“The island of Singapore belonged to the Malayan principality of Johore, a state which probably was never of much consequence, and for the last century had been of none at all. Sultan Mahomet, the last prince, died about the year 1810, leaving no legitimate issue. No prince of his family assumed the throne in immediate succession to him, and the country was dismembered among his principal officers. The Bind hara (treasurer or first minister) took to himself the territory of Pahang, on the eastern coast of the Malay peninsula, and is now commonly designated rajah of that place. The Tumangung, or chief judge, seized upon the corresponding territory, on the western side, with the adjacent islands. This is the person from whom we received the first grant of our factory. He informed me,” continues Crawford, “that he had settled in Singapore for the first time, in 1811, a few months before our expedition passed through the harbour, on its route to the capture of Java.
“Sultan Mahomet had two illegitimate sons, who were competitors for the throne, but the claims of neither were attended to, and they continued in a state of vagrancy and poverty until the Dutch and English governments, for their own purposes, thought it necessary to patronize respectively one of the parties. One of them, now acknowledged Sultan of Johore, and who still resides in the island, came over to it a short time after our first occupation, and was, in due course, placed upon our pension list. It was with this individual, and the inferior chief already named, that a treaty for the cession of the island was concluded in August, 1824. They received for the sovereignty and fee-simple of the island, as well as of all the seas, straits, and islands lying within ten miles of its coasts, the sum of sixty thousand Spanish dollars, with an annuity of twenty-four thousand Spanish dollars during their natural lives; and it was farther guaranteed that they or their successors should receive a donation of thirty-five thousand Spanish dollars, should they be desirous at any time of quitting the British territory and retiring into their own dominions. Other articles of the treaty provided that neither party should interfere in the domestic quarrels of the other; that their highnesses should receive at all times an asylum and a hospitable reception at Singapore, should they be distressed in their own dominions; and that slavery, under whatever name or modification, should have no existence within the British territories.
“This last subject had been a source of great annoyance, both to the native chiefs and to the local administration. Their highnesses claimed as slaves, not only their own retainers, but every Malay, coming from whatever part of the state of Johore. Their followers, where every one else was free, and labour well rewarded, were naturally impatient of this assumption; and the disputes which arose were the frequent cause of serious difficulties, both in maintaining the peace of the settlement, and in the administration of justice. At present slavery is totally unknown in the island, for the treaty emancipated even the retainers of the native chiefs.”[50]
I have quoted the foregoing extract to serve as an explanation of the first treaty, and to show how the possession of the island was permanently obtained by the British, which will be interesting to the many who may not have had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the circumstances.
Besides the Government-hill, which rises in picturesque beauty behind the plain, upon which the settlement has been formed, there is an elevated hill to the westward, known by the name of Blackan Mattee,[51] on which there is a signal station, removed from St. John’s Island. There are other elevated hills clothed with lofty timber trees, and rising inland, which bestow a picturesque character upon the scenery of the coast; many of the trees are found, on a nearer view, to be curious in their growth, and some of them valuable for their timber; on their elevated summits, ferns of the genera Achrosticum, Asplenium, &c., or several parasitical Orchideous plants, are seen growing in profusion.
The settlement and island of Singapore is considered very salubrious. The small-pox, however, has lately been committing great and deadly ravages among the native residents; of these, however, there were none upon whom vaccination had been performed. Many have been surprised at the healthy state of Singapore as a residence, when it is so near the equator, and the town surrounded by swamps, and even built upon a swamp; but I have had occasion to remark more than once, that when the swamps result from salt-water creeks, the miasmata producing fever are not generated, as from freshwater marshes, which usually abound in a very profuse and rank vegetation; and Singapore may be said to be entirely destitute of rivers, the absence of which, however, is compensated by numerous salt-water creeks about the coasts, some of them extending inland for the distance of several miles. There is no deficiency, however, of good fresh water, which is procured from rivulets and springs, abundant about the island.
The European burial-ground is situated in rather a conspicuous spot, on a part of the declivity of the Government-hill; one part, is planted with bamboos, which have a tasteful appearance, and the gloomy nature of the spot would be diminished if the fence of these trees was continued the whole way round the cemetery.
On riding or driving in the vicinity of the settlement, the character of the country and soil appears well calculated for the cultivation of coffee, sugar,[52] cotton, pepper, and other tropical productions, as well as of the vine. But most of the land is permitted to continue in a state of primitive jungle, industry and cultivation having been checked by the enormous quit-rents imposed upon the purchasers, or tenants of land, by the government. Until this ill-judged and ill-advised measure is changed, the cultivation of this beautiful island, now for the most part covered by a continued forest, cannot advance.
At this season but few flowers decorated the jungles, or sides of the roads; the one most commonly seen was the Melastoma, or Singapore rose, it principally animated the country by its blossoms, and charmed the eye, fatigued by continually gazing on the green foliage without variety, although it gratified no other sense.