Omaha daily bee., 1889-04-28
Among the Malnys.

solNbAfDhEY Ttb -'s--lfDpctihl SOiiVopph-
deuce of THE BEE. Singapore is just eighty
miles north OF the equator. Its climate is
the same the year round. It's sun rises and
sets at the same hours each day the year
through, and its flowers ever bloom and its
trees are always green. Now, at the last of
February, I am surrounded by the verdure
of the tropics. Birds by the thousands sing
in the trees and the air is that of a hot,
moist July. The natives in many cases
wear nothing but waist cloths and all Euro.
peans are dressed in white duck coats and
white pantaloons They wear hats of pith
or cork, the rims OF which are as big around
as dish pan and which rise in two stories
TO protect the head from the sun. attended
church at the English cathedral last night,
and listened to service under forty great
punkahs or fans, which were pulled to and
fro by men stationed on the outside of the
church This cathedral had an audience
about one hundred and twenty feet long, and
1t was, / Judge, seventy-tive feet from the
floor to the roof. Below the ceiling there
was net work of iron rods, and TO these,
by ropes, were fastened these huge fans,
each Of which was about four feet wide and
eighteen feet long. They consisted of strips
of wide cotton cloth, weighted and hung
from black walnut poles, and it was
by ropes attached to these poles and
stretched overpulleys in the windows OF the
church, that the natives outside kept them
gong and cooled those engaged in devotion.
The dining tables in the hotels have these
punkah fans over them, and upon the steam
ers there are punkahs in the cabin, which
are pulled during the meals. Some of the
weathier European residents have servants
who do nothing but pull punkahs, and not
few have fans over their beds. which are
kept going all night by manual labor. Just
in front of the hotel, and along the shore Of
the sea, there is a tennis and cricket ground
comprising several acres Of lawn. Every
afternoon these European nabobs of the east
may be seen here by the scores. Each
player has his servant with him, who runs
after the balls and hands them to him. No
one does any more than he can help and the
business hours are from 10 to 3.
THE ISLAND OF SINGAPORE.
Singapore is an island fourteen miles wide
and twenty-seven miles long: II lies just
half way around the world from New York,
and it Is the half way station between the
Pacific and Indian ocean. If you will take
your map Of Asia and look up the straits of
Melacca you will find this little island. Lying
at their entrance, just north of Sumatra and
south of lndo-China, a little over to the left
you will sec Ceylon, and further still the
Gulf of Alden and the Red Sea. To the
right and north are China and Japan.
Singapore is the center Of the trade routes
gong via Ceylon and the Red sea to Europe,
and all of the great ships trading with China
and Japan stop here. More than SIX thous
and ships visit this port every year, and all
of the great islands of this nicinity send
their freight here for trans shipment. 1t is
four days and 500 miles from here to Bang
kok, the capital of Siam. There are weekly
steamers to Batavia; the capital of Java, 500
miles to the SOUTH and you can in two days
reach this great coffee island which com
prises u territory about eighty miles wide,
and longer than the distance between New
York city and Cleveland. Borneo is an
other great island at the eastward, and it is
thirteen days from here to Calcutta by way
of Burmah. The result is that the popula-
tion of Singapore is made up of the natives
Of all these countries and you will find here
mixture of yellows and bl acks, of Hindoc
turbaus and Chinese pigtails; of coffee col
orcd Malays and Of pale, white Caucassia Ms
from Europe. The costumes are as strange
as the skins, and all the queer outfits o.
southern Asia iostle each other upon the
streets and tramp upon one another'S heel.
upon the highways.
VARIETIES OF FEMININE BEAUTY.
The women of Singapore are of do2er
different types, ranging from the rosy
checked English girl, in a suit made by Red
fern or Worth, to the half naked beauty from
Borneo, whose sole costume is n striD o
cloth about the waist, which reaches TO hel
knees and which is fastened by u knot at the
pit of her stomach. ] saw q black woman
to-day who had holes in the lobes Of eaci
an Ia hip around thumb and | nOtnf
that another woman used ner ears as bouque
holders. Both of these women were kllng'
and they came from southern India. The.
were straight. graceful, and by no means
bad looking, but their chief dress consisted
of jewelry. They had great bracelets of gol'
on their wrists and ankles. Their ears wcr
riveted with gold and above these grea
ring-like lobcs, little gold nuts and bolt
bound with pins of gold from lobe to tin
One Of the maidcns mad each of her nostril
riveted with these screw rings and grea
ring Of gold hanging down from the center o.
the nose. The gold shone out all th
brighter against the blackness Of tn,
SKIN and the jewelry was the more promi
nent from the scantiness Of their costumes
These were Il single skirt fastened Tight.
around the hips and thighs and coming to Lh
knees, and sort Of a scarf of cotton whicl
was stretched around the shoulder and unde
one arm and tied in a knot at the side. Fou
yards Of cloth would have made the who'll
suit anu tIfN WOTo ncllueT nutS nor
l noticed another of those women who had
large pear shaped pearl fastened to rive
and hanging dowl from one nostril almos
to her upper lip.
The Malay women, so far as have seen
are not as good looking as the Indians
though this country was originally populate,
by them and there are more Malays thai
any other Asiatics except the Chinese. TIL
Malays live, as rule, in the poorest of one
story matched huts and there is "a Malay vii
lage within three miles of this village whic
il passed on the way TO the steamers. II is
THE PICTURE oE POVERTY AND DEsoLATIoN
The Malays will not work, and they liy
like savages. Slowly but surely the Chimes
are crowding them out of their own country
and there are now s6, 900 Cinnamon here i
Singapore. The population of the CITY
$4,000, and the Chinese, the Indians and tn
Europeans dc the business. Everywhere
go find that John Chinaman is pushing hi
way to the front Within the past few year
the Chinese have begun To emigrate, and tn
horde that came TO America had its counter
parts in those who went to Australia, an
who are now pushing themselves into the va
rious countries and islands of the Pacific
They gain n foothold wherever they go, an
they make money where others starve On
OF the worst elements of their emigration tn
United States has not yet felt, and that
their inter-marriage with the women of tn
countries 10 which they go. Siam is alread
half Chinese, and the Chinese are slowl
swallowing up the Siamese. IL Is the sam