a gang for
clearing the jungle and making roads upon Cape Rachado for the erection
of a lighthouse, an _emeute_ took place, and some life was lost, and
many escaped inland, but were subsequently returned by the native Malay
chiefs.

Some of the Indian convicts here on ticket of leave were expert
shikarries, and frequently with their trained dogs would hunt the deer
and wild boar, and dispose of the flesh to Chinese in the town at some
profit to themselves.

In 1873, when the convict establishments in the Straits Settlements were
finally broken up, those convicts still wanting time to complete their
sentences were transferred to Singapore for transmission to the
Andamans, those upon ticket of leave being permitted to merge into the
population.

[Illustration: TOWN AND ENVIRONS OF SINGAPORE IN 1878.

_Plate VIII._]

Chapter IV

A RUNNING HISTORY OF SINGAPORE: ITS JAIL SYSTEM AND ADMINISTRATION

The origin of the name of this island it is difficult to trace, but the
generally accepted derivation is from the Sanscrit words, "Singh," a
lion, and "Pura," a city or town; and if so, it would not have been
given by the Malays, but more probably by the Indians, who, according to
native history, came over with one, Rajah Suran, and conquered Johore
and this island in about the year A.D. 1160. "Singh" is a title adopted
by the Hindus, and by several military castes of Northern India, and the
word "Singhpur" is often used by them to mean the grand entrance gate to
a palace.

If, on the other hand, we assume that the Malays conferred the name to
the island, they would in all probability have given it from their word
"Singgah," which means "a place to stop at," or "to bait by the way,"
and as the embouchure of the Singapore river formed a commodious and
sheltered retreat for their rowing and sailing prahus, this view is not
inappropriate, the more especially as the affix "pura," meaning a city,
had been known to them from the earliest times, and of which we have one
instance at least from their original home of Sumatra, in the naming of
their kingdom of Indrapura, which was, as Marsden says, "for a long
time, from 1400 A.D., the seat of a monarchy of some consideration and
extent."

The island is about twenty-seven miles long by fourteen broad, and
contains an area of 206 square miles, and therefore is somewhat larger
than the Isle of Wight. It is separated from the mainland of Johore by
what is known as "The O