The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-05-02

q reward. The snakes were in bag, and he
showed them to the policeman, putting his
hands into the bag and pulling them out and
killing them by cracking their heads against
the ground. He did not seem to be afraid of
them, and his hands were bare. He received
so cents for each snake from one to five feet
long. and from that on, according to size up to
s.. The Government of Singapore will give
s. for the killing of each snake measuring from
IA TO 30 feet, and it has its regular scale of re-
wards for tigers. This Malay Peninsula is the
home OF the tiger, and hundreds swim, it is
said, across the narrow straits between 1t and
Singapore every year. Not long age an average
of 300 people were killed in Singapore yearly
by tigers, and during my visit to Johore was
shown the tracks of tiger on the dust of a
sawmiil which / visited. lie had called at the
mill during the night, but had gone away
without eating up any OF the Malay babies
living In the sheds surrounding it, and without
playing with the quiet buzz-saw. The rewards
tor Killing tigers are $50 apiece if full grown
and SO If half grown. One was shot SWIM
ming the straits the other day. and we found
tiger skins for sale in Siam. They were not,
however, so fine as those of North China, and
were not properly tanned The Chinese tigers
| are the finest IN the world. They come from
Manchuria, which lies south of Siberia and
north of Picking, and their skins have long and
beautifully marked fur. The largest of them
Will measure about y feet from nose to tail, and
they are worth in Picking about $120. As to
snakes and crocodiles, they are to be found
everywhere in Malaysia, and snake % feet
long and Is inches IN circumference was caught
on the deck of an ocean steamer lying at the
wharves OF Singapore during my visit. 1t had
probably crawled in among the cargo or had
Climbed up the chains from the water. In our
voyage from Bangkok to Singapore we saw a
snake in the water at least 80 feet long, but
before we could shoot it had divcd under the
snip, and we saw it no more.
Slowly but surely the rich nations Of Europe
are swallowing up Asia. England governs in
Asia an area nine-teHths the size of the United
States, and Asiatic Russia is more than twice
the size of our country. France and Portugal
have possessions III China aud Indo-C China, and
the Dutch own the great islands of Java and
Sumatra. This Malay Peninsula is now prae-
ticaliy under the control of the English and
they farm it so that it brings them in nice
revenue every year. The trade of their settle
ments here amounts to nearly two hundred
millions OF dollars a year, and they have given
the cities of Singapore and Penang a place
among the great trading ports of the world.
Singapore contains l3j,000 population, and it
is one of the busiest places Of the East 1t is
the stOpping-place for the ocean steamers trad
ing between Europe and China, and it is upon
one OF the greatest trade routes of the world.
1t is an island p miles long and ii miles broad.
1t was bought by the English about 20 years
ago, and was at that time fiat jungle. They
laid out the city of Singapore, cut roads through
the island, and at present the jungle has been
turned into cocoanut groves and plantations of
coffee and nutmegs The little city has grown
into a cosmopolitan seaport, and though no
duties are charged upon either exports or i'm
ports, its revenues are so great that ! am told
the town has more money in its treasury than
il knows what 10 do with. The public i'm
provements are already of the best. Singapore
has WIDE macadamized streets, it has public
buildings as large as the average County Court
house OF New York or Pennsylvania, and its
suburbs are filled with houses which would be
considered pleasant homes if they were located
near Boston or New