certain rewards, or
remission short of emancipation, to orderly conduct."

When Mr. Coleman resigned, the duties of Superintendent were taken up by
Captain Stevenson of the 12th Madras Native Infantry, who carried out
the system then in force, and somewhat added to the strength of the
convict warders; for we find in his annual report for 1845 the following
remarks: "Convict peons are selected from the second class for general
good conduct and intelligence, and they continue to receive $3 each per
mensem, in addition to provisions and clothing. Free peons were, I hear,
formerly tried, but found not to be so well suited for the peculiar
duties required of them; besides, the prospect of gaining a belt--a
mark of authority--is a strong inducement to good conduct on the part of
the convict, and conduces much towards lightening, in the well disposed,
the feeling of hopelessness that ever accompanies a sense of
imprisonment and slavery for life."

At this time (1840 to 1845), Singapore was more than ever before
infested with tigers--it is supposed that they swam across the narrow
part of the Old Straits, from Johore to Kranji. The number of natives,
principally Chinese, employed on gambier and pepper farms, that were
carried off or destroyed by them annually was considerable, and it was
said at the time that not a day passed without one man being killed by
wild animals. Whether it was actually so or not, there are no police
statistics to prove, but as many as five in eight days were reported at
that time, and in later years, about 1860, as many as 200 deaths were
notified to the police in one year, and probably a great number never
were brought to notice, because the difficulty of obtaining coolies to
work in the thick jungle, as it then was, was a great inducement to the
"Towkays," or Head Chinese, to keep the number of deaths as much as
possible from being known. In those days a reward of one hundred dollars
was offered by Government for every tiger brought to the police station,
whether alive or dead; and this sum, owing to their continued ravages,
was subsequently increased to one hundred and fifty dollars.

One seizure of a man-eater is worth recording here; it is taken from
_The Singapore Free Press_ of the year 1840, and runs as follows:--

"The news of the capture and death of a tiger last Saturday
night on a Chinaman's plantation, close to that of Mr.
Balustier, the American Consul, gave general sa