Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalof283018951897roya).pdf/26

 and other warlike spirits who were above using the bliong in the jungle. Captain LIGHT had seen too many ruins of the old factories which these gentry had "cut off" to trust them as settlers. To encourage the wood-cutters, he is said to have ingeniously loaded a gun with a bag of dollars and fired it into the jungle. It is mentioned also that the Malays provided nibongs for the stockade which was the precursor of Fort Cornwallis. On the roth August, two of the Company's ships, the Vansittart and the Valentine, hove in sight, and Captain LIGIT, thinking the occasion a favourable one for the christening of the infant colony, invited the Captains ashore to assist in the ceremony on the 11th August. "At noon," he tells us, "all the gentlemen assembled under the flagstaff, and unitedly hoisted the flag, taking possession of the island in the name of His Britannic Majesty and for the use of the Honourable East India Company, the artillery and ships firing a Royal salute, the marines three volleys." The following day being the birthday of the PRINCE OF WALES, it occurred to our founder to name the island in his honour; but this name has been unable to compete with the shorter one of native origin, and exists only in official docu- ments. Once the establishment of the Settlement became known, people began to flock in from all quarters to live under the protection of the British flag.

His work progressed favourably, especially in the matter of health. The early entries in his Diary often express surprise at the absence of all serious sickness; until the following year. Then the dry season affected many, and struck him down with fever very severely in January, 1787. About the same time he began to feel the want of support from Calcutta. In February, 1787, he writes to Mr. A. Ross, of Madras:—"I have received nothing from the Bengal Government since my departure from Calcutta." But the Settlement prospered and grew notwithstanding, the number of settlers being stated at "about 10,000" by the end of 1789, and at over 20,000 in 1795.