SINGAPORE, or StsunronE, is a town situated on a small island of the same name at the southern ex tremity of the Malay peninsula.
The town and principality were founded by adven turers who emigrated originally from Sumatra, and it was a place of little importance till 1819, when a British settlement was formed there under thc direc tion of Sir T. S. Raffles, Lieutenant Governor of Ben coolen.
The town, though still in its infancy, is rapidly ex tending according to a regular plan adopted some years ago. It is built near the shore, and the part of it devoted to trade stretches along an inlet of the sea, about 300 feet wide at its mouth, and affording a safe and well sheltered harbour. Several parallel and cross roads extend from this over the plain, which is occu pied chiefly as a military cantonment. Behind the cantonment is a hill on which it is intended to erect a government house.
The rapid rise of this important station, says Sir T. Stamford Raffles in a letter written in 1822, is per haps without a parallel. When I hoisted the British flag, the population scarcely amounted to 200 souls. In three months, the number was not less than 3000, and it now exceeds 10,000, chiefly Chinese. No few er than 173 vessels, principally native, arrived and sailed in the first two months. The following is the state of its trade in 1822:— The interior of the island exhibits a succession of hill and dale, covered with wood. The soil is fertile, the water good, and the climate cool and healthy.
The mean annual temperature of Singapore for 1822 was 80° 18, and for 1823 79° 81, giving a mean of 80°.* In 1822, there were 218 rainy days, and in 1823, 208. The mean annual height of the barometer for these two years, was 29.91 English inches. An account of the method of collecting the Fucus Sac charinus, (or on the coral shoals, near Singapore, and of preparing it for the Chinese mar ket, will be found in Dr. Brewster's Journal of Sci ence, No. XV. p. 162.
The Straits of Singapore consist of innumerable little islands of various shapes, and covered with wood, indented with little bays and caves, in which the finest turtle abound. At the east end of the Straits, lies the rock of Pcdrabanca, so called from its being covered with the white excrements of birds. Among the animals at Singapore we may mention the halicora dugong, the flying squirrel, and the galeopi thecus variegates. The junks which visited Singa pore in 1821, when Mr. Finlayson was there, were from Canton, Amoy, Cochin China, and the islands to the east. The larger ones were from 200 to 300 tons burden. They had neither chart, nor book of any kind, but merely a rude compass. A newspaper, called the Singapore Chronicle, is published here. Sec Finlayson's Mission to Siam and Ilae. Lond. 1826, p. 45-77. East Long. 104°, and North Lat. 10° 24'.