The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1950-04-20

HAZEL
EYES
by Hczel Brannon Smith
Singapore. Malaga
(Delayed)

Singapore is famous for its Sui
tan of Johore and the Raffles
Hotel, one of the worlds best
known establishments.
Johore is one of the leading
provinces and it is only a few
miles drive over a causeway from
Singapore to Johore-where the
Sultan's palace is located.
At the time the Monroe was in
Singapore the Sultan was vaca-
tioning in England and the palace
was closed-guarded only by two
soldiers with rifles. The public
could drive through the beauti-
fully kept grounds during the day
and admire the lovely builing and
bright flowers in the mid Decem-
Der sunshine-but all windows
were barred and doors under
lock and key.
Fortunately / had a letter to
the Sultan from n of his per-
sonal friends in Honolulu, Mr..
Earl Thacker. Armed with this
letter and accompanied by q
charming Englishwoman who
lived in Singapore, Mrs. S. H.
Peek, | went out to Johore one
afternoon.
Neither of the two Malayan
guards spoke English but by
some kind of international sign
language which is the only Ian
guage accomplishment I've been
able to master thus far ! made II
known that / wanted to 60
through the palace even though
it wasn't open. One Of the guards
left with my letter and was gone
for some time. When he returned
he was accompanied by an Eng
disappearing soldier who carried
a huge ring of keys and proceed
ed to show us through the entire
palace room by room.
The visit to the palace was GER
tainly worth the effort we had
made to Sc it, Mrs. Peek and !
both agreed. Although she had
lived in Singapore many years
and had always inteded to go out
and see the palace some day she
hadn't gotten round to 1t.
Jchore and Kelantan r the
only two Malay States which
have their own orders Of the ro-
val family and crown to which
app0intnnsnts ia several degrees
are made. Thus the sultans, OF
rulers, are crowned rather than
installed as in other states. The
rulers are the spiritual as well
as temporal heads of their states
and it is their responsibility to
be guardians Of Malay custom.
Everywhere in the palace of
Johore are letters and other tes-
timonials of affection and esteem
from the crowned heads of
Europe, particularly England.
Cablegrams of fluctuations on
birthdays and other events from
Queen Mary and the late King
George of England as well as
personal letters signed by royal
hands adorn the wall and make
interesting reading for country
editors.
Most visitors are greatly i'm
pressed with the solid gold din
ner service on display along with
the thousands of pieces of china,
crystal and silver. Everything in
this service plates and bowls of
every size, cups and saucers and
every odd serving piece you can
think of is in solid gold.
The two outstanding rooms in
the palace as far as l was con-
cerned were the really beautiful
drawing room and the adjoining
throne room.
The drawing room contained 9
whole suite of furniture made
completely of crystal and mir
rors-tables, chairs and cd c
pieces. | had never seen anything
like this before and l must say
it was quite effective in this
large room with high ceilings
from which there was suspended
the most beautiful cut glass
chandeliers I've ever seen. The
guard who was showing Us
through said he thought they
came from England but ! think
they must have been Belgian OF
Czechoslovokian.
The throne room featured the
two gold thrones of the Sultan
and his consort, from which the
guard obligingly removed the
sheets for us to see. Its walls were
solidly lined with portraits of the
royal family in full dress.
Men are usually fascinated by
the trophy room where there was
on display the mounted heads OF
elephants, tigers, bears, rhinoce-
ros, hippopotamus and other big
game. In fact the place looked
like a museum. AL of these were
repeatedly bagged by the Sultan
on big hunts over the globe.
The Sultan himself is as lavish
as the lush tropical growth
throughout the state of Johore,