MAIL SKETCHES IN CHINA BY A LADY—No. IV.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 306, 9 January 1875, Page 3

MAIL SKETCHES IN CHINA BY A LADY— No. IV.

t We left Singapore yesterday, and shall oe in Penan* to-morrow. Then five days more will see us in Ceylon, where this must bo-posted. I must now go back and give you some account of our homeward voyage so far. We left T— on the bunday morning, 25th October. W e were convoyed by Mr. and Mrs. Dand fourteen gentlemen in two steam launches making quite a triumphal procession Ihey all came on board the steamer and Captain J. gave a breakfasTin our honor • Then we said good-bye to all ourW-frionda; and saw "them Kin their t,ny steamers back -to the settlement. They hoped to be in time for Church, and we steamed down the old nyer among the hills, out to sra {w tain h was so kiud, and made us so very comfortable that we felt we ll ould way Next day we arrived at Amov Quito early some old. fiends cam? & board, and took us :<m. shore, and we SP Z ! a very pleasant day: amoiVg tkein. We found tue M—-^ s Lad not arrived from ltngland, but were daily expected. So we just missed" them. We loft Amov again m the evening and next day we were at Swatow. Here we knew only

some gentlemen, and, as it was such a poor place, Xdid not go on shored but sat 'oh dect ? ;and jratclled tlie people about; ■We only stayed a few hpurs, and then «ail«d for Hong Kongj which wo reached next morning; rt We were met there by MrvT-^—, and went up to their house.' We'mrere very pleased to iheet again. I. found Mrs. T-—-r- looking unusually we.ll, and -we hadgreat pleasure talkingover- our time at S-——, and all : the rambles'wo had together in Japan. I .was sorry we had not a little longer in Hohg'Kong. We were only one night there, when we sailed again. We bad quiet enough, weather the first day out, ! hut, after that, it began to blow, and we j had a-rare.time of ? it. , The sea kept coining in pvervwhere, and not only the sea, biifc'the rain came down in torrents —so that the skylight had to be closed. The heat was_intense, and the air down in the saloon became so stifling and close, it nearly made ns all ill. Indeed, almost all I the passengers were .sick; As for us [ poor.creatures who wexe'not sick, we had a hard: time of it. TTnlesjs. down in the I close-smelling 'saloon, ;oK-lin our -dark cabins,- there was not a? dry spot for us to go to.:. I; had to take my waterproof and a book, and go a ncl sit down on the top of the.skyli&ht, with my feet tucked up out of the wet; and there I .sat and read, -all the time,holding on to keep from being rolled: off.. It was awfully rough and wretched. . We could hardly stand, lie, ;or sit... Still," it-was' nothing to what we :had crossing from Japan last winter. -That was. a close shave indeed. But I :»n«sisay.good night,' as I hear the stewards coming to put out the lights. . . We got into Penan g this morning, andhave had a very, pleasant day onshore; and now we are once again under weigh, and won;t have any ; more stoppages until we arrive at, Ceylon. But I will now go back to inhere I left off last night, and tell- you .about.,Penang when its hour comes. Thalf clreadfully rough weather, of which I told you, lasted until we were' within a day of Singapore. Then it got much quieter, and we got in comfortably on Wednesday evening. -•.'. -' j SINGAPOBE. ■■'■'.. When We arrived at the wharf we found a tnpst.luxuripus open carriage, drawn by a pair of splendid horses, and attended by two black-servants, waiting for us. A note was.baftdedus from Mrs. M—^—, inviting us; to' stay at their hoiise if'we would excuse their being quiet, as they were in distress, having just received a telegram of a dear friend's death. Of course, under these circumstances, we would not think of going—notwithstanding their kind invitation. So we drove to the town, tfVO. miles off, in their carriage, and sent it home with ; a note explaining! We stayed,.all night, at the hotel, and next morning received another" invitation from; a to go out to. his place in the country to breakfast. It was very kind, for wehad only been introduced to him in the steamer the night befbre'when: he came.to meet. one.of the passengers. We soon got ready and hireda covered carnage called ;a garroy, and "drove out or rather a black man in a white turban and a Jong■stripe- of red cotton wound' round k ,s: '° o< ?J.' "rove: us. : How nice those jet black peoplrlook after the brown or yellow Chinese;? I think I Have described Singapore to^"you.before, but as it is so loyely.-nd- description can ever give you an idea o£its%"beaujtyT It is English property, and:-there-is a Governor and a j number, of There " are 1 splendid about, cut through forests of real tropical" growth, consisting of beautiful lines.ofrpalms—in fact whole' forests of mango, and all kinds oitropical; trees. Some with" dark green leaves, others :;with pale yellow, and ,ali . kinds of-lovely- creepers hanging iii festoons from tree .to tree. We had a four mile drive- through such sceuery, and theft turned iu at a-niee- iron gate, and drove up a nicely, kept avenue bordered by palms,, and other fine trees, to the house. The house itself was a perfect picture; aiid .1 cannot help describing :it. It is large, clean; and fresh. You enter a_t .onceinto a huge hall,: the- floor covered.with snow white matting, punkahs hanging; ftp.m the roof; and in the middle was tn'e breakfast table. All about the walls were pictures, and stands biled with ;he niost. lovely flowers; A few doors entered off (he hall, but both ends were open irito" wide verandahs.. lii Singapore they never have coid weather. It is hot all the year round; so the

houses require no precaution against cold, and are as shady and open as possible. Y e found severalof our fellow passengers ™? rc S aud enjoyed ourselves so much. We had fruits of all kinds, and some which I had never see before. There was an upper story to the house, "and it corresponded to the one below. The whole [uiddle was a huge drawing room, opeuing at both ends into wide verandahs, audi up both sides were doors (or rather doorv ays), for, instead of doors, were blue silk curtains, and inside these are the bedrooms. Judging from the one I was in they are most luxurious rooms—all look-

ing on to wide open verandahs. The style of the house is very nice, and must "be very cool. After breakfast I took up an album, and, lookingover it, soon found we had mutual friends. Mr. F —- took

me to see his flower garden; : I wish you could hare seen it.. The finest hot house I was ever in is no patch upon it. The house is surrounded by smooth cut lawns, dotted all over with flower'beds, clumps of flowering shrubs, and lots of single trees—each one a splendid specimen of its kind, and the air is laden villi the rich scent of nutmeg and cassia trees and flowers. I was quite beyond nivself with delight. 'We left about twelve, and drove to Mrs. M 's, and found her place very much the same. Mrs. JVI was in great distress about the sad news which had

reached'them by telegram. Strange they had a letter the'day after they had the telegram, and will continue to get letters for some weeks to come-from the dead one. We-did not stay very long. We drove back to town, made a visit to the market, v. h.cre we laid in a store of fruit —pine apples, mangoes, mangosteen, soursop, and limes—and, completing our preparations, we were soon on hoard again, and sailing down the Straits of Malaca on our "way to PENANS. Our stay there being'short—only a few had"not time to do much. Eut ! we made the most of it. We were ready, 'and w>nt on shore as soon as wc could i and hired a gnrroy and drove out to a ; place where there is a lovely waterfall ! The country is much the same as Singapore—the roads running through dense forest'and jungle; all palms and other tropical trees. We "stayed by the water--fall a good while in a shady nook. Then walked to nn hotel kept by somo Eii«skus, where there are large and excellent swimming baths—made by enclosing ,the

i stream which pours dowuTroui tlic fall, All t the steamer people were out, no -1 went . —while the gentlemen had' their swim—t and sat in Ihe cerentf-h and ateeocoanuts I and vhiph I »aw pulled from the, trees. The cocoanuts were young and . full J of milk—two or tfircc" turuhlersful in -. each—and. the nn»et-waa like a white jelly. Thousands, grow- round (he lintel, and c when I-wanted any. I nent one.of th'c'bWl u en, who knocked one down with a'bamboo, and split it open : nothing to pay. only a few ■cents to the man for his trouble. Then, when the gentlemen had their baths they came and had some, and amused themselves knocking them down, and wandering about for an hour or po; then we all dr"Ve back, and here •ne are now, and for the time I must finish. ' ' PRESENTS.' T must not forget to tell y..u how kind the people in S and F were to us before we left. Besides receiving the usual social attentions,"! had givpn me some very handsome presents. They were all so kind, and .so uncalled for, I was taken by surprise. Besides handsome presents from the European residents, I had swne given me by the Chinese, and, as I make great complaints against "them sometimes I must not withhold anything that speaks in their favor. The 0 , head Chinaman in S , gave me one piece of mauve satin, one piece mauve and white striped gauze, and one white and blue. The C ,in P , gave me four half-chests of very fine tea, four chests of dried lycheese, and four' pieces of dried grass cloth". The hcwTTxodowu gave me two boxps of silver flowers—all pure silver —and twelve bright red'silk pocket handkerchiefs ! What lamto do with them I know not, for neither I nor my husband has taken to snuffing yet. Then my tailor came to see me, and "brought me a piece of grass cloth, not very good, but all he could afford, poor fellow, and it showed the good intention. An old Coolie also came to see me, and, with great ceremony, presented me w'ith a cabbage-leaf containing some beetle nuts and a small basket with seven deliciously rotten eggs hard boiled ones, which had been buried for months, and considered a great treat. -~ One was peeled and cut open to show how good it was. The yolk was a blackened brown, and the white a dirty green. I carried them away carefully, and then dipped them over the side of the steam ■ launch as we went down the river. I was i afraid to give them to any of the servants . for fear of the Coolie hearing and feeling ■ hurt. But the grandest present was P ' P *s, and that was a very thick solid I gold bracelet, made in Canton, of pure '' gold, and weighing over twenty sovereigns. 1 P F is an old servant. Surely < I must never complain of the Chinese s again. But here is Ceylon at last, and ( now, I must stop and go on deck, and see what is to be seen. I may tell you something of Ceylon next time.