The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither, page 119 by Isabella L. Bird (Mrs Bishop)
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I. L. B.
LETTER IX
The Lieutenant-Governor of Malacca--A Charming Household--The Old Stadthaus--A Stately Habitation--An Endless Siesta--A Tropic Dream--Chinese Houses--Chinese Wealth and Ascendency--"Opium Farming"--The Malacca Jungle--Mohammedan Burial-Places--Malay Villages--Malay Characteristics--Costume and Ornament--Bigotry and Pilgrimage--The Malay Buffalo
STADTHAUS, MALACCA, January 21-23.
This must surely fade like a dream, this grand old Stadthaus, this old-world quiet, this quaint life; but when it fades I think I shall have a memory of having been "once in Elysium." Still, Elysium should have no mosquitoes, and they are nearly insupportable here; big spotted fellows, with a greed for blood, and a specially poisonous bite, taking the place at daylight of the retiring nocturnal host. The Chinese attendant is not careful, and lets mosquitoes into my net, and even one means a sleepless night. They are maddening.
I was introduced to my rooms, with their floors of red Dutch tiles, their blue walls, their white-washed rafters, their doors and windows consisting of German shutters only, their ancient beds of portentous height, and their generally silent and haunted look, and then went to tiffin with Mr. and Mrs. Biggs. Mr. Biggs is a student of hymnology, and we were soon in full swing on this mutually congenial subject. Mrs. Biggs devotes her time and strength to the training and education of young Portuguese girls. I pass their open bungalow as I go to and from the Governor's cottage, and it usually proves a trap.
Captain Shaw, who has been for many years Lieutenant-Governor of Malacca, is a fine, hearty, frank, merry, manly, Irish naval officer, well read and well informed, devoted to Malacca and its interests, and withal a man of an especially unselfish, loving, and tender nature, considerate to an unusual degree of the happiness and comfort of those about him. Before I had been here many hours I saw that he was the light of a loving home.* He can be firm and