Stories from History - The Orang Gelam that lived on the Singapore River

From a Tourist guidebook on the Singapore River:

Another group of Orang Laut, known as the Orang Gelam, lived on the Singapore River where they inhabited boats in the middle of the river that formed a veritable “floating village”. These Orang Laut made a living by fishing, selling food to the crews of visiting ships and ferrying people across the river for a fee.

According to Wa Hakim, an Orang Laut villager who was present when Raffles landed:

“At the time when Tuan Raffles came, there were under one hundred small houses and huts at the mouth of the river… about thirty families of Orang Laut also lived in boats a little way up the Singapore River at the wide part. About half the Orang Laut lived ashore and half in boats […] There were a few Malays who lived nearby, their huts facing the sea.”