Middletown transcript., 1870-07-02

eu ana enIOlueu IN tneSe Stems as CHey are
joined to the trunk. By piercing this
reservoir the cool refreshing beverage
gushes forth.
l saw here another wonderful provision
of a similar sort in small plant. 1t put
out a slender stem or string on which was
suspended sort of cup, shaped not un-
like small tea pot, which would fill with
rain and then close up, holding about a
pint of pure water for the thirsty traveller.
On other trees you will find the most
charming blossoms, four times as large as
the rose, but shaped more like the lily,
with such delicate tints of color, SO vare-
gated, so mixed, and mingled, and shad-
ed off from one to another color, as to fill
your soul with images of enrapturing beau
ty Then such wealth and variety Of fow-
er-bcaring shrubs and plants and vines as
here abound defy all description. Their
fragrance will remind you of Bishop He
bers hymn, "What though the spicy
brcezes," ETC.
There are two chief points of attraction
at Singapore, so far as natural scenery is
concerned. One is the public Botanical
Garden, and the other the private garden
of rich Cantonese Chinaman. Those
who have seen only stinted specimens of
tropical vegetation cramped up in hot-hou-
ses, have no idea of a garden in the trop-
les, with an area of hundreds of acres in
stead of few feet, and with millions of
money to gather the choicest and most
lovely specimens with which God has
clothed the earth
1t is perfectly marvellous how, in this
moist climate, certain kinds of trees can
be made to take all forms of things ami
mate and inanimate. In this rich China
mans garden are trees the exact rescm-
blance of lions, dogs, painting for breath,
with mouths widely extended horses at
tached to carts, in which everything, in
cluding wheels and shafts and cover, are
perfect; pitchers and urns deer with
wide-spreading antlers; storks with long
slim legs and bcaks; peacocks strutting
with expanding tails, with many other
things which cannot here be enumerated,
are initiated in manner surprising belief
until seen. Beautiful rows of ine-apples,
in terraces along water-courses, adorn the
hillsides.
A plant which the English call "Vic-
toria Regia Il do not know the botani-
cal name-attains great perfection here.
This plant grows in the water and the
leaves, which lay on the top of the water,
like the pond-lily, are five feet in dame
ter, and circular, with edges turned up
like huge platter. The trunk or stem
looks like a small cable in the water, From
this cablc-shaped stem springs a blossom
as large as a small head of cabbage, with
concentric folds of mingled pink and
cream and white, or tinted with white and
amber.
Bat have said no description can con-
vey an adequate idea of the loyelincss and
glory of this scenery. The reader may
therefore be ready to ask, as I have asked
myself already several times while writing
these lines, ''Why, then, attempt to tell
what cannot be told 2"
My answer is, hope to do something
toward impressing the reader with sense
of the beauty with which God has clothed
these tropical fields [ feel impelled to
this by sort of religious duty. Gods
finger has painted every one of these beau
tiful flowers, and decorated these hills and
valleys with images of beauty that ravish
my heart, and make me long to see others
enjoy what I enjoy in such presence. If
God can afford to devote his attention to
these sights, cannot /, and cannot you,
gentle reader? | should be afraid of my
own heart if these things did not kindle
within me a feeling akin to religious de-
voton 1t seems to me these lovely ina
ges are placed here by the Creator as so
many witnesses for himself.in favor of pu-
rity and heavenly affections.
How long shall it be until there shall
be in the character of these native tribes
something approaching the beauty of the
natural scenery? The people of Singa-
pore are strange mixture of Malays, Par
secs, Arabs, Chinese, negroes, and know
not what. A large portion of them are
almost entirely naked, and the color of
their skins exhibit all hucs, from white to
jet black. I have seen few persons here
whose color is an approach to iodine, a
strange color for a human being, and yet
not unlike what is sometimes induced in
our own country by the use of nitrate of
silver.
The natives have very slim limbs and
narrow chests, and wear ornaments on
their fingers, toes, ankles, wrists, and
arms. They arc very anxious to trade
their goods for money, and always ask
from three to three hundred times as much
for them as they expect to get.
The English control the island. The
Duke of Edinburgh, the second son of
Queen Victoria, is here. The English
Governor died the morning we reached the
place, but the Duke had gone on to the
main land, distance of fifteen miles. to
see fight between tiger and buffalo !!
It would seem desirable that man in such
a position should set a different example
to the ignorant and degraded natives, who
appear to treat him with great veneration
But the tiger refused to fight for the a.
,,ueo,,,ont of tho rovo1 portv ond ro tho