During the construction of Fort Canning, later on, many
were so caught and brought down to the jail for the reward. They were
then destroyed, the convicts at the time always asking pardon of the
snake for so betraying it to their masters. It is worth mentioning here
that in the jail there were so many different races of India, and men of
so many occupations and artifices, that what a man of one caste did not
know, another would be sure to volunteer to perform. This collection of
such a variety of races in a jail under the association system had
another and more important advantage, for it was at once a safeguard
and protection against any possible combined revolt against the
authorities, for one caste would invariably "split" against another.

It was in the year 1841 that it was decided to erect a jail for the
Indian convicts on a site near the Brass Basa Canal on the east of the
town, and immediately below Government Hill, now known as Fort Canning.
The boundary wall was first built, and then a brick building within,
which was subsequently used as a convict hospital. This is shown in the
plan of the whole prison made in 1872, a copy of which is given later.
In this brick building the defaulters and those in irons were placed on
one side, and the local prisoners on the other. The remainder of the
convicts were lodged in temporary structures inside the enclosure wall;
and those employed in positions of trust were allowed to erect small
huts for themselves in the style of a native village just outside the
wall, in which they were allowed to have their wives and families. There
was but one entrance to this enclosure, where convict warders were at
all times stationed as a gate guard. It will be readily understood that
discipline could not well be maintained under such circumstances, while
no records appear to have been kept of any kind, relating to their daily
employment or occupation, so there is nothing to show whether the
convicts were employed in the erection of this boundary wall; but it is
more probable that they were only used as labourers, and not as
artisans, for it was not until a later date that they were organized and
trained as skilled workmen.

It may be well for us to indicate here the progress made in the
Singapore town up to 1842, as given by _The Free Press_ newspaper in
that year. It runs thus:--

"A stranger visiting Singapore cannot fail to be struck by the
signs everywhere exhibited of the s