On the following day I witnessed the celebrated Chinese Feast of Lanterns. From all the houses, at the corners of the roofs, from high posts, etc., were hung innumerable lanterns, made of paper or gauze, and most artistically ornamented with gods, warriors, and animals. In the courts and gardens of the different houses, or, where there were no courts or gardens, in the streets, all kinds of refreshments and fruit were laid out with lights and flowers, in the form of half pyramids on large tables. The people wandered about the streets, gardens, and courts, until nearly midnight, when the edible portions of the pyramids were eaten by the proprietors of them. I was very much pleased with this feast, but with no part of it more than the quiet and orderly behaviour of the people: they looked at all the eatables with a scrutinizing glance, but without touching the smallest fragment.
Singapore is situated 58’ (nautical miles) north of the line, in 104° East longitude, and the climate, when compared to that of other southern countries, is very agreeable. During the period of my stay, extending from September 3rd to October 8th, the heat seldom exceeded 83° 75’ indoors, and 117° in the sun. There is never any great variation in the temperature, which is the natural consequence of the place being near the equator. The sun always rises and sets at 6 A.M. and 6 P.M. respectively, and is immediately followed by full daylight or perfect night; the twilight hardly lasting ten minutes.
In conclusion, I must remark that Singapore will shortly become the central point of all the Indian steamers. Those from Hong-Kong, Ceylon, Madras, Calcutta, and Europe arrive regularly once a month; there is likewise a Dutch war-steamer from Batavia, and in a little time there will also be steamers running to and fro between this place, and Manilla and Sidney.
CHAPTER X. THE EAST INDIES—CEYLON.
DEPARTURE FROM SINGAPORE—THE ISLAND OF PINANG—CEYLON—POINTE DE GALLE—EXCURSION INTO THE INTERIOR—COLOMBO—CANDY—THE TEMPLE OF DAGOHA—ELEPHANT HUNT—RETURN TO COLOMBO AND POINTE DE GALLE.
I once more embarked in an English steamer, the “Braganza,” of 350 horse power, that left Singapore for Ceylon on the 7th of October. The distance between the two places is 1,900 miles.
The treatment I experienced on board this vessel was, it is true, a little different from that on board the other, although it was nearly as bad. There were four of us in the second cabin; [{128}] we dined alone, and had a mulatto servant to attend upon us. Unfortunately, he was afflicted with elephantiasis, and his appearance did not at all tend to whet the edge of our appetites.
During the 7th and 8th of October, we held our course through the Strait of Malacca, which separates Sumatra from the peninsula, and during all this time we never lost sight of land. Malacca is, near the coast, merely hilly; but further in the interior the hills swell into a fine mountain range. To our left lay a number of mountainous islands, which completely intercepted our view of Sumatra.
But if the scenery around us was not remarkable, the spectacle on board the vessel itself was highly interesting. The crew was composed of seventy-nine persons, comprising Chinese, Malays, Cingalese, Bengalese, Hindostanese, and Europeans. As a general rule, those of each country generally took their meals separately with their own countrymen. They all had immense plates of rice, and little bowls full of curry; a few pieces of dried fish supplied the place of bread. They poured the curry over the rice, and mixing the whole together with their hands, made it into small balls which they put into their mouths with a small piece of fish; about half their food used generally to fall back again into their plates.
The costume of these people was very simple. Many of them had nothing more than a pair of short trousers on, with a dirty old turban, and even the place of this was sometimes supplied by a coloured rag, or a cast-off sailor’s cap. The Malays wore long cloths wound round their bodies, with one end hanging over their shoulder. The Chinese preserved intact their usual costume and mode of life; and the coloured servants of the ship’s officers were the only ones who were occasionally well and even elegantly dressed. Their costume consisted of white trousers, wide upper garments, also white, with white sashes, silk jackets, and small embroidered white caps, or handsome turbans.