Our captain determining, if possible, to sail for Hong Kong before the arrival of the English mail-steamer, made greater despatch in coaling than it had been customary for him to do at any other port on our route, and our time, therefore, did not admit of a very thorough “doing,” either of the place or its environs. Rising, however, betimes on the following morning, we were sipping a cup of tea and eating a biscuit while on our way to town in one of Ramasamy’s covered boats. Near the landing, according to arrangement, the Dubash had a Malay garee--a small coach, or cab-like vehicle, drawn by a little Malay pony--awaiting us. The carriage was built and finished with an eye to tropical comfort,--the cushions of the seats being covered with a fine and cool fabric made of the Manilla grass; and between the body of the carriage and the top there was an open space, of one or two inches, left for ventilation. Our Malay _syce_, or driver, was neatly dressed, after the fashion of his caste, with a turban and upper garments of pure white; and pending from both the upper and lower lobes of his ears were gold rings, set either with emerald or an excellent imitation of that precious stone. Sometimes he rode, but more frequently ran beside his horse, urging the animal on, and looking the picturesque to perfection. We first took the public drive upon the Bund, which is a beautiful, broad, and well-made macadamized road, having an enclosed public ground on the left, where the sight of a rich growth of grass gladdened our eyes and reminded us of home, it being the most verdant turf we had seen since leaving the United States. The hill-sides of Singapore are green and beautiful with grass, which is doubtless owing to the rains that, we were told, visited the place nearly every day. The town is built over a large surface, and the cultivation of trees, shrubs, and flowers, in the large grounds surrounding the bungalow residences, receives so much attention that the place seems as much like the country as the city, with all the advantages of both.