March i. 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



)79 



up a ladder. "While in Rangoon a few years ago, we 

 watched one climb a tree growing out of the base 

 of the great Pagoda and leaning for over the edge, 

 ■0 that had he made a slip he would have fallen 

 hundreds of feet to the bottom of a precipice. His 

 danger almost oau-ed our blood to chill, and for days 

 the sight was deeply impressed on our minds. The 

 risk was exceedingly gnat for the small amount of 

 ralue received in the little toddy procured. The date 

 tree climbers have no need of notcho3 as the cast 

 off branches of the tree leave it sufficiently rough to 

 hold their feet. But we have often wondered how 

 one could possibly reach the little chattie fastened 

 many feet high in the green top of the smooth barked 

 brab tiee. "We have been in this country over ten 

 yearji, and only the other day was our curiosity on 

 this matter satisfied. It was simplicity itself, yet 

 very curious. The bundarie takes a small coil of rope 

 Ihe strands of which are lot much thicker than rope 

 yarn, and makes it into a short loop of many strands. 

 This IS not more than eighteen inches long. In this 

 loop' he places his ankles. It serves to hold his feet 

 togethtr as he places them against Ihe trunk of the 

 tree. A similar loop, a little longer, he places around 

 the tree awd around each wrist. Tke arrangement 

 allows him ths fullest use of his hands, and enables 

 him to firmly h»id the tree. Thus ho is equipped 

 for a joarncy to the top of ihe tallest and smoothest. 

 As he ascends he appears like a huge frog .spring- 

 gni up the tree. To descend, he has only to loeseii 

 his grip, and he conies sliding rapidlj' to bottom. 

 His feet are worn thick and hard in great ridges. 

 Of course tlieir knives and other implements, and a 

 large chattie, are fastened to a strap around their 

 wa.st. 



This toddy, fresh from the tree, has a sweet, plea- 

 sant, nnd slightly aromatic taste. It is said to be 

 healthful and non-inti .\icating. It soon ferments, how- 

 ever, when it becomes slightly intuxicatiug. Most of 

 the natives prefer the fevmented toddy, but even this 

 is go little impregnated with alcohol that it takes 

 from a quarttr to half a gallon to make a man top- 

 heavy. If it were not for the formation of an ap- 

 petite, that toddy cannot satisfy, and the waste of 

 money in i's use, th^re could be little said against 

 it; but thes'^ are sufficient reasons, we think, for any 

 people to wholly abstain from this the least harm- 

 ful of into.'ccanti. — Madras Mail. 



SUGAR-PLANTING IN FIJI. 



The New Zealand Sugar Company's new mill on the 

 Ba River m-.de its first start en Monday, the 12^h inst. 

 The concern is an offshoot from the Colonial Sugar 

 Rf-fining Ccmpany, which has its Fijian headquarters 

 at Nausori, on the Eewa River. But in the Ba venture 

 there is also a large amount of New Zealand capital 

 invest'^d by shareholders having an interest in it alone. 

 The prosecution of this enterprise has opened np for 

 cane culture one of the most important districts of the 

 colony. The river itself, the mouth of which i.s on Viti 

 LtTu, about SO miles fomLevuka and 120 from Suva, 

 is the second largest in the group. It is infe'ior only 

 to the Rewa, and it has the advantage of greater depth. 

 At half-tide the passage is open for craft ranging up to 

 SO ton"-, and once over the flats the river offers an open 

 course for l."- miles. The stream holds its way between 

 banks of rich chocolate soil rising from 7 ft. to ]0 ft. 

 above oidiniry level, and on either hand stretches back 

 rich country. 



The attraction of soil and easy means of water transit 

 ware not overlooked in the eailier settlement of the 

 CLiintry, In the days when cotton wa.i inore largely 

 grown the river banks were dotted with the homesteads 

 of pioneer planters. Cultivation was carried on with 

 vigovir and perseverrnce, and the Ba was one of the 

 busiest centres of European population outside of 

 Lefuka. But the settlers seemed to have fai'ed to 

 agree with the natives. The mutual relations were 

 always those of an armed truce, often breaking out into 



opea bostiiitiee^ aud, with the £ai Colo especiallj, tbere 



was carried on a constant war of reprisals. The two 

 saddest results of this were the murder of Messri. 

 Spires and M'Intosh in 1871, and the massacre of th« 

 Burns family, father, mother and childern, and 

 labourers, in 1873. This led to the interposition of the 

 Government forces between the snttlers and the moun- 

 taineers. But as the former had long b«en in riolent 

 opposition to the authorities oonstituted under King 

 Oakobau, they hot'y »esented this interferenee. One by 

 one the settVrs succumbed to the influeace of the 

 cotton failure, and the cultivators dwindled to a few, 

 who still clung to the old location. 



Upon this state of things the New Zealand Company 

 broke in during 1883 by purchasing the Rarawai plant* 

 ation. The purchase of other contiguous blocks 

 followed, until about 3,000 acres were available for 

 immediate cultivation. There are now about 1,600 

 acres undtr crop, and the cane, young and old, kai a 

 splendid appearance. About half the abort) aereafe 

 is rf-ady for crushing, and it is expected to put through 

 1,000 acres this s ason. 



The Ba flats are more open for cultivation than the 

 Rewa laod^, and because of the rainfall being much 

 lighter the tillage must be more thorough and system- 

 atic. Steam and gang ploughs have been employed, 

 and the land has been thoroughly subsoiled, so that 

 the cane may strike deep into the moisture. But it is 

 recognised that recour.ce must eventually be had to 

 irrigation, and a f cheme has been already plotted, the 

 cost of which, it is ssid, will approach £25,000. Until 

 recently the labourers emplcyed on the estate numbered 

 about 450 coolies and nearly 200 Polynesiana. To 

 th^se 500 more coolies have recently been added. 

 Fijians are only employed as casuals. It is intended 

 to add to this crushing and manufacturing power as 

 cultivation increases. The bnildinjf* at headquarters 

 form quite a small town in themselves, and there are 

 besides man)' blocks erected for working convenience 

 in other parts of the estate. Lsn 1 tran.'it, as regards 

 the carriage of cane to the mill, is provided for by 

 about 15 miles of tramway, and for water transit the 

 company has its large iron punts and a powerful 

 steamer of 80 tons. 



Good as the harvest promises to be throughout the 

 colony, grave doubts are entertained as to the richnesa 

 of the reward, and in view of the low prices ruling the 

 market, one of the largest planters and millowners, Mr. 

 Jas. Muray, of the Navua Company, has written to a 

 local paper sketching future prospects in very dreary 

 tints. It is the effect of beet competition that he 

 dreads; and until this shall have been placed on a 

 different footing he anticipates anything but pro- 

 fitable results from the manufacture of cane sugor. 

 Nevertheless, it is significant that the Ba enterprise 

 has been entered upon chiefly by the old cstabli-'hed 

 Sugar Refining Company, who^e experience h<t.s 'lern 

 gathered in other thaJi Fijian field.=, and after it had 

 spent over a quarter of a million of money in testing 

 the capabilities of the colony. Had the result been 

 other than encouraging it is scarcely lik«!y that it 

 would have so largely increased its investment. — Atii' 

 tralinian. 



PLANTERS ANl:) COOLIE BROKERS, 



In Deli, Chinese craft and persistent comlnnatiort 

 have once more scored a remarkable tiiumph over 

 European disregard of the axiom that -'Union is 

 strength." For a long while, coolie biokera in the 

 Straits, as is the way with monopolist', h«.d tn ken ad-» 

 vantage of their position as such, to exact higher 

 and higher commissions on concluding labour con: racts 

 with planters in that colony, until their exactions 

 so outwent all boutMls that the planters, losine patience, 

 determined in 1585 to free theuifelve^ from su-^h 

 galling thraldom, when the broker charge on each 

 cooli«» delivered rose in amount to $60 8n<l even more, 

 of which the labourer only got one half. The plan- 

 ters formed a ring and decided upon giving no more; 

 than 550 as advance on each coolie. Tho brokers h< re, 

 being taken ([uite aback by thi« unlocked for show 

 of that unity which alone gives itrength, disiemblsd, 



aud Oftde bcliere t& assent to tbon?^ arrniigcjuep&f 



