hile at the same time land was
thus opened up for cultivation. The convicts were also employed in this
year in constructing a road to the summit of Telok Blangah Hill, now
called Mount Faber, for the purpose of building there a signal station,
that upon the island of Blakan Mati having proved unhealthy, due, as it
was said at the time, to malaria from the enclosed marsh at the back of
the island, and to the tainted air from decaying pine-apple leaves,
which were left by the Malays, who cultivated the fruit upon all the
available soil. Pine-apple growing has been largely extended in this
island, as is now generally known at home; and as it is a source of some
wealth to the colony, it may be incidentally mentioned in this running
history of the place, and more particularly in reference to the fact
that the Indian convicts upon ticket of leave have been often employed
in its culture in order to earn a daily wage. The plant that produces
the pine-apple known as the "ananas," or by the Malays as "nanas," grows
literally wild upon the hills on Blakan Mati Island, and other islands
round about Singapore. It delights in a moist climate, and here it has
it to perfection, with just enough heat to help its growth. There is
little or no trouble in its propagation, for after the apple is
sufficiently ripe and cut, the crown that surmounts the fruit is
planted, and a new plantation soon springs up. There is, however, some
difference in the sweetness and flavour of the fruit, according to the
exposure to which it is subjected, those having the benefit of the sun
being preferred.

The first to export the tinned fruit to Europe was a Frenchman named
Bastiani,[5] who succeeded far beyond his expectations, and the industry
has since been taken up largely by the Chinese in Singapore and Johore.

[Footnote 5: He was known to both of us when he commenced the
undertaking.]

Yet another of the important public works of the colony, upon which the
labour of Indian convicts was employed some five years earlier, was at
the construction of the lighthouse on "Pedro Branca," called the
"Horsburgh," after the celebrated hydrographer of that name. The design
was by Thompson, and the selection of the site by Sir Edward Belcher,
R.N., and most of the detail work was under the direct supervision of
Mr. J. Bennett, a civil and mechanical engineer, who afterwards, as we
have said, played a prominent part in the direction and control of the
labour