Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-06

Sa1ieo In past long lines OF anchored merchant
ships. some flying the United States flag, but,
alas far oftener that of England or Holland. Far
inside the white bulls of the Hyacinth and the
Rettler, two British gun boats, show up against
| the green Cliff whose top is surmounted by the
| battery and signal station. 1t is evening
when we let our anchor go; all the lights are
showing brightly through the gathering dark
| ness; the lines OF the shore grow gradually
/ DINNER and finally fade away. Soon 9Th, re-
treat sounds at the battery, followed by the
| man-of- war at anchor in the harbor. We must
leave Singapore to the morrow.
Early IN the morning We start ashore. A long
| IRON pier luts out from the wharves to meet us;
ceivable fashion. Here is a Cingalese in pure
white, his long hair held back by a horned tor
tolse-s comb. the horns projecting forward
| over his forehead. He is talking in the uni
versal language, the lingua franca of the East
Indies-Malay-to Chinese merchant in the
familiar blue blouse and trousers, but whose
head is adorned with a white derby hat, evil
IDENTIFY ashamed of its present situation and
striving to show it by fimsy. deprecatory air.
There pass knot OF Pooraks, with gay polo
caps and linen trousers and coats. They move
forward as though they think themselves far
| above the half-na King. with long hair
swept back from the shaved forehead and
crown.
SCENES on THE PIER.
Walking down the pier we see over the rail
| close to the wharves the long, narrow, black
canoe Of native Malay, who paddles swiftly
over the smooth water. His attire is very sim
pie, only the inevitable sarong, with a long
sash twisted around his waist. into which is
| stuck the famous kris. His head is unprotected
save by a thick thatch of long, wavy hair, and
IN bearing and appearance he differs widely
from the cringing Hindoos, who, together with
the Chinese coolies. form the lowest laboring
class. tall sikh with an immense green and
white turban keeps order at the end of the
crowded pier. He wears a brown linen suit,
with white CATERS, the regular British uniform
for his regiment, and from his height of at least
SIX feet two inches looks down with scorn on
the short, puny natives. As we pass two Chi
nese coolies engage in an alteration which is
soon settled by this excellent preserver of the
public peace In his massive right hand he
grasps the pigtails of the two contestants and a
witness and solemnly drags all three to the sta
tion house. At the eager solicitation of their
drivers we take dak gharry, or, as they call it
here, gharry, and, telling the klIngdyce to
drive slowly, start off to see the town
These gharrys take the place of ham
SONS here and are small two-seated hacks
drawn by little lara ponies The King driver
perches himself on the front of the gharry and
whipping up the horse, We are off. We pass
the Hong Kong Bank, and through the open
doors We see long line OF Chinese teliers
counting the Mexican dollars before them and
changing them for pounds sterling. Taking a
them into the other counting by the chiuk
chink OF the silver and simultaneously reject
Ing bad or short dollar. 1t Is a rather odd
fact that the standard here is the Mexican dol
lar, which is divided into 100 cents and is worth
about 70 cents IN our money. The smaller
| money bears the head of Queen Victoria, but
| the dollar shows the eagle. cactus and serpent
| OF Mexico; the little republic is well know n
here All the way up the coast the Mexican
| Is legal tender and all English money must be
exchanged for 'Mexicans."
AN INTERRUPTED sIEsrA.
1t is hot, very hot, and not even the queer
| sights in the streets make up for it, We drive
| of to one of the large hotels. determined to
| follow the example Of the acclimatized Euro
pean and take our siesta in peace. Lying
| stretched out on the comfortable lounglng
| chairs on the veranda life appears to be de.
cidedly worth living, and l am Just dropping
| OIL into a delicious doZe when hear near me a
| gentle voice saying, master like bargain?r l
| look up and see before me tall HindOo with a
| large bundle OF silks and shawls. One he holds
| up for my admiration. Cashmere, master.
| only fourteen dollars" I must admit that l
feel mad; one hates to be woke up and to be
woke up to buy sl.awls at extravagant prices is
too bad. Firmly and decidedly L saw, mo
| want, John; take away" Master think too
much? What master give?" Driven to the
wall, examine it and say -four dollars"
-Four dollars, master, with a cheerful laugh:
master make joke; come. give me ten dollars
master, and the enthusiastic seller forces it
on me. look it over and say boldly, Its cot
ton, John; no want" and remembering certain
warnings against Indian peddlers, throw it at
| him. John" picks it up cheerfully and re-
turns to the charge. "How much master
give? -Four dollars" Give four fifty, mas
ter ~ and I ''takey." confident that have paid
q half again too much. very short sojourn
] here makes one long for a land where Things
have lone price and are marked in plain fig
ures."
IN THE GOVERNORS PARK.
Seeing no prospect Of rest here we gather up
our new purchases and seek our gharry, bid
ding the syce to take US to a cool place if he
knows of any, and soon we are on our wav to
| the Governors Park. We pass through the
native quarter and here we see the native shops
| open as much as possible to tie air. Bare
broken walls, a few scanty shelves on which an
| equally scanty stock is displayed with fat
brown children sprawling on the floor make
| up the picture. The proprietor, seated cross
| legged in front, Is intent Oh the arrangement
| of his turban; he unfolds it, shakes it and then
folding 1t across, gathers his hair up in it; two
I quick twists around his head and it is complete
Merchants with Malacca canes. India shawls
| scarfs and native jeweiry of every sort and
| description are met with at every foot of the
| way. Finally. We gain the European part of
| the town and our little pony soon trots
along firm, well-built road lined on
either side with pleasant cottages, sur
| rounded by brillian. green foliage light.
| ened by bright tropical flowers. Our road winds
| upa gentle incline till We reach the iron
gates OF the park, efthospitubly open, but only
| as the warning sign tells u.s. until pm. Fol-
| lowing winding path and leaving ON our left
| the governors house, whose towers we can see,
| We reach the reservoir perched on top of the
| hill. Two oblong stone basins hold the water
Standing on the brink We can see nearly all of
| the city lying below. To our left is the Singa-
pore race course-the racing season begins at
New Year-and farther away il an old grave
| yard. 10 our right is the town and beyond lie
| the men-ofw war and the hundreds of merchant
vessels. This is one Of the largest ports in the
world and forms the connecting link between
| the east and the west.
BUDDHIST TEMPLE.
| We stand under an immense fan palm or
''traveler's tree" 1t does not give US much
shade, however, so we are obliged to move into
that Of q locust tree. giving US glimpse Of the
| commerce of the world, Tor . simple private
view, just q charming cottage over the hill half
open to the air a long porch covered with bright
| flowers and climbing vines running around all
| four sides and guarded by lofty palms and
| other and shadier trees. We envy the owner.
| Still, this is midwinter and the thermometer
now stands at IS degrees in the shade-a saving
| thought. On mature reflection we prefer a
colder climate without q charming cottage
sunk in tropical foliage, but with pleasant,
4 Al