The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-09-30

and his habits are simple In the ear
ly days, it is said, when convict dis
cipline was not so well understood as
ii is now, the convict transported
from India used to engage in traffic
and amass money; Punishment was in
some cases sought and crimes were
sometimes committed by the natives
to obtain it, but now they must ex-
pect to be kept hard at work. Still
quite a few of them contrive to save
money out of their allowance, and on
the expiration of their sentence a
great number of them go into bust
ness of some kind, and it is claimed
that these men are as well if not bet
ter behaved than many of their native
neighbors of higher pretensions.
The Straits Settlements are very
far in advance of any place in India.
The country is highly cultivated and
is thoroughly interested in good roads.
One can travel from end to end of
the island comfortably along. level
and well kept reads Iassing through
groves of nutmeg and fruit trees of
all descriptions, sugar cane fields,
rice fields, every variety of tropical
verdure, past elegant houses of Euro
peans scattered about everywhere.
surrounded by gardens full of the
richest and rarest flowers in the
world; houses open to the winds on
all sides, requiring no protection be-
yond what is necessary against the
visits of petty pilferers.
There is probably no city in the
world with such a motley crowd of
itinerant vendors of wares and fruits,
cakes and vegetables. There are the
Malays, generally with fruit; the Chi
namen, with a mixture of all sorts,
and Kings with cakes and different
kinds of nuts. The Malays and Chi
namen always use the shoulder stick,
having equally balanced loads at
either end; the Kings, on the con-
trary, carry their wares on the head
in trays
The travelling cook shops of the
Chinese are probably the most extra
ordinary things that are carried in
this way. They are suspended on one
of the common shoulder sticks, con-
sisting of a box on one side and a bas-
ket on the other; the former contain
ing a fire and small copper caul-
drOn for soup; the latter loaded with
rice, vermicelli cakes, jellies and con-
diments, and though the writer never
tasted any of their dishes, he was as
sured that what they serve up at q
mon ents notice is most savory and
that their sweets are delicious.
Three cents will purchase a substan-
tial meal of three or four dishes from
these itinerant restaurateurs.
Tigers are in great numbers on the
island of Singapore. They are very
numerous and ferocious and are great
man-eaters for want of other prey 1t
is claimed there are between three
and four hundred people, mainly COO
lies, killed and eaten by these tigers
every year. so that it is really not
safe to live more than four or five
miles from the city. Many people
have given up their country villas on
this account.
The authorities have had a difficult
time to remedy this evil, as there is a
constant supply of tigers from the
primeval forests of the peninsula of
Malacca and Siam, and they swim
across the narrow strait that separ-
ates the island from the mainland. A
reward of $50 is paid by the govern
ment for every tiger killed on the
island.
The inland scenery of Singapore is
exceedingly lovely. The city itself ex-
tends but a short distance from the
beach and where the city ends the
country commences, made up of prim-
eval forest and jungle.