INCIDENTS OF A SEA-VOYAGE.—SINGAPORE.
The voyage from Bangkok to Singapore was without any features of special interest. The Gulf of Siam presented its accustomed calmness, and at times the air was so still that there was not wind enough for proper ventilation of the ship. Our friends slept on deck, as the cabin was altogether too hot for comfort; they only went below to dress and take their meals and baths, and to escape from the showers that were of daily occurrence. In the daytime, when the heavy sprinklings came on, the boys indulged in baths of the kind they enjoyed on the Danube, and they were generally pleased at the announcement of an approaching shower. But at night, when they were comfortably sleeping, they did not relish a rude awakening, accompanied with the suggestion that they had better go below till the rain was over. The change from the cool deck to the stifling cabin was the reverse of enjoyable; Fred remarked that the only good thing about it was that it made them appreciate the deck all the more when the rain was over, and they could come again to the open air.
About thirty miles from Singapore they saw an overturned boat, and as they neared it two natives were perceived clinging to the wreck. A boat was lowered and sent to rescue them, and in a short time the poor fellows were safe on the steamer's deck. They said their craft was upset by a squall on the previous evening, and for twenty hours they had been holding on, with nothing to eat or drink, under the broiling heat of a tropical sun. They were nearly exhausted with hunger and thirst, and would have fallen off and died in a few hours if they had not been rescued. Frank was the first to discover the overturned boat, and was naturally proud of having been in some way the means of saving these unhappy Malays from death. He wanted to talk with the men, and hear their story; but as their knowledge of English was no better than his of Malay, he was compelled to abandon the idea.
The occurrence called to the Doctor's recollection an incident of his first experience of the sea, when he was spending the summer at a small seaport town. He was fond of fishing, and hardly a day passed that he did not go out on the Atlantic in pursuit of his favorite sport.
"One afternoon," said he, "there were a dozen or more boats outside, when a sudden squall came up that caused us to seek the harbor as fast as possible. Every one steered for home, and most of us reached the entrance of the port before the fury of the squall broke upon us. The rain was so thick that we could not see a quarter of a mile off; we could not tell whether any of the boats were capsized or not; and if it had not been that a great rock just by the entrance loomed up, and made a fine landmark, we could not have found our way inside. One after another the boats came in, with the exception of one that had ventured farther than the rest, and was a good distance off the coast when the squall came up.
"It was no use going to look for her that afternoon, as the squall continued till after dark, and raised quite a sea outside. There were only two persons on board the boat; they were a gentleman and his wife, who had come from the city to spend the summer, and had hired the boat for their own use and pleasure. The gentleman understood the management of his craft in fine weather, but nobody could say if he knew how to control it in a squall. So we passed the night very anxiously, and, as soon as the morning light permitted, several of us went out to search for the missing ones.
"Nothing could be seen. We sailed up and down along the coast, and out on the water for several miles, but all to no purpose. With heavy hearts we returned to port, and concluded that it was idle to hope that the missing persons whom we sought would ever be heard of again.
"In the afternoon I went with a young boatman in a skiff to try for fish a little way outside the rock that formed the headland I mentioned. While I was fishing, the boatman was looking around, and suddenly discovered a mass of something on the beach.
"'Perhaps it may be the wreck of the missing boat,' I remarked. 'Let us go and see.'
THE RESCUE.
"We started on the instant. As we approached the beach I could see something like a human form, and told the man to pull with all his might. He did so; and the instant the boat grounded on the sand, he sprung ashore and drew a flask from his pocket. In half a minute he was supporting the lifeless form of a woman, and holding the flask to her lips.
"We could hardly tell at first whether she was alive or not. In a little while the draught from the flask revived her, but it was some time before she was able to speak. We wrapped her in our spare clothing, and carried her to the boat; and then we rowed home as fast as we could, so as to call in the aid of the doctor.
ON A FRAIL RAFT.
"Nothing could be seen to show what had become of the man. When the lady recovered, she told us that when the squall struck the boat it was instantly capsized; they managed to make a sort of raft out of the sail and mast, but it was only sufficient to support her alone. Her husband remained in the water, clinging to the raft and swimming, while she was in a half-fainting condition all through the night. She remembered how the waves rolled around them, how the moon rose up out of the waters, and how the birds flew near them, as if wondering what they were. Then she thought she could see the great rock at the entrance of the harbor, and then—she remembered nothing more till we rescued her on the beach where the waves had washed her.
"What became of her husband we never ascertained; but undoubtedly he was weak from exhaustion, and was unable to cling to the raft till it reached the shore. He probably loosened his hold, and sunk in the sea about the time his wife thought she discovered the rock.
"The lady remained in the village till she was able to return to her friends in the city. She never came back to that place; and the accident cast a gloom over the visitors, from which they did not recover for the rest of the season."
GULF-WEED.
As they neared the Straits of Malacca, the steamer passed great masses of a yellowish plant floating on the water. It bore an abundance of berries of the same general color as the plant, and they glistened brightly in sunshine as they lay close to the surface. The Doctor told the boys that this plant was identical with one that grows in the Caribbean Sea, and is borne northward in great quantities by the current of the Gulf Stream. On the Atlantic it is known as "gulf-weed;" it grows only in tropical regions, and the berries upon the plant are hollow, and serve as so many air-bladders to keep the plant afloat.
HAUNTS OF THE SEA-BIRDS.
As they neared Singapore, they came in sight of some rocky islands, round which the sea-birds were flying in dense masses. Then other and larger islands, covered with verdure, rose above the horizon to the southward; and, finally, the coast of Malacca and the shores of the Island of Singapore filled the background of the picture before them. Palm-trees waved in the breeze, and, if there had been nothing else to indicate it, these trees alone would have told the travellers they were well down in the tropics.
The activity of commerce through the Straits of Malacca, and thence onwards to the Farther East, was indicated as our friends approached Singapore. Within a few miles of that port, they met a steamer bound for China; while ahead of them was the smoke of another that had just come from that distant land. As they entered the harbor they met a steamer heading southward for Java; and as they dropped anchor they saw another coming in just behind them. It was the French Mail Packet from Europe, which would halt a day at Singapore, and then continue her voyage to Hong-kong and Shanghai.
The Doctor had made a close calculation concerning their movements, as the French steamer that arrived almost simultaneously with them was the bearer of a dozen letters for the wandering trio. So regular is the mail-service to the Far East, that a traveller who takes the trouble to study the time-tables and arrange his route beforehand, can have his letters reach him at any designated point.
IN THE HARBOR.
The harbor presented a picture of animation as they came to anchor. Ships and boats were sailing in and out; steam-tugs were puffing noisily around; and, as they swung to their moorings, the official boat of the quarantine-officer passed them on its way to the French packet. Very soon the steamer was surrounded by a group of native boats, and a lively bargaining began for the transportation of the party to the shore. In the Far East the steamers have no concern with the passenger beyond carrying him from port to port; he must land and embark at his own expense, and very often the boatmen have things pretty much in their own way. In Japan and China they are regulated and restrained by law; but in Singapore and some other Eastern ports they do pretty much as they please.
BOATMEN AT SINGAPORE.
Frank said that the rapacity of the boatmen of Singapore reminded him of the hackmen of New York; and he began to feel that he was not so far from home after all. It required half an hour of negotiation to make an arrangement that was at all reasonable, as the boatmen had evidently formed an association for mutual advantage; and all efforts that the Doctor made to rouse them to competition were of no use. It was finally settled that for a dollar each our friends were to be carried to the shore, and their baggage taken to the hotel, which was not more than a hundred yards from the landing-place.
The hotel was a large structure of one story in height, with broad verandas, where one could sit and enjoy the breeze that generally blows in the afternoon. Singapore is only one degree and twenty minutes north of the equator—eighty miles—and consequently any one who goes there must expect to find a climate of a most tropical character. Longitudinally it is almost exactly on the opposite side of the earth from New York; and this fact gave rise to some interesting comments by Fred and Frank.
"It is sunset now," said Frank, as they went on shore, "and it is sunrise in New York."
"Yes," answered Fred; "and about the time we are going to bed our friends will be finishing breakfast."
"While we are taking our noonday rest to-morrow they will be sleeping soundly, as it will be midnight with them."
"One question occurs to me," said Frank; "it is sunset in Singapore, and it is morning with our friends at home. Now I want to know if it is this morning, or to-morrow morning with them?"
Fred could not tell, and so the matter was referred to the Doctor as soon as he was at leisure.
"The scientific explanation of the subject," said Doctor Bronson as he dropped into a chair, "is too long for us to take up in detail. The earth moves on its axis, so that the sun rises, or appears to rise, in the east, and to set in the west. An easterly place gets the sun earlier than a westerly one, and consequently its day begins earlier. For instance, the sun rises in New York an hour and five minutes earlier than it rises in St. Louis; and, therefore, when it is noon in New York, it is only five minutes of eleven in the forenoon at St. Louis by New York time. For nautical purposes most nations take the time of Greenwich, near London, as the basis of calculation; and consequently the time of any given place is said to be earlier or later than that of Greenwich, according as the place is east or west of that city. The hour of Singapore is seven hours earlier than that of Greenwich, as it gets the sun in the east seven hours before Greenwich; New York gets it five hours later than Greenwich—four hours and fifty-six minutes is the exact difference; and when it is noon in New York, it is five o'clock in the afternoon at Greenwich.
"We had sunrise in Singapore twelve hours before our friends had it at home; so that, when our day is ending, theirs is just beginning. I will show you, in a practical way, the difference in time between New York and Singapore. I am about to send a cablegram announcing our arrival, and it may possibly get to New York ahead of the time of its departure from here."
The Doctor and the boys went to the telegraph-office, and sent a despatch to let their friends know of their safe arrival from Siam. As the tolls were at the rate of two dollars and forty cents a word, they confined the message to a single word in addition to the address. Previous to leaving home the Doctor had arranged a code or cipher, by which one word could convey a great deal of information. Persons who have occasion to use the Atlantic or other telegraph cables to any extent make use of private codes, and thereby save a great deal of expense. They subsequently learned that their message went from Singapore to New York in nine hours, and therefore reached its destination three hours before they sent it.
The wind, which had been blowing hard during the afternoon, fell off soon after sunset, and the boys found that the nights of Singapore were as warm as those of Bangkok. The arrangement of the rooms indicated that Singapore was anything but a cool place; but, on the whole, it was not disagreeable, as the cool breeze in the afternoon was quite refreshing, and made the atmosphere clear and pure.
Our friends slept well on their first night in Singapore, and were up in good season in the morning to begin their round of sight-seeing. The Doctor had some business to transact at a banking-house in the city, and so it was arranged that they would devote the time between breakfast and business hours in a stroll along the esplanade and through the native part of the place.
A CHINESE CONTRACTOR.
The boys were somewhat surprised at the many races and tribes of men they encountered in their morning walk. They met scores on scores of Chinese; and they were not ten yards from the door of the hotel before they were accosted by a Chinese contractor, who was ready to undertake to show them the place, furnish them with a carriage, buy or sell whatever they wanted, from a needle up to a steamship, or provide them with servants, tailors, or any other kind of assistance they might need during their stay. He was lightly clad, in consequence of the heat of Singapore, and he carried a fan which he kept in constant motion while proposing his services. Singapore is said to contain from eighty to one hundred thousand Chinese, and they are found in all classes of business. There are Chinese tailors and shoemakers, Chinese peddlers and merchants, Chinese book-keepers and managers for the large establishments where trade is conducted by wholesale, Chinese servants of both sexes and all ages, and Chinese of all kinds in addition to the foregoing. The industry of the race is as marked at Singapore as in Canton or San Francisco; and though always desirous of large profits, if they can be obtained, they will put up with very small compensation when a large one is not to be had.
CHINESE TAILORS AT SINGAPORE.
The door of a tailor's shop stood open, and our friends gave a glance at its interior. The arrangements were very simple. There was a long table covered with a straw mat, on which the material was placed to be cut, and behind this table several men were at work. Frank made a note of the fact that a Chinese tailor makes his stitches by pushing the needle from instead of towards him, and that in Singapore, at least, they do not cover their own bodies to any extent while making clothing for other people. The heads of these tailoring establishments are very industrious in looking for customers, and there was hardly an hour in the day that our friends were not accosted with proposals to make clothing for them at astonishingly low rates. Singapore is a free port, and the great competition in trade has brought the prices down to the lowest figure. For eight dollars each they were accommodated with entire suits of blue serge of good quality; and when the Doctor expressed some hesitation at giving the order, through fear that the cutting and fit might be at fault, the tailor promptly said, "No fitee, no payee." The measures were taken, and on the following morning the clothes were delivered, and found entirely satisfactory.
The Chinese are more numerous at Singapore than any other race. Next to them come the Malays, of whom there are several varieties: they are as devoid of clothing as the Chinese workmen, the entire garments of many of them consisting of a cloth around the loins. Some of them wear turbans, and occasionally the turban seems larger than the man, as it consists of several yards of muslin wound loosely around the head, till it forms a great ball. The body of the wearer will be small, and without an ounce of extra flesh; and Fred remarked that it seemed as though the turban would tip the man over, and compel him to walk on his head.
In their walk the boys saw a group of wild-looking men with woolly hair, and with skins as dark as those of the African negroes, but without the thick lips which are supposed to indicate the negro race. The Doctor was unable to tell the name of this people, and the question was referred to an Englishman whom they happened to meet.
"You mean those people over there?" said the Englishman, as he pointed with his finger to the group our friends had been observing.
The Doctor assented.
"Oh! they are Jacoons," was the reply. "They come from the province of Johore."
A GROUP OF JACOONS.
Further questioning elicited the information that the Jacoons were a primitive race of men who lived in the forests of Johore, and are popularly supposed to dwell in trees, and to subsist on fruits and nuts. Johore is a province on the main-land of the Malay peninsula, and separated from the island of Singapore by a narrow strait of water. The chief of this province is a man of superior intelligence, and lives on friendly terms with his English neighbors. Since the English settled at Singapore, he has established saw-mills, and made a handsome revenue from the sale of lumber; and he has opened up his territory to settlement by Chinese and other agriculturists. The Jacoons are supposed to be the original inhabitants; they have as little as possible to do with the Malays, and are quite distinct from them in language and features. They are a peaceful people with few wants, and, as the country produces abundantly, they have little occasion to wear themselves out with hard work.
Walking about the streets, or sitting in the shade of the numerous trees, were a few Parsees with their rimless hats, and wearing garments that were more than half European in pattern. They are called sometimes the Jews of the East, from their remarkable shrewdness in business, and their steady progress in the direction of wealth; they are said to be able to accumulate money under very discouraging circumstances, and it has been remarked that a Parsee will grow rich where any other man in the world would starve. Some branches of trade in the East are almost monopolized by the Parsees. A single Parsee house has more than half of the Chinese opium trade in its hands, and has grown enormously rich, while its competitors have lost money. Like the Jews, to whom they are sometimes compared, the Parsees have no country they can call their own. They came originally from Persia, and settled in the North of India, where the most of them are to be found to-day.
GARRI WITH A LOAD OF SAILORS.
There were Klings, or men from the South of India, waiting for work on the corners, or offering their garris, or carriages, for the use of our friends. Most of the carriages for hire in Singapore are driven by these Klings, who are a lithe race, with great powers of endurance, and equally great powers of rascality. A garri is a four-wheeled vehicle drawn by a single horse: some of the garris have seats for the driver, while others have no place for him, but leave him to walk or run by the side of his beast. The horse is as small in proportion as the man, and the boys were greatly amused to see one of these vehicles with a party of sailors who had just come on shore from an English ship. Three of them were inside, while one was stretched along the roof of the garri, which he more than covered. They were evidently enjoying themselves, and the driver had his nose in the air, and was doubtless counting up the profits of his day's work, and feeling happy over the result.
The boys were surprised to learn that, while there was a population of more than a hundred thousand Chinese, Malays, Klings, and other Orientals at Singapore, there were not more than a thousand Europeans living there, exclusive of the English garrison. Of these Europeans the English were the most numerous; the rest were Germans, French, Portuguese, Dutch, and Italians, in the order named, and it was said that the Germans were increasing more rapidly than the English, and threatened to have all the business of the place in their hands in course of time.
While our friends were discussing the peculiarities of the population of Singapore, their walk brought them to "The Square," as the commercial centre is called; and, as the hours of business had arrived, the Doctor proceeded to attend to his financial affairs, and learn, in a practical way, the mysteries of banking at the capital city of the Straits of Malacca.
FULL DRESS AT THE STRAITS.