"I had been suffering for some time under a severe indisposition,
and consequently hailed the termination of our voyage with double
satisfaction, for I greatly required rest and quiet--two things
impossible to be had on ship-board. From Java Head we glided slowly
through Prince's Strait, and coasting along the island, dropped our
anchor in Anjer Roads. The scenery of this coast is extremely lovely,
and comprises every feature which can heighten the picturesque; noble
mountains, a lake-like sea, and deeply indented coast-line, rocks,
islets, and, above all, a vegetation so luxuriant that the eye never
wearies with gazing on its matchless tints. Anjer combines all these
beauties, and possesses the incalculable advantage of being within a
moderate ride of the refreshing coolness of the hills. We here procured
water and provisions in abundance, being daily visited by crowds of
canoes filled with necessaries or curiosities. Fowls, eggs, yams,
cocoa-nuts, and sweet potatoes, were mixed with monkeys of various
sorts, paroquets, squirrels, shells, and similar temptations on the
stranger's purse or wardrobe. Great was the bartering for old clothes,
handkerchiefs, and hats; and great the number of useless and noisy
animals we received in exchange. Great, too, was the merriment aboard,
and the excitement when the canoes first came. The transition from
the monotony of a sea-life to the loquacious bustle of barter with
a half-civilized people is so sudden, that the mind at once feels in
a strange land, and the commonest productions proclaim the luxuriant
climes of the tropics. Until this impression is made, we hardly know
why we have been sailing onward for four months past, so quiet and
unvarying is the daily tenor of a life aboard ship.
"_1st June, Singapore._--On reaching Singapore I was most hospitably
received by the kind inhabitants, and took up my abode with
Mr. Scott. The quiet and repose of my present life, the gentle ride
in the cool of the morning and evening drive after an early dinner,
are already restoring my shattered strength, and I trust soon to be
enabled to prosecute my farther undertaking. In the mean time the
Royalist is undergoing a refit after her passage, and, like her owner,
is daily improving in good looks.
"I could say much of Singapore, for it is the pivot of the liberal
system in the Archipelago, and owes its prosperity to the enlightened
measures of Sir Stamford Raffles. The situation is happily chosen,
the climate healthy, the commerce unshackled, and taxation light; and
these advantages have attracted the vessels of all the neighboring
nations to bring their produce to this market in order to exchange
it for the manufactures of England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account