Ceylon is more famous; but the former, being virgin ground, has actually more objects of attraction. With a few trusty Penang or Malacca Malays, a sportsman could go anywhere—having due regard to the feelings of the native governments, and he could do so with perfect safety to health with a few precautions. First, he should be a water-drinker; and only carry spirits to be taken after being exposed to wet for a long time. He should never sit with wet feet, nor lie on the ground; avoid deep valleys at night time; take meals regularly; and never over fatigue himself. In the tropics I can claim great experience in these matters, though not as a sportsman, and have often seen the spirit and wine drinker completely done up before the water-drinker had any thoughts of being tired.

V.

CHARACTER OF COLONEL FARQUHAR.

"Now, Colonel Farquhar was a man of good parts, slow at fault-finding, having an equal bearing to poor as well as to rich, holding neither the one lower nor the other higher. If persons, however poor or mean, should come before him to lay a complaint, they had immediate access, and the whole plaint was listened to, and he gave advice and counsel till he had appeased them. Thus they returned rejoicing. And if he went out walking, driving, or riding, the poor people and others would salute him, on which occasions he would always return the same. His was an open hand to all God's slaves. All these circumstances became as a rope to tether the hearts of mankind to him. As dew falls at night and expands the flowers in the garden with its beneficence, which again diffuse their odours over the face of the earth. Thus all the deer that roam in the forest, even they come forth and assemble in that garden, to collect these flowers which are most beautiful ; to wit, as for example it is the opinion of the intelligent reasoner from the above, when a man is really good, he is named as good for all ages to come; and even when dead his good name attaches to his memory. Now, if it be the idea of the great or the rich or the mighty, that by giving respect to the low or the poor their

greatness or mightiness is deteriorated thereby, I ask, What says the proverb? Does a snake by coiling round the root of a bamboo lose its poison? And whilst a great elephant has four feet, yet he sometimes trips, and at other times falls prostrate. Further, the birds that fly in the air, even they, at times, fall to the ground. And more especially is it with us human beings, whose nature is weak, whose life is uncertain, and who are perishable creatures, which state is not to be avoided, from one age to another; for the greatness and mightiness of this world flits-they are not guaranteed to one for any length of time, but only the name of being good or bad. This people speak of after they are gone.'

The above testimony, penned by a native, and long after the officer was dead and gone, is all the more creditable; and I felt the more pleasure in translating this as I have had, in previous works, to comment on some officials unfavourably. It is a trying position for a man in power, so far removed from control, to act entirely unselfishly, as Colonel Farquhar appears to have done, and this with grace and benevolence. The question that always must disturb such breasts is, How far shall I neglect my own family by public devotion? The East India Company's arrangements gave ample scope for the worse course.

The term "God's slaves" I have translated literally, as to do otherwise would not be rendering the Mahomedan's meaning correctly, the word he uses being "hamba,"-i.e., slave, and not "mehkluk," creature. The phrase is strange to the European ear, and is used by Mahomedans, I presume, from motives of doctrine,

they not believing that man is a part of the Divine Essence.

The simile of the deer assembling in the garden seems to convey this meaning: that the innocent and weak had such protection under Colonel Farquhar's government, that he held their entire confidence. Again, that of the snake coiling round the root of a bamboo would indicate the following lesson: the root of the bamboo being a favourite hiding-place of the snake, danger from it or other causes is more to be dreaded than if it were in the open; thus bad government harbours an insidious enemy, because it nourishes fatal causes unseen to itself. The simile of the elephant and the bird is obvious, the former being considered by the Malays the most stable footed of all animals, and the latter the surest on the wing-yet they fall.

VI.

A SCAMP.

"MOREOVER, after a few days came two great men from England, one as chief of the Bengal Sepoys stationed at Malacca, who took up his abode near the Trankera Gate, in that same house now converted into the AngloChinese College. Formerly this was the residence of an English gentleman called Captain Dallam, master attendant, who owned it. There remained this great man by name, Mr. B. Now, this person was of a very mischievous and wicked disposition. One of his acts was to station two sepoys at his gate to catch any boys that passed by, and bring them inside his enclosure, shutting the door after them, and in case of the sepoys not being able to catch the boys, then he set his dog after them till they fell, when they were caught hold of and brought back; and when he had collected a large number he pitched two and two against each other, and those who would not fight he would switch with a rattan, on which they would set to at each other from fear. This was so great a delight to him, that he commenced laughing and dancing; and as to the fighters, some got swollen faces and bloody noses, and as to those who bled, to them he would give more coppers, but to those who did not he gave less, and let them go. And as