Mav 1, 1 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



S^i 



— ♦ 



To the Editor of the Ceylon Observer. 

 OITBONELLA GRASS AS PAPER 

 MATERIAL. 



24th January 1884. 

 Deak'Sik,— In reply to Mr. Whitaker's letter in 

 your supplement of 19th instant, I believe a very 

 suitable librous materinl for the manufacture of paper 

 is available in Ceylou in considerable quantites in the 

 shape of essential oil grasses, from which the oil has 

 been extracted. 



1 have seen citronella grass in a manure heap 16 

 years old, so full of fibre that a mamoty could not 

 cut it, and resembling coir more than grass. 



Straw is used for making paper in large quantities 

 at home, and is sold at from £3 to £5 per ton, 1 believe. 

 The knotty stems in straw are a great drawback 

 to its use, Ob they take so much longer to dissolve 

 than the rest of the straw, that they retard the pro- 

 cess of manufacture considerably. 



Citronella grass, like esparto, could be supplied en- 

 tirely free from those knotty stems, and would thus 

 possess one great advantage over straw. 



In extracting oil from grass, it is boiled or subjected 

 to steam under pressure, and, as boiling under steam 

 pressure of the raw material is one of the first oper. 

 ations in paper manufacture, grass which has once 

 been treated in this way would, 1 believe, be very 

 much more easily treated the second time than other 

 raw material not previously boiled. 



Citronella and lemongrass estates are all in the 

 lowcountry and have all got good roads to them and in 

 them, as the grass requires to be cut and carted to a 

 central point at the distillery, and at present the grass 

 I have referred to is a waste material, as on account 

 of its fibrous nature it will not rot like straw in manure; 

 so I think that a lower price than " £8 lOs to i'U " 

 would pay a good profit on baling and shipping 

 charges. ,, 



So far as I can make out from your " Directory, 

 there are at present about 3,500 tons of this materinl 

 available yearly for export, or, better still, for the manu- 

 facture of good paper in Ceylon. 



Trusting you will give this space in your journal, 

 I am, yours faithfully, D. W. F. L. 



[We greatly regret that this interesting letter should 

 have been delayed. — Ed.] 



ALL ABOUT TAVOY. 



The Model Duko Estate, 

 Tavoy, Biitish Bmina, 12th Feb. 18S4. 



Dear Sie,— Tavoy, the headquarter town of the 

 district of the same name in the Tenasserim division, 

 on the Tavoy river, is about 35 miles from its mouth. 

 It is laid out in straight streets, and the houses are 

 built mostly of sawn timber and shingled or thatched 

 with (Uiaueo leaves. To the east and west are ranges 

 of hais running nearly north and south. Its extreme 

 length is about 150 miles, its breadth at the widest 

 part is about 50 miles, and its area 7,200 square 

 miles. Its general aspect is that of a long sea-coast 

 tract, hilly and densely wooded, enclosed by mountains 

 on three sides and open to the west towards the sea. 



The mouths of the Tavoy river allbrd exceUeut 

 anchorage for ships and steamers, they are safe in 

 all weathers under the lee of the island which shelters 

 the coast. 



There are three mountain ranges, viz,, the main 

 chain on the extreme east the "Nwa-hla-bo" in the 

 centre, and a thu-d intei-vening between the Nwa-hlabo 

 and the sea-coast. The main chain, with a general 



N.N.W. and S.S.E. dii'eotion, rises here occasionally 

 to a height of 5,000 feet, and, throwing off munerous 

 densely-wooded spm's, offers an almost impassable 

 baiTier, across which, into Siam, there are but three 

 routes. 



The northern is by the Hlan-dong, at the source of the 

 "May-nam-naw-ey" in lat. 14° 26' 53' N. long. 98° 32' B., 

 a Siamese river, from Tavoy to Ran-boo-ree via Met-ta. 

 From Tavoy to Bangkok there is no telegrajih 

 established ; the "local Government" are cow open- 

 ing up a good road, and are now pushing on the work. 

 I have been on as far as the Hlan-dong 

 pass. I was accompanied by Captains Sohwolky 

 and Watson. We had a very interesting trip. We 

 went along the lino of telegraph and joined the 

 new road here and there. The new road is well traced, 

 and more in Ceylon style than I have yet seen. The 

 head of the department here, Mr. Bayley, is pressing 

 on this work in person, and has done the work in 

 thorough workmanlike style. The first station we 

 came to is named Taitia, and now carts can go this 

 length already : a good gravel road in good weather 

 no doubt, but thie road will be improved upon and 

 metalled in due course, when once coolies are im- 

 ported to Tavoy district. Labour is wanted in a 

 country like this, the population being small for the 

 great tracts of jungle-land available for all the differ- 

 ent products, and such rich soil in those valleys and 

 dales, as would make some Ceylon men's teeth water 

 and wish for more rupees. The next station we reached 

 is named Pagang-oy a. There is a small pagoda here but the 

 great curiosity here are the " sacred fishes." The river 

 at Pagaug-oya is almost chained in by rocks something 

 like the Linn o' Dee. It reminded me of the linn 

 o' bounie Dee, near Marr Lodge, where I have wandered in 

 my time. I was much struck with this great curiosity : 

 a thing, which, if one was merely reading about it, 

 would rather disgust you, as you would naturally put 

 it down in your mind that it was lies or a diaw of 

 the long bow to give colour, but such is a fact. Those 

 fishes come out to the eall of the Burmese, who feed 

 them and look upon them as sacred spirits, and, before 

 they throw in the rice into the water, they call out 

 "La-la-la," which means "come." You can Bee the 

 great and many fishes of three different species swimming 

 towards you and jumping about playluUy, and, when 

 the rice is thrown in, such a swarm of fishes of all 

 sizes from that of a full-grown salmon to the tiny 

 trout. Yes, the Burmese play with them, aud put 

 their hands upon them, and catch them playfully with 

 loops of twine or jungle- cord, and they allow them- 

 selves to be patted like your little pet dog— no one 

 would believe this until seen. 



Mr. Dalgreen, the blasting man, rather astonished 

 them about Cbrislmas, and gave them a charge of hia 

 thunder aud lightning, and, of course, killed hundreds — 

 about four cooly-loads. He himself told me that they (l;ht 

 Burmese) came to him and threatened him at firs 

 that the fishes were spirits, and that his body would 

 turn putrid, aud that he would be covered all over 

 with sores. Dalgreen said he had a good feed upon them, 

 and found no iU -effect ; the only thiug was they were 

 very tough, the large ones, They saw that the thunder- 

 and-lightuing-inau had no fear, and then they came 

 to bim and pleaded with him not to kill their sacred 

 fishes, as they were their pets, the^^c^s ol their fore- 

 fathers, and til at they believed them to be sacred aud 

 belonged to the nats, the good nals, " spirits." 



Mr. Dalgreen brought up some rice in a Ceylon 

 paper, and we went to the great pond of the river. 

 " Now," says he, " call," and we called, and, sure 

 enough, there they came in a great shoal and ate the 

 rice .ind jumped and played, and tore the neicfpaper, 

 the old VbKCrvcr, to pieces. There is something new for 

 Barnum, if he could secure those playful Burmese fishes. 

 We proceeded on to the lllau-doug pass. This pass 



