Some of our friends came off before luncheon to see the yacht, and we
returned with them to tiffin at Government House. At four o'clock the
carriage came round to take us to Johore. We wished good-bye to
Singapore and all our kind friends, and started on a lovely drive
through the tropical scenery. There is a capital road, fifteen miles
in length, across the island, and our little ponies rattled along at a
good pace. There was a pleasant breeze and not much dust, no sun, and
a stream ran the whole way by the side of the road. The acacia
flamboyante--that splendid tree which came originally from Rangoon and
Sumatra--was planted alongside the road, and produced a most charming
effect. It is a large tree, with large leaves of the most delicate
green; on its topmost boughs grow gorgeous clusters of scarlet flowers
with yellow centres, and the effect of these scarlet plumes tossing in
the air is truly beautiful. As we were driving along we espied a
splendid butterfly, with wings about ten inches long. Mr. Bingham
jumped out of the carriage and knocked it down with his hat; but it
was so like the colour of leaves in grass that in the twilight nobody
could distinguish it, and, to our great disappointment, we could not
find it. We were equally unsuccessful in our attempted capture of a
water-snake a couple of feet long.
Pages:
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543