OLD MALACCA 26 Plate V ALBUQUERQUE 26 Plate VI MALACCA RIVER 28 Plate VII ST. FRANCIS XAVIER 28 Plate VIII TOWN AND ENVIRONS OF SINGAPORE 31 Plate IX ORIGINAL HUTS FOR CONVICTS, SINGAPORE 39 Plate X DISTRIBUTION OF JAIL BUILDINGS, SINGAPORE 77 Plate XI MAIN GATE OF SINGAPORE JAIL 78 Plate XII DUFFADAR RAM SINGH 84 Plate XIII HEAD TINDAL MAISTRI 86 Plate XIV CONVICT OF SECOND CLASS AND MUNSHI 88 Plate XV CONVICTS OF FIFTH CLASS, AND FIFTH CLASS SECTION A 90 Plate XVA CHETOO--CONVICT OF FIFTH CLASS 92 Plate XVI CATHEDRAL, SINGAPORE 97 Plate XVII GOVERNMENT HOUSE, GARDEN, AND MORTAR MILL 101 Plate XVIII GOVERNMENT HOUSE, SINGAPORE, APPROACHING COMPLETION 102 Plate XIX GOVERNMENT HOUSE, SINGAPORE, COMPLETED 104 Plate XX CONVICTS STONE-QUARRYING 111 [Illustration: Plate I.] Chapter I EARLY RECORDS OF BENCOOLEN AND OBSERVATIONS ABOUT CONVICTS In opening this account of the old convict jail at Singapore, it will be necessary to refer, as we have said, in some little detail to the history of the settlements of Bencoolen, Penang, and Malacca, to which convicts from India were first sent, prior to their reception into the Singapore prison. The first penal settlement was Bencoolen, the Banka-Ulu[1] of the Malays, to which they were transported from India about the year 1787, much about the same time that transportation to Australia for English convicts was sanctioned by our laws. [Footnote 1: Literally, swollen at the source.]