great mass of the population is Chinese, including some of the
wealthiest merchants, the agriculturists of the interior, and most of
the mechanics and labourers. The native Malays are usually fishermen and
boatmen, and they form the main body of the police. The Portuguese of
Malacca supply a large number of the clerks and smaller merchants. The
Klings of Western India are a numerous body of Mahometans, and,
with many Arabs, are petty merchants and shopkeepers. The grooms and
washermen are all Bengalees, and there is a small but highly respectable
class of Parsee merchants. Besides these, there are numbers of Javanese
sailors and domestic servants, as well as traders from Celebes, Bali,
and many other islands of the Archipelago. The harbour is crowded with
men-of-war and trading vessels of many European nations, and hundreds
of Malay praus and Chinese junks, from vessels of several hundred tons
burthen down to little fishing boats and passenger sampans; and the town
comprises handsome public buildings and churches, Mahometan mosques,
Hindu temples, Chinese joss-houses, good European houses, massive
warehouses, queer old Kling and China bazaars, and long suburbs of
Chinese and Malay cottages.

By far the most conspicuous of the various kinds of people in Singapore,
and those which most attract the stranger's attention, are the Chinese,
whose numbers and incessant activity give the place very much the
appearance of a town in China. The Chinese merchant is generally a fat
round-faced man with an important and business-like look. He wears the
same style of clothing (loose white smock, and blue or black trousers)
as the meanest coolie, but of finer materials, and is always clean and
neat; and his long tail tipped with red silk hangs down to his heels.
He has a handsome warehouse or shop in town and a good house in the
country. He keeps a fine horse and gig, and every evening may be seen
taking a drive bareheaded to enjoy the cool breeze. He is rich--he
owns several retail shops and trading schooners, he lends money at high
interest and on good security, he makes hard bargains, and gets fatter
and richer every year.

In the Chinese bazaar are hundreds of small shops in which a
miscellaneous collection of hardware and dry goods are to be found, and
where many things are sold wonderfully cheap. You may buy gimlets at
a penny each, white cotton thread at four balls for a halfpenny, and
penknives, corkscrews, gunpowder, writing-p