LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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CEYLON. 251 enormous heights were delightful to us. I bought a weekly paper, resembling our ''Japan Mail," which cost 40 cents; also a most delicious pineapple, of a naked boy. The road to the city was well laid out, and the botanical garden, planted with tropical trees, is well kept up. The Maharaja of Johore visited the steamer to bid farewell to some friends. He was dressed in the English style, and wore a colored band of silk about the waist. Singapore is an island of undulating ground. If the straits were fortified no man-of-war would be able to pass through. It is well situated for growth, and may in the future become of more importance than Hongkong. April 23d. We arrived in the harbor of Penang this morning. The island is just west of the penin­sula of Malacca ; is about thirteen miles wide and nine long, and, except on the north, where the city is, hilly and mountainous. Owing to the intense heat of the tropical sun I did not accompany the few courageous ones who went ashore to visit the city. Sunday, 27th. The English service conducted by the chief steward was thinly attended. The Catholics, Mahometans, and Parsees, were not, of course, pres­ent. The younger officers regard it as a stuptd and tiresome thing. One of them said, we are soon to meet with storms because missionaries are aboard. On this account the sailors are much afraid of us. I dislike written forms of prayer, but I liked to be with Chris­tians and enjoyed singing with them. We sighted the island of Sumatra on the afternoon of the 25th. To the northwest is the beautiful wooded Paolo Way. Splendid showers passed over its thick forests and a rare rainbow made me wish I was a painter. The heat is very oppressive. This morning we began to

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