Skirting the coast are
tolerably high, well-wooded mountain-ranges, infested, according to
all accounts, by numerous tigers, that render all travelling very
dangerous.
On the 3rd of September we ran into the port of Singapore; but it
was so late in the evening, that we could not disembark.
On the following morning I paid a visit to the firm of Behu and
Meyer, to whom I had letters of introduction. Madame Behu was the
first German lady I had met since my departure from Hamburgh. I
cannot say how delighted I was at forming her acquaintance. I was
once more able to give free vent to my feelings in my own native
tongue. Madame Behu would not hear of my lodging in an hotel; I was
immediately installed as a member of her own amiable family. My
original plan was to have remained but a short period in Singapore,
and then proceed in a sailing vessel to Calcutta, as I had a perfect
horror of English steamers, and as I had been told that
opportunities continually presented themselves. I waited, however,
week after week in vain, until, in spite of my unwillingness, I was
obliged to embark in a comfortable English steamer at last. {118}
The Europeans lead pretty much the same kind of life at Singapore
that they do at Canton, with this difference, however, that the
merchants reside with their families in the country, and come to
town every morning for business.
