hat are not Sabaean.
Throughout their idle existence, the swine are reverentially cherished
and liberally fed; nor is the cruel knife permitted to cut short the
thread of their destiny. At the time of Ida Pfeiffer's visit, only one
pair were living in this otiose state, and the number seldom exceeds
three pairs.

* * * * *

From China our adventurous lady sailed for the East Indies, "looking in"
on the way at Singapore, a British settlement, which forms the
meeting-place of the traders of South Asia. The scenery around it is of
a rich and agreeable character, and the island on which it is situated
excels in fertility of vegetation. Very pleasant the visitor finds it,
to saunter among the plantations of cloves and nutmegs, the air
breathing a peculiar balsamic fragrance, a concentration of sweet
odours. Pepper and gambie plantations are also among the sights of
Singapore. Further, it is an island of fruits. Here thrives the
delectable mangosteno, which almost melts in the mouth, and enchants the
palate with its exquisite flavour. Here, too, the pine-apple frequently
attains the weight of four pounds. Here grows the saucroys, as big as
the biggest pine-apple, green outside, and white or pale yellow inside,
with a taste and perfume like that of the strawberry. And to Singapore
belongs the custard-apple, which is as savoury as its compound name
implies.

From Singapore, Madame Pfeiffer crossed to Point de Galle, in Ceylon.
The charming appearance of this island from the sea moved her, as it
moves every traveller, to admiration. "It was one of the most
magnificent sights I ever beheld," she says, "that island soaring
gradually from the sea, with its mountain ranges growing more and more
distinctly defined, their summits lighted by the sun, while the dense
cocoa-groves, and the hills, and the plains lay shrouded in cool
shadows." Above the whole towers the purple mass of Adam's Peak, and
wherever the eye roams, it surveys the most prodigal foliage, and glades
rich in verdure, and turfy slopes deep in flowers.

Point de Galle presents a curious mixture of races. Cingalese,
Kanditores, Tamils from South India, and Moormans, with crimson caftans
and shaven crowns, form the bulk of the crowd that throng its streets;
but, besides these, there are Portuguese, Chinese, Jews, Arabs, Parsees,
Malays, Dutchmen, English, with half-caste burghers, and now and then a
veiled Arab woman, or a Veddah, one