by the fire or in the sun, passed under a large
wooden roller, and through a hair sieve. When it has become white and
fine, it is placed in a kind of linen winnowing-fan, which is kept damp
in a peculiar manner. The workman takes a mouthful of water, and "spirts
it out like fine rain over the fan;" the meal being alternately shaken
and moistened until it assumes the character of small globules. These
are stirred round in large flat pans, until they are dried. Then they
are passed through a second sieve, not quite so fine as the first, and
the larger globules are separated from the rest.

Pepper and gambir plantations are also among the "sights" of Singapore.
The pepper-tree is a small bush-like plant, which, when carefully
trained, springs to a height of eighteen feet. The pepper-pods grow in
small clusters, and change from red to green, and then to black. White
pepper is nothing more than the black pepper blanched by frequent
steeping in sea-water. The gambir does not grow taller than eight feet.
The leaves, which are used in dyeing, are first stripped from the stalk,
and then boiled down in large coppers. The thick juice is placed in
white wooden vessels, and dried in the sun; then it is divided into slips
about three inches long, and packed up.

Singapore is an island of _fruits_. It boasts of the delicious
mangosteen, which almost melts in the mouth, and delights the palate with
its exquisite flavour. It boasts, too, of splendid pine-apples,
frequently weighing as much as four pounds. Also of sauersop, as big as
the biggest pine-apples, green outside, and white or pale yellow inside,
with a taste and fragrance like that of strawberries. Nor must the
gumaloh be forgotten: it is divided, like the orange, into sections, but
is five times as large, and not quite so sweet. Finally, we must refer
to the custard-apple, which is very white (though full of black pips),
very soft, and very enticing in flavour.

* * * * *

From Singapore we follow Madame Pfeiffer to Point de Galle, in Ceylon.
The appearance of this fair and fertile island from the sea is the theme
of every traveller's praise. "It was one of the most magnificent sights
I ever beheld," says Madame Pfeiffer, "to see the 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 hills and plains, lay shrouded in shadow." Above the