244 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1883. 



I walked round most of Savaii ; then returned again to the 

 western end of Opolu in an open boat and wallieil thtiicu 

 over that island skirtinj; the beach where all the villagers 

 are located. Arrived at Apia harbour, I waited an oppor- 

 tunity of getting away which fortimately soon presented 

 itself. . . 



The trade with theSamo.ans is not very extensive. Their 

 wants are limited and means of purchase are limited also. 

 The articles mostly used by them are handkerchiefs and cloths 

 of loud design and brilliant colour; knives, axes, tobacco, rifles 

 and ammunition. They are very proud of possessing the latter. 

 To purcliase these they cut out all the coconuts they have to 

 spare andmaki- copra which is given in exchange to the traders 

 The most of the business is done by two Germ n firms. 

 Messrs. Godcfroy & Co. and another, who have small trad- 

 in" stations scattered about over all the islands. Oopra is 

 brought to Apia, the centre, and goods sent in exchange 

 through the medium of small schooners of 20 to 30 tons' 

 burden. . 



There is a king, Maleatoa, whose authority is only 

 nominal ; judges too are appointed to administer the law 

 among themselves but have no jiu'isdiction over foreigners. 

 The Godefroys have several very fine plantations of coco- 

 nuts and cotton. They however have expended money in a 

 most reckless and extravagant manner. Their superintend- 

 ents are men whose knowledge of matters relating to 

 planting is only exceeded by one thing and that is a total 

 ignorance of such matters. This may appear a sweeping 

 assertion, but is nevertheless true. Shortly before I left the 

 firm had taken into their employment an ex-planter from 

 the Coorg district of Southern India, also a sugar-planter 

 from the Fijis of considerable experience, who were work- 

 ing great reforms. Of coffee there are a few trees 

 planted at an elevation of about 500 to 600 feet above sea- 

 level and looked remarkably well. There was no leaf-disease 

 or other pest that I noticed. The coffee planter liad 

 opened a nursery of some 600,000 seedlings, which were to 

 be planted out and, I believe, will do very well indeed. The 

 soil is a chocolate loam of great depth. Labour, however, is 

 the great drawback. They have to get all their coolies from 

 the Hebrides an.l Solomon Islan.ls, which are a long way 

 off and is also the recruiting ground for the Fiji and Queens- 

 land planters, so that Samoa is pretty well handicapped in 

 this resiject. 



The land is all mountainous, but does not rise abruptly from 

 the sea. Towards the "beach it is planted with coconut 

 groves, throughout which are innumerable villagers. Coral 

 reefs circle all the islands, inside which the water is smooth 

 and rarely ruftied by anything but a gentle breeze. To say 

 they are inviting, enchanting and altogether charming does 

 no more than express the feelings of all W-^itors. I was pleased 

 and delighted beyond telling with my stay. 



Darwm's sentence which you quote in your Tropical Ar/ri- 

 ciiltiirist applies with equal truth here: — 



" Every form, every shade, so completely surpasses in 

 magnificence all that the European has ever beheld in his 

 own country, tliat he knows not how to express his feel- 

 ings." I am not good at high-falutin ; accordingly, will 

 content myself with a simple narration of tacts. 



On the 23rd of September I stepped aboard the gooil ship 

 " Sheet /Vnchor" and waved a good-bye to Apia. We had to 

 beat i50 miles to windward, where Manoa, Olasinga and 

 Offoo are situated, calling at Tutuila on our way. But 

 I will leave this for a future desciiption. 



Thence wo visited the Gilbert group of islands, situated 

 aljout 1,200 miles in a northwesterly direction. Those 

 islands are very interesting, .and no one that I am aware 

 of ever visited them before me, except some labour schoon- 

 ers and two American ladies. I shall, however, reserve 

 these for a subsequent paper. 



♦ 



GUTTA PEKCHA. 

 Tlio./nc« Jj'orh of the 21st July, after stating that the Nether- 

 lands Indian Government has directed the oflicial stationed in 

 Sumatra and Borneo io report on the present condition and 

 productiveness of the gutta percha ind\istryin those islands, 

 and has instructed the manager of the State Botanical Gard- 

 ens to plants several varieties of that tree by way of trial, 



""Of what greatimportance this gutta is toNetherlands India 

 some idea may bo formed when it is once known that the 

 Malayan Peninsula is the only country beyond Netherlands 



India which furnishes a considerable supply of that article. 

 Some further particulars of this description of gutta the dis- 

 tricts wli re it abounds, the manner of procuring it, and how 

 its production may be i icreased, will not be unwelcome, now 

 that .so much attention is directed to gutta percha and so much 

 interest taken therein. Gutta percha is the coagulated milky 

 juice of a tree called the Dichopsis Gutta, belonging to the 

 Sapolacese family, one of the colossal forest giants in the woods 

 of Sumatra and Borneo. The name for it is Si/titu in Borneo 

 and Ba/aii in Sumatra. In Borneo, especially many varieties 

 of it are found, the milky mice of which is of inore or less good 

 quality. The juice, flowing from incisions made into the bark 

 is collected by the natives, boiled, and then In-oughtto market 

 in the form of a tough leathery substance. In Borneo most 

 of the Gutta percha is obtained by Dyaks, who in large parties 

 of often a hundred men each, undertake expeditious for sev- 

 eral months in the forests to collect this product. To obtain 

 milky juice they simply fell the trees, then cut into the bark 

 and catch the juice in earthen pots or large leaves. The boil- 

 ing is efli'eoted in large cauldrons. The whole process is very 

 rough, and the product thereby less refined than it would be 

 by more effective or careful preparation. The whole method 

 of collection is destructive in the extreme. Gutta- 

 percha collecting is a wasteful and destructive in- 

 dustry on a large scale. Thousands of trees are yearly cut 

 down, for it is estimated that to obtain one picul of gutta 

 about one hundred trees have to be felled ; hence the time is 

 not far ofli when the stock of this useful and increasingly 

 sennceable product will become exhausted. Experienced 

 people say that gutta percha can be obtained by tapping 

 the trees without killing them, and that they can be very 

 easily cultivated and grow relatively rapidly, so that the 

 milky juice becomes available within 10 years. Satisfactory 

 and continued experiments in their cultivation have, how- 

 ever, not been made by us. It is very certain that the gutta 

 percha tree wiU flourish in Borneo, Sumatra, Rhio, Banka, 

 and Java, too, if only suitable land be selected and its cultiv- 

 ation not left wholly to the natives. Hence the estabhsh- 

 ment of experimental plantations, besides, in the chief towns 

 of Netherlands India, will prove to be of iuestim.able advant- 

 age." — Strniis Time^. 



Rainfall and Tea ly Assam and Ceylon. — A 

 planter write? to us: — "On seeing the table of rain- 

 fall in Monaragala- published lately, I looked over my 

 notes taken on a visit to Assam last year, and 1 

 find a table of the rainfall on a large tea garden ot 

 1 200 acres in Nowgong, a copy of which I enclose, 

 in case it should be worth inserting in your paper 

 for tlie encourigemeut of Ceylon tea planters. Even 

 Mouarai'ala with its rich soil and hot climate ought 

 to g-ow tea to pay." We quite agree with our cor- 

 respondent that if tea grows well in Assam with a, 

 i-aiid'all varying from 52-17 inches per annum to 77 '72 

 there are few place's even in the driest parts of Uva 

 where the plant cannot be cultivated with success. 

 The table is as follows : — 



B.-iiiifntl on tlie Nowgong Garden, Assam from .Taninirj- 1875 to 

 July 1882. 

 Ye:ir .. 

 Total in. 



Jannary 



Feb. 



Mar>-h 



April 



May 



Jiine 



•Inly 



Ana. 



(K:t. 

 Xov. 

 Uc-f. 



6368 



January 31 

 l''et)rnary 27 

 Miir<-h 21 

 April 18 

 May 15 



June 9 



