ces she
visited.

From China she sailed for the East Indies.

On her way she "looked in" at Singapore, a British settlement, where
gather the traders of many Asiatic nations. The scenery which stretches
around it is of a rich and agreeable character, and the island on which
it is situated excels in fertility of vegetation. A saunter among the
plantations of cloves and nutmegs is very pleasant, the air breathing a
peculiar balsamic fragrance. The nutmeg-tree is about the size of a good
apricot-bush, and from top to bottom is a mass of foliage; the branches
grow very low down the stem, and the leaves glitter as if they were
varnished. The fruit closely resembles an apricot, covered with spots of
yellowish-brown. It bursts on attaining maturity, and then reveals a
round kernel, of the size of a nut, embedded in a network, sold as mace,
of a beautiful red colour. This network of fibrous material is carefully
separated from the nutmeg, and dried in the shade,--being frequently
sprinkled with sea-water, to prevent the colour deepening into black,
instead of changing into yellow. The nutmeg is likewise dried, exposed a
while to the action of smoke, and dipped several times into sea-water
containing a weak solution of lime, to prevent it from turning mouldy.

The clove-tree is smaller, and less copiously provided with foliage, than
the nutmeg-tree. The buds form what are known to us as cloves; and, of
course, are gathered before they have had time to blossom. The areca-nut
palm is also plentiful in Singapore. It grows in clusters of from ten to
twenty nuts; is somewhat larger than a nutmeg, and of a bright colour,
almost resembling gilt.

The Chinese and the natives of the Eastern Islands chew it with betel-
leaf and calcined mussel-shells. With a small quantity of the latter
they strew the leaf; a very small piece of the nut is added, and the
whole is made into a little packet, which they put into their mouth.

Madame Pfeiffer also inspected a sago manufactory. The unprepared
farina, which is the pith of the sago palm, is imported from a
neighbouring island. The tree is cut down when it is seven years old,
split from top to bottom, and the pith extracted from it. Then it is
freed from the fibres, pressed in large frames, and dried at the fire or
in the sun. At Singapore this pith or meal, which is of a yellowish
tint, is steeped in water for several days until completely blanched; it
is then once more dried