a book 0 1 1 Cochin China, giving his experience while
a captive in that land.
May 18 th.—We continue, this morning, to pass
small islands, and now, by degrees, we are able to
make out many ships and steamers at anchor in a
bay, and soon the houses by the bund or street bordering
the shore begin to appeal’. We are nearing
Singapore. A year and fourteen days have passed
since I landed in Java. During that time I have
travelled six thousand miles over the archipelago,
and yet I have not onpe set foot on any other soil
than that possessed by the Dutch, so great is the
extent of their Eastern possessions.
The activity and enterprise which characterize
this city are very striking to one who has been living
so long among the phlegmatic Dutchmen. Singapore,
or, more correctly, Singapuxa, “ the lion city,”
is situated on an island of the same name, which is
about twenty-five miles long from east to west, and
fourteen miles wide from north to south.
When the English, in 1817, restored the archipelago
to the Dutch, they felt the need of some
port to protect their commerce; and in 1819, by the
foresight of Sir Stamford Raffles, the present site of
Singapore was chosen for a free city. In seven years
from that time its population numbered 13,000 ; but
has since risen to 90,000. Its imports have risen
from $5,808,000 in 1823 to $31,460,000 in 1863, and
its exports from $4,598,000 in 1823 to $26,620,000
in 1863.
As soon as I landed, I found myself among American
friends, and one of them kindly introduced me
to the Governor of the Straits Settlements, who received
me in the most polite manner and kindly offered
to assist me in any way in his power. At my request,
he gave me notes of introduction to the Governor
of Hong Kong and the admiral commanding her
Majesty’s fleet in the seas of China and Japan. A
few days of rest after my long journeys over Sumatra
soon glided by, and I was ready to continue my
travels.
From Singapore my plan was to proceed directly
to China, but finding in port a French ship which
was bound for Hong Kong, via Saigon, the capital of
Cochin China, I engaged a passage on her in order to
see something also of the French possessions in the
East. Just as we were ready to sail I met a gentleman
who had lately returned from a long journey to
Cambodia, whither he had gone to photograph the
ruins of the wonderful temples in that land. He had
a specimen for me, he said, which I must accept before
I knew what it was, a condition I readily complied
with, but when the “ specimen ” appeared I must confess
I was not a little surprised to find it was an enormous
python. It had been caught by the natives of
Bankok after it had gorged itself on some unfortunate
beast, but that was some time before, and the
brute was evidently ready for another feast. My
cans containing alcohol were already on board the
ship, but I took the monster with me when I went
off to her late in the evening, designing to drown it
in its box and then transfer his snakeship to a can.
The captain, with the greatest politeness, met me at
the rail, and showed me my state-room in the after