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MALACCA TO INDIA. 193
JOHOKE.
Reaching this unique city of five thousand, we became
the guests of Jameg Meldrum, many years in the country,
and owner of the largest steam saw-mills in Asia, employing
five hundred men. His bungalow^ situated upon a shady
eminence, spans an extensive arc of enchanting scenery.
" Bungalows," by the way, a term applied to all kinds of Eastern
dwelling-houses having lofty ceilings and broad verandas,
are built with reference to ventilation and coolness.
Mr. Meldrum saws the famous teah, as well as cedars,
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mahoganies, maraboos, kranjees, chungals, rosewood, sandalwoods,
camphor-woods, &c. A report before me says, —
"The Johore forests cover an extent of about ten thousand square
miles, and contain upwards of one hundred different kinds of timbertrees.
These forests are being opened up by his highness the Maha-
Rajah of Johore, K.C.S.I., K.C.C.I., &c., who is constructing a wooden
railway into the interior. It will pass through dense virgin forests
abounding in all the various kinds of timber-trees known in the
Straits."
The Malay Maha-Rajah of Johore, being a strict Mohammedan,
uses no wines, no liquors of any kind ; and, further, he
will permit the existence of no " house of ill-fame " in his
dominion. Just previous to our arrival, he had broken up a
den of prostitution established in New Johore by some Catholic
Chinamen. Jesuit missionaries had converted these
Chinese from Confucianism to Christianity ! Is it strange
that Mohammedans think Christians very immoral ?
The Malays of these regions never, — no, never, drink
intoxicating liquors of any kind. Such practices are forbidden
by the Koran. Would not an infusion of Islamism into
Christianity improve it, at least practically ? The Arabian
prophet taught no scape-goat atonement, no salvation
through another's merits. Neither do Mohammedans in their
mosques have " infidels " to fan them while they worship.
Not so with Christians. In the Singapore English Church,
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