come within our reach from
works written upon Singapore and the Straits Settlements, and especially
are we indebted to an _Anecdotal History of Singapore_, published by the
_Free Press_, and extending from the year 1822 to 1856, which gives an
interesting account of our early occupation of that island, and of the
use to which the labour of these convicts was turned.

From the Memoirs of _Sir Stamford Raffles_, written by his widow in
1830, and from his _Life_ by Demetrius Charles Boulger, in 1897, we have
been able to trace that, so far back as the year 1823, there were
between 800 and 900 of these Indian convicts at our settlement of
Bencoolen, on the south-west coast of Sumatra; and that, when this place
was conceded to the Dutch by the London treaty of 1825, these convicts
were removed to Penang, and were subsequently distributed amongst the
three settlements of Penang, Malacca, and Singapore. This distribution
would in all probability have taken place about the year 1825, when
Singapore was incorporated with Penang and Malacca, under the Governor
and Council of the Incorporated Settlements.

We think the account which we are about to give of the various
employments of these Indian convicts at Singapore, will abundantly show
how considerably this important settlement has benefited by their early
introduction. They made most of the roads in the settlement, including
timber bridges, viaducts and tunnels, and executed for the Government
many important public buildings. Moreover, when released from
imprisonment upon a ticket-of-leave, they were absorbed innoxiously into
the native community, and again contributed to the advantage of the
place in the various occupations they had recourse to, in order to
obtain an honest livelihood. By a judicious system of rewards, and a
graduated scale of promotion, a very remarkable spirit of industry was
infused into the bulk of these convicts during their incarceration, and
it may be honestly said that this was effected without the sacrifice of
that wholesome discipline always essential in the control especially of
the criminal class.

We could not, of course, interfere with their religion, but by a
well-judged scale of punishments and rewards, and by instruction given
to them in their own vernacular, we endeavoured to raise their character
by helping them to good conduct, and to a better way of living. To
encourage and foster that industry to which we have referred, we taught
them