Read The Hills of Singapore Online
Authors: Dawn Farnham
The Hills of Singapore
A
LANDSCAPE OF LOSS, LONGING AND LOVE
{ T
HE
S
TRAITS
Q
UARTET
V
OL.3
}
D
AWN
F
ARNHAM
Contents
Glossary
Ang mo
: A racial epithet that originates from Hokkien (Min Nan) and is used to refer to white people in Malaysia and Singapore. Literally meaning “red-haired”, the term implies that the person referred to is a devil, a concept explicitly used in the Cantonese term
gweilo
(foreign devil).
Babu
: A Javanese nursemaid.
Baju
: A short, loose jacket worn in Malaysia.
Belanda
: A Malay term meaning Hollander or Dutchman.
Bugis: The people of southern Sulawesi. They are still outstanding shipbuilders, sailors and navigators who have traded legitimately in the region for thousands of years. When the colonial powers displaced traditional trading relations of the region, the Bugis turned to piracy and slave trading.
Chunam
: A fine stucco based on very pure or shell-lime, used for the highest quality finishes, often to external walls and roofs.
Kamcheng
pot: A large covered porcelain pot usually decorated colourfully in pink and turquoise with phoenixes, peonies and other symbols of riches, honour and happy marriage. Such a pot would be presented to the bride at her wedding feast filled with glutinous rice balls and sweet syrup and be an honoured and treasured object to be passed down to future generations.
Kongsi
: or “clan halls”, are benevolent organisations of popular origin found among overseas Chinese communities. The system of
kongsi
was utilised by Chinese throughout the diaspora to overcome economic difficulty, social ostracism, and oppression. The word
kongsi
is used in modern Chinese to mean a commercial company.
Kris: The kris or
keris
is a distinctive, asymmetrical dagger indigenous to Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the southern Philippines. Both a weapon and spiritual object, the kris is often considered to have an essence or presence, with some blades possessing good luck and others possessing bad.
Munshi: A degree in South Asia, that is given after passing a certain course of basic reading, writing and maths. The word munshi also became the name of a profession after munshies were hired as clerks in the government in British India.
Nyai
: A native woman, consort, or concubine of a European man in the Dutch East Indies. The status and the fate of the
nyai
varied widely, depending entirely on the actions of the man. After Christian baptism, she could become his wife or he could legitimise her and her children as a secondary “wife”. Once legitimised and recognised in law, she was entitled to upkeep by the man and to inherit part of the man's estate. In theory, and often in fact, a legitimised native
nyai
could quickly pass from being a slave to being a wealthy widow of a Dutch official or merchant. On the other hand, many
nyai
could simply be abandoned and, up to 1782, if they were still slaves at the death of the man, both the
nyai
and her offspring could be separated and sold to other owners. After 1782, this practice was prohibited.
Orang laut
: The Malay term
orang laut
means sea people. Historically the
orang laut
were principally pirates.
Peranakan: Descendents of intermarriage between early Chinese male settlers in the Straits Settlements (Penang, Malacca and Singapore) and local Malay women. This Chinese sub-ethnic group adopted some cultural traits from the Malay community, as seen in their cuisine, dress and language, but also adopted many European customs thus elevating their social standing in relation to the singkeh or China-born immigrants. Also known as Straits Chinese. The men are known as Baba, the women as Nonya (or Nyonya).
Prahu
: Literally, the Malay word meaning boat. There are many types of
prahu
throughout the islands of the archipelago.
Punkah: A large cloth fan on a frame suspended from the ceiling, moved backwards and forwards by pulling on a cord.
Qi
: Also commonly spelled
ch'i
, this is a fundamental concept of traditional Chinese culture.
Qi
is believed to be part of every living thing that exists, as a kind of “life force” or “spiritual energy”. It is frequently translated as “energy flow”, or literally as “air” or “breath”.
Sampan: A relatively flat-bottomed Chinese wooden boat. In Cantonese the term literally means “three planks”.
Sireh
: Malay word for betel. The leaves of the betel tree are used as a wrapping for the slices of the areca nut, lime paste and other ingredients and chewed as a stimulant.
Tao: Chinese character often translated as “way” or “path”. It is based on the understanding that the only constant in the universe is change.
Tongkang
: Bumboats, lighters or sea-going barges used in the Malay Archipelago for transporting goods from ship to shore and vice versa. Towkay: A Chinese merchant.
Wei
qi: Classical board game known in the West by its Japanese name, Go, and believed to have originated at least 5,000 years ago. Some say that the board, with ten points out from the centre in all directions, may have originally served as a forerunner to the abacus. Others think it may have been a fortune-telling device, with black and white stones representing Yin and Yang. By the time of Confucius,
wei qi
had already become one of the “Four Accomplishments” (along with brush painting, poetry and music) that must be mastered by the Chinese gentleman.
Prologue
A sailing ship has a restless heart, never still, never silent.
At sea it is a dashing, driving symphony of roaring sail, clangorous iron and groaning timber. In port it is a soft concerto of chimes, rattles and creaks. From the flags of its main topgallant mast to the lowest regions of the bilge, it pulsates with sound. It brims with the music of its natural home: the consonant and thrilling harmonies of water and wind, the haunting cries of sea birds, the sublime anthems of the cobalt sea and the serenades of star-soft coves.
And the stirring, sinister and poignant plangency of men and their deeds.
Charlotte stood listening to the voices of the ship. Within the recesses of its wooden heart lay her memories of calm and storm, of freedom and capture, of brutal anger and loving joy. It was the repository of her marriage, filled with spectral shadows and sighs.
Tasty scampered up to her. When she did not move he gave a quizzical yelp. It roused Charlotte from her reverie, and she looked down at him and smiled.
James Elliott, Tasty's owner and captain of the
Queen of the South
, came forward extending his two hands. Charlotte took them and saw that James and Tasty, with their bushy grey eyebrows, grizzled cheek hair and deep brown eyes, hadâseemingly through the mere fact of long acquaintanceâcome to resemble each other.
“My condolences, Mrs Manouk. I am so sorry that we should meet again under such tragic circumstances.”
Charlotte pressed his hands. “Thank you, James,” she said and moved to the rail.
Below, mounting from the cutter tucked against the ship's side, were her two children, Alexander and Adam, with their
babus
. Two young Javanese sailors slid down the ladder in a display of extravagant muscular virility and helped the women and children onto the deck. Both the
babus
were young and pretty, and Charlotte reflected briefly that she might have to keep an eye on them during the voyage.
The children would be settled in their cabin below deck. She left Captain Elliott knowing they would talk more at length when they were at sea. She knew James would want to talk about Tigran, her husband.
She stopped before the open door of the master's cabin.
Three years.
Three years since Tigran had died in a riding accident and left her mistress of this ship and of everything that his wealth had brought to her: the great estate in Batavia, the tea and coffee plantations and all his fortune spread far and wide in the East Indies.
Three years since she had set foot aboard this ship. She could see, before the mirror, his black and white scarf. She stepped tentatively into the room.
Their marriage, she supposed like any marriage, had been happy and, by moments, extremely unhappy. For those unhappy times she blamed herself. Tigran had come to Singapore and taken her to Batavia at the request of his sister, Charlotte's greatest friend. Though he was older than she by twenty years, it barely showed. He was handsome, strong, brave and clever. But these were qualities she had barely perceived when she married him. For she had wed him not for love but for the solidity and security his age and wealth offered.
He had known it, but he had married her nonetheless, knowing she was pregnant with another man's child, knowing she loved another man, knowing she was fleeing a scandalous relationship in Singapore. He had married her simply because he had loved her with all his heart. He had protected her when she was most vulnerable. She had learned, slowly, to love him back.
And then she had betrayed him with Zhen, the blood father of Alexander. Zhen, the man she seemed unable to shake from her mind and her heart. The man who was Chinese, married and living in Singapore.
She walked slowly into the cabin and gently touched the scarf.
She was grateful that through Tigran's generosity they had truly found joy and trust before he had gone forever. She had not expected to love him that way: a learned love which grew from such a poor seed. She had not expected it to bloom with such beauty.
She opened the silver and pearl locket which he had given her and gazed on his likeness. Three years of loneliness and loss, wandering the rooms of their life like a wraith.