er to build a new bridge or to make a new
road; a proceeding that does not give entire satisfaction to the
rate-payers, and is indeed hardly fair towards them, since the new
bridges and roads render available large tracts of land that would
otherwise be valueless, and for which Tom C----'s honourable masters
obtain a handsome price in consequence. The inhabitants grumble at these
proceedings, but can do no more, the sole and whole management of the
fund in question being in the hands of the local Government.

Singapore is a free port; and vessels of all kinds and from all nations
come and go, without paying one penny to Government in any shape. All
that is required of them is, to give in a list of the goods they either
land or ship. This regulation is intended to enable the authorities to
keep a correct statement of the trade of the place; but it is, I am
sorry to add, often evaded by ship-masters and their consignees, who
seem to think that no trade can be profitably conducted without a
certain portion of mystery attaching to it.

CHAPTER V.

DUTCH SETTLEMENTS.

DUTCH SETTLEMENT OF RHIO--ISLAND OF BANCA--
BENCOOLEN--PADANG--CHINESE SLAVE-TRADE--NATIVE
TRIBES OF SUMATRA--PEPPER TRADE.

In September 1826, I visited China for the first time; but, having
recently paid that country a much more extended visit, I shall reserve
for a future chapter my observations upon Chinese affairs; and shall now
proceed to give an account of some of the smaller Dutch colonies or
settlements which I visited about this time.

About forty miles to the eastward of Singapore, on the island of Bintang
(Star), is Rhio, a small Dutch settlement, producing a large quantity of
gambia and some thirty thousand _peculs_ of black pepper per annum. The
bulk of the former article finds its way to Java, where it is
extensively used for dying purposes. Nearly all the pepper is sent to
Singapore in small trading-boats, and is bought up there for the London
and Calcutta markets. My visit to Rhio lasted only thirty-six hours,
during which time I was too busy to be able to look much about me; but
I have since frequently sailed past the town, and through the beautiful
strait of the same name, and can vouch for it, that the lovers of
picturesque scenery will find objects in abundance to attract their
attention. Shortly after entering Rhio straits from the southward, the
navigator is completely land-locked, and appears to be sailing in a
larg