consecutive days, the operation beginning with the first warm beams of the morning sun; the milky sap is scraped off in the cool of the next morning, and on the fourth morning each plant is again tried as to whether it still exudes sap, but usually it proves to have been exhausted. The juice as scraped off in its coagulated form, is put into a cask along with linseed oil, in order not to get too quickly dry, and then is made by hand-kneading into round flat cakes, of about four pounds' weight, and about five inches in diameter, which, enveloped in poppy and tobacco leaves, are spread out to dry in earthen dishes, till ready for purposes of commerce. In this stage the opium is packed in boxes of ten cakes or about 40 lbs, and thus passes from the hands of the grower or the speculator at certain fixed prices into those of the agents of the East India Company. The very anxious and precarious cultivation of the poppy must prove far less remunerative to the proprietor of the land than the much easier task of raising tobacco or sugar-cane, and it is only the long-established but most impoverishing system of payments in advance, pursued by the agents of the East India Company, that keeps the Hindoos engaged in opium cultivation.[31]

At the opium farm in Singapore we saw this same coagulated juice, as obtained from the poppy, converted into opium suitable for smoking, which is called chandú, the process consisting in its being exposed to the action of heat in large semicircular brass pans, strained through filters, and once more exposed to a low heat, until it finally coagulates into a consistency strongly resembling treacle or syrup. The whole manipulation occupies from four to five days. A cattie or ball of this thickened poppy-juice costs the manufacturer about 20 dols. From ten such balls of the raw sap, or about 40 lbs, which is the usual weight of each "chest," as imported from Hindostan, 216 "tiles" or about 18 lbs of opium are obtained upon an average. We saw the Chinese dealer place in one of the scales a Spanish dollar, instead of a regular weight, and measure off a corresponding weight of opium in the other, A Chí, weighing about ¹⁄₁₆ oz., the ordinary quantity consumed by an opium-smoker, costs 17 ¹⁄₂ cents, or nine-pence. The duty levied upon this manufacture gives the government a revenue of £3000 a month, for the exclusive right of preparing opium fit for smoking, chandú, for consumption on the island.

As often as the apparatus is called into activity, the Chinese employed in the preparation of the opium, in pursuance of what seems with them a regular custom at the commencement of any spell of work, commit to the flames, after repeating a certain set of formulas of prayer, a number of octavo-sized leaves (Tschni-tschni-sóa) of paper printed upon one side only, and occasionally provided in very large quantities: on these fabrics of the roughest material are printed sometimes prayers in Chinese, sometimes all kinds of drawings, intended to express the wishes of those making the offering, and which ordinarily represent in very sketchy outline those objects which they pray their deities to bestow on them. In thus burning, in a copper vessel specially prepared for the purpose, not unlike the baptismal font in a Christian church, these small slips of paper, the Chinese operative believes that his petition ascends to heaven as smoke, and so comes under the cognizance of his protecting gods. Similarly in all temples and pagodas, large quantities may be found stored away of these paper intercessors with the Chinese gods, intended for the use of believers, or rather of those who make profession of faith.

The workmen of the opium farm have a part of their wages paid in opium. The greater number are themselves opium-smokers, and thus are all the more surely attached to the manufacture. We saw a number of these fellows lying stretched out on straw mats, in wretched filthy-looking dens of rooms, with blue curtains barely concealing them from view, and the spirit-lamp placed conveniently near to enable them from time to time to heat the chandú, the smoke of which they inhale through a peculiarly constructed pipe (Yeu-tsiang). The quantity of opium taken up at each dip by the instrument used, a three-cornered, flat-headed sort of needle specially adapted for the purpose, is about the size of a pea. The practised opium-smoker holds his breath for a considerable time, and passes the smoke through the nostrils. The taste of the half-fluid juice of the poppy is sweetish and oily, but the odour of the chandú when heated, which one of the workmen addicted to smoking insisted on our regarding as one of the most valuable of perfumes, is so disagreeable as almost to cause nausea. We saw numbers of smokers, athwart the filthy gossamer-like curtains, utterly stupefied, and lying carelessly stretched out on the hard bedsteads, the pipe fallen out of their hands, and the lamp on the table in front of their couch extinguished. They, however, did not want the curtain for the purpose of preventing their being disturbed in the luxurious enjoyment of their beatific dreams; for they continued in a state resembling death itself, from which hardly anything could possibly rouse them so long as the effects of the poisonous drug lasted. Others of the smokers were so affected by it as to have utterly lost their senses, and seemed on the whole entirely indifferent to all that was passing around them. One of the workmen, who was in a high state of excitement, and was uncommonly talkative, informed us however that he had to smoke about one shilling's worth of opium ere he could feel its effect, that there was nothing more annoying or insupportable than mere partial stupefaction, when one had no more money wherewith to buy opium so as to be able to get into a proper state of somnolence. The entire system at such times gets into a frightful state of irritation; there is severe headache, a sensation of pressure on the stomach, nausea, in a word all the ill-effects of the use of opium, without any of its more agreeable sensations. The state of intoxication and drowsiness usually lasts from forty to sixty minutes, when consciousness gradually returns, without any ill-effects being experienced at the moment from the inhalation of the poison.

In Singapore, where comparatively high wages are paid, and the Chinese population is the most numerous, the annual consumption of opium amounts to about 330 grains per head. In the Island of Java, where, in consequence of certain limits prescribed by government, the Chinese element amounts to but ¹⁄₁₀₀th of the entire population, the consumption is hardly forty grains per head. Even in China, where this perilous narcotic is consumed in such enormous quantities, the amount sold only indicates 140 grains for each smoker, which however is chiefly attributable to the poverty of the populace, by whom this luxury is unattainable. Unfortunately we could get no reliable information as to the number of opium-smokers, and the quantity of opium consumed, in Singapore. Mr. Allen, a North American missionary, estimates the number of persons who surrender themselves to this practice throughout the Chinese Empire, at from 4-5,000,000, who annually consume about 50,000 chests of opium. The quantity consumed by each smoker daily varies in an extraordinary degree. At first the beginner cannot inhale above two or three grains at a time, but gradually, as he becomes habituated, the dose increases, till the confirmed smokers consume as much as 100 grains daily!! Many Chinese spend two-thirds of their earnings in the purchase of this drug, which has become for them a necessity of life.

The practice of eating opium in the form of pills, which prevails in every Mahometan country in the East, and has in a special degree been readily adopted by the disciples of the Koran, in consequence of the prohibition of wine, would seem, judging by the researches of physicians, to be much less injurious and much slower in affecting the human system than smoking the opium, or otherwise bringing it directly in contact with the lungs, while the effects of the former practice is likewise different.

We shall have an opportunity, when describing our stay in Chinese waters, to revert to this most remarkable and most profitable, but at the same time most iniquitous, monopoly of the (late) East India Company, which crushes millions of human beings in the most appalling and hopeless of all slaveries, and against the continuance of which the Chinese government has repeatedly but ineffectually set its face. The words of the idol-worshipping Emperor of China, when in 1840 he was solicited to convert the importation of opium into a source of revenue to the state, were worthy of a Christian monarch: "It is true," said the Chinese ruler, "I cannot hinder the importation of this subtle poison; infamous men in the lust for gain will out of covetousness or sensuality set at nought the fulfilment of my wishes;—but they shall never induce me to enrich myself by the vices and the wretchedness of my people!"

Despite the very small proportion of Europeans resident in Singapore, and that almost the entire time of those few seems to be absorbed in business, there is nevertheless considerable intellectual activity. Several newspapers in the English language, among which the "Singapore Free Press," edited by Mr. A. Logan, occupies the foremost rank, supply information as to all that is worth knowing in every part of the East Indies, while the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago," which has been for many years so ably and carefully conducted by the well-known and widely-famous J. H. Logan (brother of the editor of the "Press"), is a veritable mine of information for the naturalist, who wishes to make the history of the Indian Archipelago and its inhabitants the object of his study. It contains exceedingly useful data for extending our knowledge of these very remarkable countries, susceptible as they are of such extraordinary development.

The colony also boasts a Museum of Natural History adjoining a library with several thousand volumes, and a reading-room, copiously supplied with newspapers and periodicals, the whole forming what is called the "Singapore Institution." This enterprise was founded by shares of 40 dollars each, and is supported by an annual subscription of 24 dollars by each member, which confers the privilege of using the well-selected library of books, and a great number of English and French papers and periodicals. The small ethnographic collection consists chiefly of specimens from Borneo, Sumatra, and the adjoining islands.

Among the educational institutions most deserving of attention and recognition must be specially noticed the school for the instruction of Malay boys and girls, under the management and preceptorship of that most deserving missionary, Mr. B. P. Keasberry, who has pursued a career of useful activity in this Archipelago during thirty years past. The parents of the children taken in here have to contribute to their support, and to leave them there for at least ten years, under the affectionate spiritual care of the missionary, and must not remove them till after the expiry of that period. This condition was rendered necessary by the fickleness of the Malay nature, which otherwise would frequently withdraw the children from the supervision of the missionary at the very moment when they were beginning to become amenable to the influences of instruction in Christianity and civilization. The Institution is supported partly by voluntary contributions, partly by the profits of a printing business, in which, however, hardly anything is printed except educational and religious works in the Malay language. Mr. Keasberry was so kind as to present us with a small collection of the works thus published during the past year, comprising among others a dictionary of the English and Malay languages, the New Testament, a volume of Natural History, a Manual of Geography, a Universal History, a Biblical History, and numerous educational works in Malay for the use of the pupils.

In the course of a visit we paid to the Police Court we had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with Mr. Windsor Carl, the well-known author of numerous valuable works relating to the Indian Archipelago and the Papuan Negroes, a gentleman whose career in life has been of the strangest, at present holding the position of magistrate in Singapore, where his great experience and his thorough acquaintance with the Malay language must be of the utmost service to government. The audience assembled in the Court room, in which only causes under 50 Rs. are tried, consisted for the most part of Chinese. Almost all the officials, clerks, inspectors, and policemen were coloured. In one month 414 causes came on for trial, of which 315 were disposed of by the imposition on the culprits of fines amounting in the aggregate to 5975 Rs., but of this sum only 5105 Rs. were realized. The largest number of sentences are passed in March, because the Chinese celebrate the New Year on the first day of that month, and accordingly the largest number of cases of assault, &c., occur at that period. The police employés registered in that period above 100 cases of transgressions of the law. The New Year is however, as must be remembered, the solitary festival which John Chinaman takes out of his appointed work, since recognizing as they do neither Sunday nor feast-day they continue hard at work for all the rest of the year. The majority of decisions refer to prohibited games; and whoever knows the inextinguishable love of the Chinese populace for spending their time in gambling, will readily comprehend how in a single year there occurred above 2000 cases in which the law was violated. While we were in the justice-room, a paper was handed in to the presiding magistrate, in which an English sailor, at that moment in hospital, urgently requested that he might leave the same, inasmuch as he felt no longer sure of his life, owing to the numbers daily brought thither to die of cholera. In fact the hospital, and the localities adjacent, seemed to be the spots most seriously visited by the pestilence, so that the prayer of the petitioner to be removed from that neighbourhood was not altogether unfounded.

One highly interesting establishment, deserving of universal imitation, is the penal colony for criminals sentenced to transportation for life from all parts of India, and known as "The Convict Settlement." In order to comprehend the object and tendency of this institution, it seems necessary to premise certain remarks upon the political relation of Singapore to India at large. Singapore in conjunction with the colony of Malacca, which gives its name to the entire peninsula, and the island of Penang, including the district of Wellesley, form that range of British settlements in the Straits of Malacca which is usually known to the English as "The Straits Settlements." Up to quite a recent date, these colonies, founded almost exclusively in the interests of British commerce, were under the authority of the Indian government, and were in fact controlled from Calcutta. To the Directors of the East India Company, however, these settlements, of whose future destiny the mother country has hitherto taken but little heed, notwithstanding their enormous political and commercial importance, appeared to be specially adapted as a place for maintaining common criminals, as also the more dangerous class of political offenders, and accordingly converted these settlements into penal colonies for the Indies, of which that of Singapore is the most important.

The director of this institution, Captain McNair, had the kindness to accompany the members of the Novara expedition through the extensive buildings, for the most part only one storey high, but well adapted for this purpose, and to furnish us with much information on the various particulars and special matters of interest relating to the establishment. Ever since the year 1854, the wretched, confined, wooden huts thatched with straw, in which up to that period the unfortunate criminals were confined, have been removed, and in their stead lofty, airy, good-sized apartments have been substituted. At the period of our visit in April 1858, there were over 2000 transported for life, and 245 sentenced to various terms of from five to ten years, confined here. All the public buildings of the island, churches, hospitals, barracks, works in the streets, sometimes constructions of a most expensive nature, were executed throughout by criminals. After sixteen years' good conduct, the prisoner was entitled to a "ticket of leave," authorising him to settle within the jurisdiction of the island as a free colonist, coupled with the condition of presenting himself once a month before the superintendent of the settlement. In case of bad conduct, or failure, or irregularity in fulfilling such stipulations, these concessions are revoked. All the overseers of the convict settlement, who receive monthly pay at the rate of from one to two dollars, are prisoners who have already given proof of their desire to return to a better mode of life, and it is well worth remark, that the 2000 convicts, consisting for the most part of the very dregs of the various Indian races, and condemned for grave crimes to perpetual imprisonment, are under the charge of a single white turnkey, and by him maintained in perfect order and propriety of demeanour. Besides this one official there is only a small detachment of Indian soldiers, from twelve to fifteen in number, stationed at the settlement as a measure of precaution. The best evidence of the excellent system on which this institution is administered, will be found in the published reports of its health, from which it appears that of the 2000 there confined, there were but forty sick at the very period when the cholera was committing such terrific ravages in the town among the poorer classes, and the change of the monsoon had been accompanied by great sickness and general unhealthiness. The convicts go to work at six every morning, and return to the barracks about 4 P.M., the rest of the day being spent in preparing their victuals, consisting of rice, vegetables, cayenne-pepper, and fruit. As most of those confined are Hindoos and profess Brahminism, they bathe several times a day, in a large tank filled with excellent water. This wise religious custom must in such a sultry climate conduce in a marked degree to the preservation of their health, by its beneficial and refreshing action upon the frame.

Some of the convicts are also employed in manufacturing cordage, ropes, twine, &c., of the fibres of the wild plantain (Musa textilis), the Ramé-shrub (Boehmeria nivea), and the wild pine-apple (Bromelia Ananas or Ananassa Sativa). All these textures are of excellent quality, and possess all the best properties of Russian hemp-fabrics, at a considerable reduction of cost.

In the dormitories the convicts are not classified by nationalities as during the labours of the day, but according to the nature of the offences for which they are incarcerated, so that in one division all the thieves are together, in another all the homicides, in a third all those convicted of arson, &c. Although from a psychological point of view much might be urged against the judiciousness of such a system, yet, as we were informed, this method of confinement by classification of offences exercises no prejudicial effect upon the moral amelioration of the convicts, but on the contrary most encouraging results have been observed to arise from its operation. Among others we were told of a Hindoo from the Malabar coast, a convict for life, who after sixteen years' confinement received permission to settle on the island as a free colonist. By industry, ability, and some fortunate speculations, this man in the course of years acquired a large fortune. He now felt an intense yearning to revisit his own home, and expressed his willingness to present a large portion of his newly acquired wealth for such a permission. But the law was explicit upon this point. Only a free pardon from the Governor-general of India can as a rule avail to make such an exception, which is of but rare occurrence. This he actually succeeded in obtaining after repeated supplications, and this "fortunate unfortunate" was at last permitted to return to his longed-for home. It is worth noting that of the 2245 prisoners, only fifty are of the female sex, chiefly Hindoo women from Bengal. Among those imprisoned while we were there, we remarked three white men, who had been sentenced to several months' confinement for riotous conduct and drunkenness. Surrounded as they were by these bronzed half-savage Hindoo offenders, these men made a doubly painful impression upon Europeans.