ome
maps include New Guinea in the Malay group, though it is situated far to
the eastward, and forms so independent a region, being larger than Great
Britain. Lying in the very lap of the tropics, the climate is more
uniformly hot and moist than in any other part of the globe, and teems
with productions in the animal and vegetable kingdoms elsewhere unknown.
The most precious spices, the richest fruits, the gaudiest feathered
birds, are here seen at home; while man is represented by a race quite
distinctive and peculiar, whose type will be looked for in vain beyond
the limits of this region. Climate, vegetation, and animated life are
all specially equatorial. The elephant, rhinoceros, tapir, and the
man-like orang-outang are all indigenous. It was quite natural to
reflect upon these well-known facts as we came down the China Sea and
crossed the broad Gulf of Siam.

On the 15th of December, at noon, latitude 9 deg. 1', longitude 108 deg.
57', we found ourselves just half round the world from our starting-point,
Boston. The capital of Massachusetts was exactly beneath us on the
opposite side of the globe, a physical fact somewhat difficult to
realize.

We landed, December 17th, at Singapore, the most southerly point of
Asia, located at the mouth of the Malacca Straits, about eighty miles
north of the equator, being the capital of the Straits Settlements. It
is the stopping-place of nearly all ocean travel to and from the East,
not only for the landing and taking in of other cargo, but as a
necessary coaling station, whether coming round the Cape of Good Hope,
or from Suez and India by the Red Sea route. Singapore is an island
lying just off the peninsula separation from the main-land by a strait
scarcely a quarter of a mile across. It is some thirty miles long and
half as broad, containing over two hundred square miles, and supporting
a population of a hundred thousand, more or less. The entrance to the
harbor was very picturesque as we sailed between the low lying islands
grouped about it, fanned by a soft welcome morning breeze, before the
burning sun had asserted its power. An aspect of tropical luxuriance and
languor reigned everywhere,--the palm and cocoanut-trees looming above
all the rest of the vegetation. About the ship floated tropical seaweed
of brilliant colors, while the long snow-white beach contrasted
strongly with the dark green, glossy foliage behind it. It was easy to
divine the products of the island