We Returned Home Without Any Further Addition To Our Stock Of Game, But Highly Delighted With Our Agreeable Trip.

Although Singapore is a small island, and all means have been used and rewards offered for the extirpation of the tigers, they have failed.

Government gives a premium of a hundred dollars, and the Society of Singapore Merchants a similar sum for every tiger killed. Besides this, the valuable skin belongs to the fortunate hunter, and even the flesh is worth something, as it is eagerly bought by the Chinese for eating. The tigers, however, swim over from the neighbouring peninsula of Malacca, which is only separated from Singapore by a very narrow channel, and hence it will be impossible to eradicate them entirely.

The varieties of fruit found at Singapore are very numerous and beautiful. Among the best may be reckoned the mangostan, which is said to grow only here and in Java. It is as big as a middling- sized apple. The rind is a deep brown on the outside and scarlet inside, and the fruit itself is white, and divided naturally into four or five sections: it almost melts in the mouth, and has an exquisite flavour. The pine-apples are much more juicy, sweeter, and considerably larger than those at Canton; I saw some which must have weighed about four pounds. Whole fields are planted with them, and when they arrive at full maturity, three or four hundred may be bought for a dollar. They are often eaten with salt.

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