sugar and cocoa-nut plantations stand. To the westward and
inland of the town, the country consists almost entirely of hill and
dale; and its aspect is very striking and picturesque. On many of these
miniature (for they are but miniature) hills, stand pretty _bungalows_,
surrounded with nutmeg and fruit trees: they are delightful residences,
and have the very great advantage of cool nights, when the tired planter
or merchant can enjoy a sound sleep after the fatigues of a hot day.

A great deal has been done for Singapore by gangs of convicts from
Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, who, under an experienced and able
superintendent, have cut and made excellent roads, that now extend east,
west, north, and south, for several miles. Cutting these roads has
drained, and thereby rendered available, large tracts of land that were
recently quite valueless: they also add much to the enjoyment of the
Singaporean, by enabling him to extend his ride or drive of an evening.
The scenery along the different roads consists of hills and dales,
covered with the richest and most luxuriant foliage, with here and there
a clearing, where some industrious China-man has squatted, in defiance
of tigers and East-India Company's regulations. Now that land can be got
on better terms than formerly, these clearings are being purchased by
Europeans of the squatter,--whose prior right the Government always
protects to the extent of a fair remuneration for his labour,--and are
being turned into gardens or plantations. This drives back the
squatter, who, like his brethren all over the world, is ever willing to
sell and move further inland; thus materially increasing the extent of
cleared land from year to year. The primeval jungles of Singapore are so
thickly timbered and covered with underwood and large, tough creepers,
that the man who undertakes to clear them has before him an Herculean
task. According to the best information I could obtain, it requires a
cash outlay of sixty dollars to clear a single acre; and even that large
sum does not thoroughly stump it (_i. e._ clear off all the large roots
and stumps of the larger trees) for the planting of coffee, nutmegs, or
pepper. For these, however, this is less necessary, as the plants are
placed at a considerable distance from each other: for sugar, it is very
desirable to have every stump taken out.

Swamps abound on the island: fortunately, they are all salt-water
swamps, and flooded daily by the tide, whi