Morning journal and courier., 1884-04-05
AROUND THE WORLD.

SINGAPORE, Feb. 2, 1884.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL COURIER:
Among the things demanding reconstruc-
ton is the present international postal sys-
tenn, If that remarkable order of things which
now prevails may be called system by any
stretch of the Imagination. have received
a good many letters from the United States,
some of which have made the trip via San
Francisco. Japan and China, and some of
which have come around by way of England,
Europe, and India. Every one of these let
tsrs has borne simply five cent stamp, from
| which infer that that is the uniform rate
from America to countries of the PosthA
Union. But from here back to America 1t is
always something like ten cents at the lowest
Again letters sent home from here via the
P. and o. steamers cost twice as much as
those sent via the Messageries Maritimes, and
the former line is well subsidized by the
English government, too. Letters posted
here for Australia (Which is not in the Postel
Union) are charged twenty four cents unless
| you direct that they be sent via the Torres
Straits, in which event the price is only
twelve cents. To Bolivia and St. Helena,
non-union States, the rate is uniformly thirty
| six centa.
| The real illiteracy of these English auto
Gratis who assume the department of gods oLs
| here in these colonies of the East is proven
| by the promiscuous way in which they handle
/ their his. I was at a meeting the other night
| in which one of the speakers referred warml,
| to the ''hangels 'eaven." This is about as
ridiculous as any of the invented travesties
| on the ''h' habit that ever heard.
1 Tt ia To this liEtlA i4land Of SinOanora that
l the world is indebted for the development of
| submarine electric telegraph communication
originally made possible by the discovery of
gutta percha here. Gutta is the hardened
juice of a tall tree found in the Malay PENN
| sula and thu adjoining islands. The tree is
felled, and the juice, which gathers between
the bark and the wood, oozss into troughs,
where it hardsns in the air. 1t is excsedingl,
| tough. easily softened in hot water, and may
| be moulded into any shape. The product
| was discovered in this place in 1843 by DIR
Montgomery, who observed some curious
! whipstocks used by the native coachmsn
which they said wsre made from the juice of
| q tree. He sent some articles made of gutta
| 10 London, where they attracted the attention
| of chemists and artisans, and the article was
| soon brought into general use. DIR. Mont
gomery received a gold medal from the So
| cisty of Arts of London for his valuable ser
vices in introducing this substance. Gutta
| pershR had been seen early as 1884, but
no one had the enterprise to bring it to the
notice of those competent TO pass upon its
possibilities for general usefulness. Not only
did gutta percha Immediately become popular
| for knifs-handles, water buckets, short whips.
etc but the discovery was made most op-
| portuneIy for the perfection of the submarine
telegraph. In 1851, through the agency of
gutta percha, the first cable was successfully
| laid between Dover and Calais, tie cable being
| enclosed in covering of gutta percha. which
was found to be thoroughly impervious to
the action of sea water, and at the same time
a perfect insulator.
The disciples of the insanity theory, as an
apology for all deeds of violence, will find
| much to comfort them here Along the
| Nalay Peninsula originated the sAmok,"
recs loss onslaught upon the world at large,
made by nation who is wsary of life Rush
| ing out, creese Cor kris as it is sometimes
| spelled) in hazd, he strikes right and left at
| men, women and children indisc.iminately
| with the expectation of biting himself struck
| down, that in this way he may get rid of the
| life which has bsocme burden to him. Of
| course the community arms itself and gives
| chase for the man through beg and jungle,
| each person being anxious for the reward
which is to be paid the slayer. This dying
| like man. is species OF insanity or blood
| madness, which sometimes takes possession
| of a man, especially Of opium smokers and
those who have gambied away all their prop
bers of their family. The Amok is the only
honorable mode of escape from such an em-
barassing situation.
lahore. the capital of the province by that
| name at the extreme point of the peninsula,
| is located just across the narrow strait sep
| aratiag this island from the mainland It
| constitutes faForite excursion with travel
lers, two or three stages running over to the
strait daily, where steam or sampan commu-
nication with lahore is easily attainable.
| There Is not much to see except the palace
of the Maharajah of lahore, and that Is not a
| very pretentious structure. The Maharaiah
| is one of ths most progressive of native mon
archs, and frequently visits this city and
Penang in his private boat. He has some ex-
tenslve steam sRwmills In lahore employing
| great many Malays, who all wear a medal
| lion on their coatsleeves bearing the inscrip-
| ton in English, ''steam sawnils, lahore. y
An up-couptry railway was once startsd from
lahore, but the project fell through. Gamb
| ling is rife and is not likely to be checked,
since from it the Rajah derives a good deal
| of revenue.
The orang outangs or t'Wild men," are
found on the peninsuls, and SO are the orang
utans or "Pen of the woods" am aware
| that Webster and Worcester make these words
| synonymous; but am forced to believe that
| both the great photographers have made q
| false statement in this regard, as the etymol-
ogy of the Malay an terms which have given
sOuld go to prove. Certain it is that what
| are popularly called orang- utans here, living
in the immediate vicinity of lahore, are hu-
mans. Though of a grade inferior to the
Malays, and generally living apart from the
latter. they get their living for thu most part
| by coming out of their native woods, and
trading with the people at lahore. 1 have
not heard of any monkeys, however sa gacious,
| that do this.
| I have seen the mermaid. 1 write this
| calmly, deliberately, and in open defiance of
Barnum ct al. It is called the Malay an mer
maid and may be seen in most of the eastern
museums. 1 dare not attempt to describe it
as I have not got my eyes used to the light
yet but unsophisticated enough to be-.
lieve that it is genuine. There is no limit to
my crsdulity hereafter, and will not permit
myself to manifest surprise at anything.
Penang, Straits Settlements, Feb S-A
ride OF l20 miles up the Straits of Malacca
brought me to the town and province of the
same name, once the most famous of the
colonies in these parts. but now dead place
with only about sixty European residents
and nothing to recommend it in a commercial
point of viow, except tho products of the for
est and the soil. further ride of $50 miles
brought me to this Prince of Wales Island,
as it is officially called. Penang Island Cor
Betelnut Island the name signifies in
Malay Is about fifteen miles long and nine
broad. On the opposite shore of the main
land stretches Province Wellesley, strip of
territory DeiOnSlnS 10 the settlement, aver
aging sight miles in width and extending
forty-fve miles along the coast. Province
Wellesley was acquired on account of the
prevalence of piracy on the shore opposite
Penang. The strait which separates the two
tracts of land is from two to ten miles in
width, and forms the hsrbor of Penang. in
which all ships anchor in default OF uharves
The chief town of the island is Georgetown,
but it is popularly spoken of as Penang
simply, just as what ls legally Victoria still
g5es by the name of Hong Kong.
Penang was ceded to the British by the
Raiah of Kedah in 1885, with the proViso
that the sum of ten thousand dollars be an
nualIy paid for the use of the island SO long |
as the British should occupy it. After the |
decline of Malacca had set in Penang con- |
tinued for solEe time the trade center of the |
eastern seas; but it in turn yielded to Singa- |
pore, the seat of government baing trans |
ferred to the latter place in 1882 Thus Pc
nane is to-day only distributing point fer
local trade. Its prospect is brighter at pres
ent than for good many years past, owing
to the fabulously rich tin mi es which are
now being opened up all along the mainland