CHAPTER XI.

SINGAPORE.

SINGAPORE, Dec. 9, 1889.

On the 4th instant we left the beautiful island of Hong-Kong and the city of Victoria by the steamer _Kaisar-i-Hind_ (Empress of India). The accommodations and appointments of the steamer were first-class--electric lights, plenty of ice, and every convenience.

On Sunday morning the English service was read from the prayer-book by the captain to a congregation consisting of all of the officers and most of the passengers. Before this there was a parade of the crew and servants,--some sixty Lascars, black, sharp-looking fellows dressed in frocks and bright head-dresses, and looking very fine.

Yesterday was very hot. We were nearing the equator, and the captain had punkas put up in the dining cabin. A Lascar boy pulled the strings running over pulleys and fanned us during meal times, which was very agreeable.

Again I have to note how lonely these sea voyages are. Since we left Hong-Kong, five days, not a craft has been seen, only a wide waste of water, generally as smooth as a pond.

The steamer arrived at seven in the morning, and was soon surrounded by boats, each containing two or three boys. The passengers threw silver pieces into the water, and the boys would dive after them, and seemed to get them every time. It was great fun to watch them. A little bald-headed fellow not more than six years old, attracted my attention, and I threw some bright pieces near his boat. Over he went and caught them every time, and was pulled into the boat by his older companion, triumphantly holding up the pieces.

We came ashore and were soon in our rooms in the large and first-rate Hotel de l'Europe.

We were within about fifty miles of the equator, and the heat was intense. After resting we took carriages, it being quite a comfort to have them once more, and drove over fine roads, past splendid government and other buildings, two or three miles out to a botanical garden, said to be one of the finest in the world, all in perfect order, with trees and plants such as can be seen only in the tropics; tall trees, with clusters of cocoa-nuts on them, and the fan palm, a great curiosity to me, being in the shape of a fan fifty feet high. Pine-apples were everywhere, for this is the home of that fine fruit; big trees, covered with red and white flowers, and plants of great variety and beauty, all in a park of a hundred acres or more; houses filled with fine orchids, and others containing beautiful native birds. It was very hot--ninety degrees or so--and oppressive, but we all stood it for a couple of hours, and most of our party, who had seen many such shows in all parts of the world, said that they had never seen any thing approaching this for variety and beauty. We then took our carriages and returned to the hotel for lunch, and immediately afterwards went on another tour around the well-built, handsome city. Fine stores and public buildings, perfect pavements, splendid turn-outs, and all the appliances of civilization were everywhere. No more babies carried pickapack, as in Japan and China. They were often nude, but looked well cared-for, comfortable, and happy.

The natives are of the Malay race, and their dress is of the brightest, generally a frock of white or red cotton and no trousers. We returned to the hotel at five, and after resting an hour had an excellent dinner. Being very hungry I partook of all the courses, the dinner being _à la Russe_. One incident was particularly tropical. The ceiling and sides of the dining-room were covered with little green lizards, crawling about and catching flies. Some of the ladies were nervous, fearing that the creatures might drop into the soup or on their hair, but I did not mind, knowing them to be harmless. The landlord, who has been here twenty-eight years, thinks that I should stay here at least a week and go on to the Malay Peninsula to shoot tigers, but I have concluded to postpone that kind of amusement until I come again. I find it best to be very temperate in this terribly hot country, limiting my beverages to soda and Apollinaris water, and am very thankful to have plenty of ice, which is now manufactured in this city and all other large cities in the East. The P. & O. line of steamers alone spends one hundred thousand dollars annually for ice.

When I retired at night I found that they had not provided me with even a sheet for a cover; only a mosquito net. The Chinese chamber-man was sleeping in front of my door, but I did not like to disturb him, so I turned in, and it being very hot I got along very well, and had a good night's rest.

I was out early in the morning, and was greatly interested in looking at the sights of the city. They were making a park of large dimensions, fronting the water, and a hundred or more wagons were used to transport the dirt from the country. Each wagon was drawn by a pair of bullocks driven by a Malay. These drivers were bright-eyed, smart-looking men, with nothing on but a cloth around their loins, and no covering to their heads. They sat on the tongues of the wagons, and I was much amused to see that when they wanted the bullocks to turn a corner they twisted their tails, and the obedient beasts at once went in the direction indicated.

I saw a great drove of goats passing along, as many as four hundred, and men from all countries in great variety of dress. Singapore is a very busy place, being the chief city of the Straits Settlements, whence comes a larger part of the tin used in such immense quantities all over the world. The familiar ingots of tin were to be seen on the streets and sidewalks and being trucked towards the big steamers.