houses, of five per cent, on the value of agricultural produos, and a tax on horses and
carriages. In 1853, it yielded a gross sum of 8892£.
The ancient history of Singapore is, as usual, in all that relates to native story, full
of obscurity. I t ha3 been stated in native writings, quoted by the Dutch writers,
Van der Worm, and Valentyn, but which I have never seen, nor am I aware that any
one else of our times has, that Singapore was founded by a colony of Malays from
Palembang in Sumatra in the year of Christ 1160, and abandoned by them m the
year 1253. The first palpable objection to this statement is that Palembang is not
now, and is never known to history, as having been a country occupied by the Malays,
the mass of its inhabitants being a distinct nation called the Sarawi, and its rulers
immemorially Javanese. Another palpable objection is, that we have a Christian era
given, without the Asiatic era from whence it is reckoned, and, indeed, what Asiatic
era would it have been calculated from, for the Malays had none of their own, noi
could they be supposed to have adopted the Arabian, since they did not embrace the
Mohammedan religion until 116 years after the supposed date of the establishment ot
Singapore? If the first settlers of Singapore came from Palembang—and from its vicinity
and the superior civilisation of its rulers, it is not improbable they did—they must
have been Javanese and not Malays. This opinion gains some support from the fact
that, for the most part, the names and titles of the princes who are stated to have
reigned in Singapore, not to mention the name of the place itself, are either Javanese
or Sanscrit,—such names, in a word, as the modern Javanese would, under similar
circumstances, have imposed. I .
The account given by De Barros, and which he states to have been derived irom
the natives, makes the colony, which fled from Singapore and eventually established
itself in Malacca, to have been Javanese, which is, in fact, virtually the same as the
assertion of the Malays themselves, that it came from Palembang. The relics, very
rude ones, discovered on the ancient site of Singapore, which is also that of the
modern town, afford some corroboration of this opinion. The most remarkable ot
these is an inscription on a great mass of unhewn white sandstone. This nodule has
been split in the centre, the two fragments lying opposite to each other, at about an
angle of forty degrees, and at the base not above a couple of feet apart. The writing is
on the two opposing faces of the rock, which itself seems to have been adopted for this
purpose on the very spot where it lay, being still surrounded by several other masses
of the same description. Nothing of the kind can be ruder. By time and the decomposition
of the rock, most of the writing has been obliterated, although here and there a
few letters are sufficiently distinct. These are, in form, rather round than angular, and,
making allowance for the material and the rudeness of the execution, they bear the
greatest resemblance to Kawi or the ancient writing of Java, the same which is found in
most of the old monuments of that island. At all events, they bear no resemblance
whatever to the Rejang of Sumatra, the character used by the majority of the people
of Palembang, nor to the Korinchi, that in which the Malays most probably wrote
before their adoption of the Arabic letters.
The other relics discovered are equally rude with the inscription. These were, the
remains of an earthen wall, a fosse, a sepulchre, and a supposed temple on the hill
behind the town, on which now stands the government house. Some old Chinese
coins, such as formed the currency of all the civilised nations of the Archipelago, and
still continue to do of some of them, were found among the rums. The oldest ot
these bears the name of a Chinese emperor, who died in 967 of Christ, which carries
us back to some 200 years before the supposed foundation of Singapore m the
^ The remains discovered in Singapore are certainly not such as to convey a high
opinion of what De Barros calls “ the celebrated city of Cingapura, to which resorted
all the navigators of the western seas of India, and of the eastern of Siam, China,
Champa, and Camboja, as well as of the thousands of islands to the eastward.
Earth, brick, unhewn sandstone, and wood, seem to have been the only materials
made use of, and there is not a vestige of the granite which abounds m the neighbourhood
and is now so largely employed.
From the time of its subversion down to the year 1811, or for a period ot about nve
centuries and a half, there is no record of Singapore having been occupied, and it was
only the occasional resort of pirates. In that year, it was taken possession ol. by the
party from whom we first received it, an officer of the government of Jehore called the
Tumangung. This person told me himself that he came there with about 150 followers,
a few months before the British expedition which afterwards captured Java passed the
island, and this happened in the summer of 1811. The history of the formation
of the British settlement is as follows. After the restoration of the Dutch possessions
in the Archipelago, it was seen that no provision had been made for the freedom
of British commerce, and various projects were suggested for the establishment of
emporia within the seas of the Archipelago to obviate this inconvenience. One of
these was submitted to the Marquis of Hastings, then governor-general of India, by
Sir Stamford Raffles, and adopted by him in 1818. This, Sir Stamford proceeded to
carry into effect, and with the courage and promptitude which belonged to his character.
Many local obstacles, by nameless parties vested with a little brief authority, were
thrown in his way, but he overcame them all, and the result has been such as has been
described in this article. The convenience of a port at the eastern end of the Straits
of Malacca was too obvious to escape observation, and to this quarter Sir Stamford
Raffles directed his attention; but in the first instance the island of Singapore did not
occur, either to himself or any one else. Yet, it is remarkable that in what waB
called a century and a half ago a “ New Account of the East Indies,” it is expressly
pointed out in the following unmistakable words, “ In the year 1703,” says the
author, Captain Hamilton, “ I called at Johor on my way to China, and he (the king
of Johor) treated me very kindly and made me a present of the island of Singapore,
but I told him it could be of no use to a private person, though a proper place for a
company to settle a colony on, lying in the centre of trade, and being accommodated
with good rivers and safe harbours, so conveniently situated that all winds served
shipping both to go out and come into these rivers.” But this striking recommendation
of Singapore was at the time unknown to Sir Stamford and his cotemporaries.
He had hence to grope for a suitable locality. The first place thought of
was Rhio, but it was found to be already in the occupation of the Netherland government.
The next was the Carimon Islands, out, however, of the convenient tract of
navigation, and here Sir Stamford and his expedition tarried three days, but found the
place unsuitable. The river of Jehor was then thought of, but on the way to it, the
expedition touched at Singapore to make enquiry, and then for the first time, the advantages
and superiority of its locality presented themselves. A cession of a small portion
of the island, to the extent of two miles along the shore, and to the distance of the
pomt-blank range of ordinary cannon, inland, was obtained from the resident chief.
This was afterwards confirmed by the Sultan of Jehore, or the person whom we found
it convenient to consider as such, who on our invitation quickly repaired to the place.
The inconveniences of a state of things, which, with the exception of the patch on
which the town was to stand, left the sovereignty of the whole island, with its adjacent
islets to the Malay princes, were quickly experienced, and obviated by a treaty which
I drew up in 1824 under the direction of the Earl of Amherst, then governor-general,
and this convention continues to be the tenure on which we hold the main island, with
the islets and seas surrounding it, such as I have already described the limits of
the British settlement.
SINGASARI. The name of certain Hindu ruins in the eastern part of Java.
These are situated in the district of Malang, and in the elevated valley which lies
between the Tengar range and the mountain of Arjuna, at a height of from 1000 to
1500 feet above the level of the sea. They consist of temples dedicated to the
worship of Siwa, of whom, as well as of the personages and objects connected with
him, such as his consort Durga, Ganesa the Indian Pluto, and the bull Nandi, there
are well sculptured images. The material of the temples, instead of being brick or
trachyte, as in other parts of the island, is here a firm calcareous stone, but the style
of building is equally fine as in the temples of Brambanan. On one of the images, that
of Siwa, there is an inscription in the Dewanagri character, or that in which Sanscrit
is usually written, but it has not been translated, and is probably a mere Hindu
scripture text. To the time in which these temples were constructed, the enigmatical
memorial words, in which dates are most usually written, give the various years of
Salivana or Saka, 818, 846, and 1082, but an inscription, found at no great distance
from Singasari, and seemingly belonging to the same class of buildings, in numeral
characters, gives only 1242. Seventy-eight years added to all these give the year of
Christ The name Singasari is composed of Singa, “ a lion,” which is Sanscrit, and of
Sari, “ a flower,” or “ beautiful,” which is Javanese. Most probably, however, it is
not the original name of the temples themselves, but rather of the place in which
they were built.
SINGKEL. This is the name of the largest river of the western side of Sumatra.
Its embouchure, about three-quarters of a mile broad, is in north latitude 2° 15',
opposite to the group of islands called by the Malays Pulo-banak, or “ the many
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