Let us land and make our way towards the town. Commercial 10 Square and Raffles Square, with their shops and business offices, are quite English in appearance, except for the waiting rickshas and the dress of the natives. Then we see the cathedral and 11 the cricket ground, which lies on part of the reclaimed foreshore, with the Raffles monument in the middle. In another direction are Chinese shops and a Chinese open-air theatre with the crowd gathered round it in spite of the rain. They are used to rain in Singapore. We pass a Chinese temple, and more shops, and then on the outskirts of the town we may light on the suburban villa of a wealthy Chinese merchant, standing 12 in its own beautiful grounds. The Chinese are proud of their gardens, and the owner willingly shows us round. Here is a lake in the garden with the magnificent Victoria Regia water-lily 13 growing in it. Everywhere in Singapore the architecture and the people of the East and West are blended in a strange mixture. In the hilly country, outside the city, there is nothing of very special interest for us. As we are close to the Equator and have heat all the year round, with a heavy rainfall, almost any tropical product can be grown on the island; the Chinese make a speciality of the cultivation of pineapples, which are tinned and exported. Here we have a scene in the factory. We need not 14 explore the country, but a visit to the botanical gardens will not be a waste of time, as it will tell us a great deal about the Malay region in general. In one corner of the gardens is a 15 large collection of palms; we have seen already what an important place the trees of this group have in the life of the tropics, and we shall meet them often again. Of even greater interest, perhaps, from the European point of view, is rubber. Here we find the Government conducting experiments to discover the kind of trees most suited to the various districts, and the best methods of cultivation and preparation; we shall see some of the results of these experiments on the mainland of the Peninsula which we are now going to visit. [Illustration: _Copyright._) (_See page 79._ SINGAPORE: THE RIVER.] [Illustration: _Copyright._) (_See page 85._ MALAYS ON PLANTATION.] [Illustration: _Copyright._) (_See page 87._ PALACE OF THE SULTAN OF KELANTAN.]