e steam into Singapore, at which point
we remain for half a day, on the tenth day out from Calcutta. Singapore
is indeed a lovely port. Within a stone's-throw of where the Wing-sang
ties up to discharge freight the dark-green mangrove bushes are bathing
in the salt waves. Very seldom does one see green vegetation mingling
familiarly with the blue water of the sea--there is usually a strip of
sand or other verdureless shore--but one sees it at lovely
Singapore.

A fellow-passenger and I spend an hour or two ashore, riding in the first
jiniriksha that has come under my notice, from the wharf into town, about
half a mile. We are impressed by the commercial activity of the city; as
well as by the cosmopolitan character of its population. Chinese
predominate, and thrifty, well-conditioned citizens these Celestials
look, too, here in Singapore. "Wherever John Chinaman gets half a show,
as under the liberal and honest government of the Straits Settlements or
Hong-Kong, there you may be sure of finding him prosperous and happy."

Hindoos, Parsees, Armenians, Jews, Siamese, Klings, and all the various
Eurasian types, with Europeans of all nationalities, make up the
conglomerate population of Singapore. Here, on the streets, too, one sees
the strange cosmopolitan police force of the English Eastern ports, made
up of Chinese, Sikhs, and Englishmen.

CHAPTER XVII.

THROUGH CHINA.

Daily rains characterize our voyage from Singapore through the China
Sea--rather unseasonable weather, the captain says; and for the second
time in his long experience as a navigator of the China Sea, St. Elmo's
lights impart a weird appearance to the spars and masts of his vessel.
The rain changes into misty weather as we approach the Ladrone Islands,
and, emerging completely from the wide track of the typhoon's
moisture-laden winds on the following morning, we learn later, upon
landing at Hong-kong, that they have been without rain there for several
weeks.

It is my purpose to dwell chiefly on my own experiences, and not to write
at length upon the sights of Kong-kong and Canton; hundreds of other
travellers have described them, and to the average reader they are no
longer unique. Several days' delay is experienced in obtaining a passport
from the Viceroy of the two Quangs, and during the delay most of the
sights of the city are visited. The five-storied pagoda, the temple of
the five hundred genii, the water-clock, the criminal court--wher