October i, 1S83.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



223 



manent imported labourers. The hoeing of land is 

 done entirely by task work, and good coolies will 

 frequently earn double and iu some cases almost 

 treble pay iu a day. Whilst on ihis subject I can- 

 not refrain from remarking on the great improve- 

 ment our decin al system is on the aiiua and pie 

 system iu value in ludia. With our somewhat 

 elaborate check-roll, the latter system would be most 

 inconvenient. It can scarcely be denied that the 

 close supervision exercised by Governmeat over the 

 imported labourers and their treatment has had a 

 beneticial effect. It is said that at one time the mort- 

 ality used to be very great, iu spite of the large 

 pecuniary interest which planters had in the lives 

 and health of their coolies : this was due chiefly no 

 doubt to the unhealthy state of the country there, 

 but there can be no doubt that the precautions and 

 care exercised by Government have done good. 



Another great difficulty in Assam is transporl. At 

 present goods are carried by cart or boat to the 

 Brahmaputra and thence transported to Calcutta in 

 flats attached to the steamers. The rates charged 

 by the steamer companies are viry high, and make 

 the transport of tea from the gardcua to the shipping 

 port from two to four times as much as the aver- 

 age rate in Ueylon. The heaviest charges, however, 

 aer on goods taken up to the district, against stream ; 

 and consequent! J' the cost of lead, nails, boxes, and 

 macliineiy, &c. , is enormously increased. As an ex- 

 ample I was told of some roofing iron for a factory 

 which cost £50 at home, and the freight on which 

 from Calcutta to Tejpore amounted to about R750. 



Iu transport therefore as well as in labour C'ejlon 

 has great advantages over Assam at present. At 

 Debrooghur a lailway ia being made, is partially cnm- 

 pitted in fact, up through the tea districts, to where 

 a very irne eeam of coal is being worked, and there 

 is a talk of this railway being continued in the 

 direction of Calcutta ; but the difficulties, rivers 

 priucipally, seem very great. 



The expense and delay of a journey up the river have 

 been already mentioned : a daily service of very fast 

 little sieannrs ia now being started; they carry 

 mails and passengers only, aud do the journey from 

 Dhubri to Debrooghur in a comparatively short time. 



T. C. OWEN. 



No. IV. 



la>rd begclatioss fok tea plasters — from diiubri to 

 silligoili— the daejiling steam tramway. 



Dhubei, Assam. 



Up to about six years ago, laud could be purchased 

 from Goverument outright, but sujli sales are not 

 now made, aud tea land can only be procured on 

 lease. The terms on which it is procurable are far less 

 favourable than those granted in Ceylon. In tlic first 

 place the timber on the land is valued aud has to 

 be paid for, and it is whispered that the Gorerumeut 

 assessor, when a native, as is generally the case, is 

 not above accepting an inducement to put down the 

 lowest possible figure. For fees at the outset, Ul 

 an acre has to be paid, the sale is then gazetted, 

 and the land put up at an upset price of iW per 

 acre. The purchaser then gets it on a 30 years' lease 

 aud has nothiug to pay for 2 years ; during tlie next 

 3 he pays '2 annas an acre ; during the next 5 he 

 pays 4 annas au acre ; during the next 10 he pays 

 8 annas an acre ; aud during the final 10 years he 

 pays Kl per acre The expired lease ia then renew- 

 able at " cutivation " rates, whicli vary in amount, 

 hut are between 10 annas aud a rupee au acre per 

 annum. 



This system is very easy for yoimg gardens of 

 course, as tlic amount is no great consideration for 

 several years, but as large leseives of forest are 



generally maiutainetl, the tax in after years becomes 

 no trifling one, antT amounts to a very considerable 

 sum from first to last. The consideration of such sub- 

 jects as machinery, manufacture, field wox'k, etc., I will 

 enter on later. 



The journey from Dhubri to Silligori is a strange 

 and very unpleasant one. A steamer starts from the 

 former place iu the morning and takes you to Jatrapur 

 about midday ; here you get out and mount a 

 trolly, pushed by coolies, which conveys you about 

 j mile to Dharlla ; here you get into anotlier steamer 

 whicli takes you to Kurigrain ; thence there are IS 

 miles of 2 feet railway to the Tcesta, which is crossed 

 in another steamer, landiug you at Kauuia, from 

 whence runs a branch of the metre gauge railway con- 

 necting Sara and SUligori. 



These changes, occurring as they did amidst heavy 

 rain, were very unpleasant, but the most trying thing 

 was about half-a-mile of flooded land between the 

 landing-stage at Kauuia and the resthouse. The 

 only possibility was to take off shoes aud stockings 

 and wade, the luggage being booked through aud 

 inaccessible, and this was rendered dangerous from 

 the extreme slipperiness of the soil under water. 



there 

 p. m. 



is a 

 aud 

 "the tram, 

 it a tire- 

 unpleasant 



A further change at Parbatipur, where 

 stoppage in a waiting-room lietween 11 

 2 a. m. , and another at Silligori to 

 way, complete the list, which renders 

 some journey at any time, but a most 

 one in wet weather. 



The Dai'jiling railway having a special interest for 

 us at the present time, in view of the proposals for the 

 construction of such Hues in Ceylon, 1 will describe 

 its com'se briefly, and give such pai'ticulara as I could 

 gather regarding its working. 



The engines and carriages are very small as may ho 

 imagined, the latter holding tlu'ee people in a seat, 

 only thi-ough the very considerable projection ef the 

 floor beyond the wheels at either side. From Silligori 

 the line runs along one side of the old cart road for 

 some miles when it begins to rise at a gi-adient of 1 iu 

 28, which is maintained almost the whole way up to 

 Darjiling. 



At two or three points on the line, complete loops 

 are made in order to gam height, aud the way these 

 are constracted is must ingenious. In other places, for 

 the same purpose, the train ruus up a regtdar zigzag, at 

 each turn running into a siding, aud then, wheu the 

 points have been changed, backing on to the upward 

 rails. These tm'us being always iu pairs, the position of 

 the engine in front of the train is maintained. 



The cuiwes in the line used to have a iniutmimi radius 

 of 60 feet, aud the gi-adieuts were as steep as 1 in 22. 

 It was found, however, that this was very tiying to the 

 rolling-stock and peimanent way, aud the com'se of the 

 line has been chauged in many places, so that now the 

 miuimum cuiwe radius is 90 feet, aud the ruling gi'adieut 

 1 in 28. These changes in the course of the line' are 

 frequeut along the lower portions, and m some places 

 the new line is seen i-unning for miles along the one 

 now in use, and which is shortly to he abandoned. All 

 these changes have, it is needless to state, cut up the 

 old cart road terribly, aud the latter is scarcely pass- 

 able for carts : in fact, when the course of the line is 

 permanently settled, the cart road, iu spite of its de- 

 stnictiou, will have contributed little to help the railway. 

 Up to Teendaria the country through which the line passes 

 is very liable to landslips, the soil is micaceous, and has 

 no tenacity, aud every few hundred yards landslips of 

 greater or less extent, wluch are constantly moving in 

 wet weather are come across. In a spot a loop, which 

 had been made at the end of a spur from the main hdl. 

 had eutii-ely collapsed dm-ing the late rains, and the engine 

 and carnages had to be taten separatelj" up a tempor- 

 an* line to the top, the passengers walking up a short 

 cut. It is only by tho incessant and praieewoithy es- 



