Secondly, an attitude Europeans held towards tiger killing can be surfaced from Gilpin's piece. “Their carcasses publicly exhibited in the town" seems to suggest that tiger killing was esteemed, and tiger hunting was also referred to as a "sport" and an "amusement". While it is no doubt that prevailing over tigers is laudable—as hunting them is dangerous—Gilpin seemed to be subtly glorifying the act of doing so. Actual lives were at risk and it is arguable that protection by the local government should be a given. For people who did not face the direct threat of being attacked by tigers, the way they viewed the tiger situation were different from those who faced high risks of coming in contact with tigers a daily basis. Thus, the hint of superiority from being part of a group that did not directly interact with the tigers reflects the stark contrast of realities between the Europeans and the Chinese in colonial Singapore.

Having the advantage of looking into this situation on hindsight, evidence and research in later years point to how these sentiments held by Europeans in the beginning era of tiger attacks did actually play out in ways that left poor groups in colonial Singapore no choice, but to interact with the environment in ways that resulted in its deterioration. For example, in tandem with their superior mindset, many Europeans thought the Chinese were perfect for toiling in the fields (Powell, 2016). As a result, the Chinese worked the grounds of agricultural land throughout the 1800s and was the ethnicity most killed by tigers. Furthermore, when the Chinese appealed to the local government for help, nothing was done. Thus, they could only take matters into their own hands and bring greater harm to the environment—on top of their rapid land-clearing for agriculture—by killing the tigers themselves.

However, it is not fair to put complete blame on the Europeans. The Chinese themselves did want to benefit from the gambier and pepper profits (Powell, 2016), as these crops yielded considerable earnings (Chua, 2007). Even though the Europeans and the resulting structure of the hierarchical society did contribute greatly to the impotent negative interaction between the Chinese and the environment, it was not completely their fault.

 

It may be that Gilpin had written this piece to warn people of tiger attacks and maybe even appeal to the authorities to do something about it. Nevertheless, it does reflect the entrenched mindset of Europeans in colonial Singapore, that resulted in the Chinese interacting with the environment in ways that contributed to its deterioration.