The natives are of the Malay race, and their dress is of the brightest, generally a frock of white or red cotton and no trousers. We returned to the hotel at five, and after resting an hour had an excellent dinner. Being very hungry I partook of all the courses, the dinner being _à la Russe_. One incident was particularly tropical. The ceiling and sides of the dining-room were covered with little green lizards, crawling about and catching flies. Some of the ladies were nervous, fearing that the creatures might drop into the soup or on their hair, but I did not mind, knowing them to be harmless. The landlord, who has been here twenty-eight years, thinks that I should stay here at least a week and go on to the Malay Peninsula to shoot tigers, but I have concluded to postpone that kind of amusement until I come again. I find it best to be very temperate in this terribly hot country, limiting my beverages to soda and Apollinaris water, and am very thankful to have plenty of ice, which is now manufactured in this city and all other large cities in the East. The P. & O. line of steamers alone spends one hundred thousand dollars annually for ice.
When I retired at night I found that they had not provided me with even a sheet for a cover; only a mosquito net. The Chinese chamber-man was sleeping in front of my door, but I did not like to disturb him, so I turned in, and it being very hot I got along very well, and had a good night's rest.
I was out early in the morning, and was greatly interested in looking at the sights of the city. They were making a park of large dimensions, fronting the water, and a hundred or more wagons were used to transport the dirt from the country. Each wagon was drawn by a pair of bullocks driven by a Malay. These drivers were bright-eyed, smart-looking men, with nothing on but a cloth around their loins, and no covering to their heads. They sat on the tongues of the wagons, and I was much amused to see that when they wanted the bullocks to turn a corner they twisted their tails, and the obedient beasts at once went in the direction indicated.
I saw a great drove of goats passing along, as many as four hundred, and men from all countries in great variety of dress. Singapore is a very busy place, being the chief city of the Straits Settlements, whence comes a larger part of the tin used in such immense quantities all over the world. The familiar ingots of tin were to be seen on the streets and sidewalks and being trucked towards the big steamers.