Pacific, into islands where they have but slightly, or not at all,
modified the physical or moral characteristics of the people.
I believe, therefore, that all the peoples of the various islands can be
grouped either with the Malays or the Papuans; and that these two have
no traceable affinity to each other. I believe, further, that all the
races east of the line I have drawn have more affinity for each other
than they have for any of the races west of that line; that, in fact,
the Asiatic races include the Malays, and all have a continental origin,
while the Pacific races, including all to the east of the former
(except perhaps some in the Northern Pacific), are derived, not from
any existing continent, but from lands which now exist or have recently
existed in the Pacific Ocean. These preliminary observations will enable
the reader better to apprehend the importance I attach to the details of
physical form or moral character, which I shall give in describing the
inhabitants of many of the islands.
CHAPTER II. SINGAPORE.
(A SKETCH OF THE TOWN AND ISLAND AS SEEN DURING SEVERAL VISITS FROM 1854 TO 1862.)
FEW places are more interesting to a traveller from Europe than the town
and island of Singapore, furnishing, as it does, examples of a variety
of Eastern races, and of many different religions and modes of life. The
government, the garrison, and the chief merchants are English; but
the great mass of the population is Chinese, including some of the
wealthiest merchants, the agriculturists of the interior, and most of
the mechanics and labourers. The native Malays are usually fishermen and
boatmen, and they form the main body of the police. The Portuguese of
Malacca supply a large number of the clerks and smaller merchants. The
Klings of Western India are a numerous body of Mahometans, and,
with many Arabs, are petty merchants and shopkeepers. The grooms and
washermen are all Bengalees, and there is a small but highly respectable
class of Parsee merchants. Besides these, there are numbers of Javanese
sailors and domestic servants, as well as traders from Celebes, Bali,
and many other islands of the Archipelago. The harbour is crowded with
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