road not been an excellent one and as level
as a parlor floor. The wayside was bordered by hedges of green and
growing rattans uniformly clipped, and forming a continuous wall, which,
here and there, threw out a graceful feathery bit of foliage. Over the
hedge occasionally bent tall and handsome palm-trees of various species,
often laden with cocoanuts, or other fruit of the palm family, and
occasionally whole groves of bananas were in sight. We passed many
Chinamen, and many Chinese shops, showing them to be the dominating
race, always moving promptly as if bent on some fixed purpose; while the
natives, seen now and then on the road, were listless and objectless in
their appearance,--true children of the equatorial region. The former
were bent on accumulating the means to return to their native land in
independence; the latter were utterly heedless of the morrow.

The local pictures, as usual in each new place, are interesting and
impressive: small hump-backed oxen driven singly to harness and at a
lively trot; little diminutive horses, even smaller than those of Japan,
yet drawing heavy-loaded vehicles; an almost naked population, and those
wearing clothes at all affecting the brightest possible colors. Scarlet
turbans and white skirts, red shawls bound round the head, yellow sashes
confining one thickness of narrow cotton cloth about the body, give bits
of color everywhere. Peddlers roam the streets selling water, soup,
fruit, and a jelly, made from seaweed, called agar-agar. These articles
are cried, each after its own peculiar name, and customers are not
wanting; little groups of Chinese and natives often surround the peddler
and partake of his wares. Houses are built high up in the air upon
stilts, a common practice for various reasons, not the least of which is
protection against the much dreaded tigers, snakes, and other dangerous
creatures. Tigers are said to devour three hundred of the inhabitants
annually; that is nearly one a day out of a population of a hundred
thousand, which is the aggregate of the whole island. The number of
victims is set even higher than this, and is mostly made up from those
working on the plantations.

The jungle is very dense and difficult to penetrate. English sportsmen
come hither, in large numbers, to seek this royal game. It would seem
strange at first thought that an island like Singapore could not be
cleared of this terrible pest, and so we remarked. "Ah," replied a
resident,