a temporary home,
and invariably remits something every year, according to his means, to
his aged parents, wife, or sisters. He usually consoles himself for his
absence from his wife, by taking to himself another of the country he
resides in: the offspring of this second marriage is always properly
cared for on the father's return to China, where he probably takes the
eldest boy to be educated.

The Chinese junks bring annually to this part of the world, from six to
eight thousand emigrants, ninety-nine-hundredths of whom land without a
sixpence in the world beyond the clothes they stand in. The consequence
of this is, that those who cannot succeed in obtaining immediate
employment, take to thieving, from necessity; and some daring gang
robberies are committed every year. They do not, however, long continue
this mode of life; for the eight thousand new comers soon scatter, and
find employment either on the Island, in the tin-mines of Banca, or on
the Malayan peninsula.

Ship-loads of these men have been sent to the Mauritius, where they have
given general satisfaction; and no better class of emigrants could be
found for the West Indies. A tight curb on a China-man will make him do
a great deal of work: at the same time, he has spirit enough to resist
real ill treatment. All the mechanics and house-builders, and many
boatmen and fishermen of Singapore, are Chinese.

Of the other inhabitants, the most numerous are the Malabarees, who are
principally employed as shopkeepers, and are as knowing in the art of
bargain-driving as any tradesmen of London or Paris. They generally go
here under the denomination of "_Klings_," an appellation synonymous, in
the Singapore vocabulary, with "scamp," to which I have no inclination
to dispute their title. The boats employed to carry cargoes to and from
the shipping in the harbour, are almost all manned by these _Klings_;
and excellent boatmen they are. When pulling off a heavily-laden boat,
they cheer their labour by a song, led, in general, by the steersman,
the crew joining in chorus. They are a willing, hard-working race,
though rather given to shut their eyes to the difference between _meum_
and _tuum_. The original Malay inhabitants of this Island are now the
most insignificant, both as to numbers and as to general utility, of the
many races that are found on it. From this remark must be excepted,
however, the _sampan_-men, who are of great service to the mercantile
community. I