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."