Directory_and_Chronicle_1883 — Page 540

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SINGAPORE.

latter dances and amateur theatricals are frequently given. The German community have a similar institution, and the best feeling exists between the two nationalities. The Raffles Library and Museum (temporarily located in the premises of the Raffles School) are creditable and well kept institutions, the Museum having made very fair progress since its inception. The Library contains about 12,000 volumes, chiefly of standard modern literature, and includes the valuable philological collection of the late Mr. Logan.

Singapore boasts three good hotels, the Hotel de! Europe, Emmerson's, and the Hotel de la Paix, the latter being chiefly patronised by Dutch and other foreign visitors. The Press is represented by the Singapore Daily Times, the Straits Intelligence, published twice a week, the Straits Times, weekly, and the Government Gazette, published weekly.

The

Singapore is well off for Docks. The Tanjong Pagar Company's premises lie about a mile to the westward of the town, a fine wharf affording berthage for twenty vessels at one time with sufficient water alongside for vessels of the heaviest draught, and protected by a breakwater from the swell from the roads and from the strength of the tides. The business of the wharf is under the charge of an experienced super- intendent and assistants, and there is an abundance of labour, ensuring the speedy discharge and loading of vessels alongside, facilitated by the use of steam winches, cranes, &c. There are commodious godowns, erected on the wharf for the storage of goods. Coal sheds capable of storing 50,000 tons o. the mineral adjoin the godowns, while a small steam railway essentially aids the labour of unloading vessels. usual accompaniments are also to be found--two docks, one a graving dock 450 feet in length, a machine shop, boiler and masting shear, &c. The New Harbour Dock Company, situated about three miles further West, has two docks of 415 and 450 feet in length respectively, with sheds, workshops, &c., as at Tanjong Pagar. companies forward telegrams to and from the town free of charge. The "Ocean,' "Glen" and other local steamer lines usually go alongside the Tanjong Pagar Wharf. The French mail steamers and Messrs. Jardine, Matheson's vessels use the Borneo Company's Wharf at New Harlour, while the P. & O. steamers have a wharf of their own still further West at Teluk Blangah, three miles from town.

Both

Communication with other Eastern ports and with Europe is kept up by the P. & O., Messageries, Austro-Hungarian Lloyds', O ean, Rubattino, Castle, and Glen lines of steamers (with some other occasional visitors); by the Eastern and Australian line with Australia; by the Netherlands India line with Java, Timor, and the islands of the Archipelago; and by a Spanish line with the Philippines; all but the last named running to Hongkong.

The

The climate of Singapore is remarkable for its salubrity, and the island has been described by medical writers as the "paradise of children," infantile diseases. seldom being at all malignant. Despite its proximity to the Equator, under normal circumstances daily rainfall tempers the heat so thoroughly that many sleep beneath blankets. Droughts, however, have been experienced of from one to five months. island is not exempt from the animal pests which usually infest intra-tropical loations. Tigers are occasionally seen, and two or three deaths are reported annually from this cause; wild pigs and monkeys (both very destru tive to gardens) inhabit much of the jungle surrounding the country residences; while the much dreaded cobra has been killed in most of the compounds. The existence of the most formidable Asiatic snake, the Hamadryad, has also been demonstrated, though this fierce reptile is fortunately but very seldom seen. It should be added that specimens of the formidable python, up to 24 feet in length, are found in the jungle, and that alligators and sharks inhabit the still waters of the coast. Mosquitoes, however, form the principal plague, and cause far more irritation and vexation than the occasional visits of the snakes, centipedes, or scorpions, which are now and then killed in bath or bed rooms.

Singapore offers but few points of salient interest to visitors, the Botanical Gardens at Tanglin and the Raffles Library and Museum being its only show places. Few, however, are unimpressed with its wealth of vegetation-of a certain sort. The jungle, crowded with kompas, betel, and cocoanut trees, here and there relieved

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