654 



tHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Afril x, 1887, 



moist district, Siflfragam, Kurunegala, the Kelani 

 Valley, Kalutara, Ualle, Matara, and doubtless other 

 localities would be suitable. The pamphlet iu question 

 sajs: — '* The Khea Manufacturing Company will sujiply 

 seeds aud plants and cuttings, and will either buy 

 the crop, or, in certain cases, accept drafts against 

 consignments intended for treatment and cell thntn 

 to the best advantage of the consignor. The Rhea 

 Manufacturing Company is prepared to con.sider pro- 

 positions for its s:)le agency in such of the British 

 Colonies and dependencies as are not alrea iy occupied 

 by its lict;us>-es ; the principal duties of such ageiits 

 being to facilitate the cultivation of rhea by even 

 the smallest landholder. The patent processes of M. 

 Favier and Professors Fremy and Urbain, of which 

 this Compa.iy holds the exclusive rights, render it 

 po-isible to convert into " ribbans " on tbe ground 

 where grown the whole crop so soon as cut. As 

 th 8 is done without breaking or beaMng the stems, 

 alii the "nature" and valuable quallti-s of the fibie 

 are preserved. The preparation of the raw material 

 so obtained is completed at the Company's extensive 

 works on the Kiver Lea, near London. Growers, 

 therefore, de ling with the Khea Manufacturing 

 Company, Limited, will produce at the smallest cost, 

 and will receive the highe.-t market rates. Rhea 

 varies in its yield ai,d quality according to the lati- 

 tude in which it is grown, the land in which it is 

 planteil, the time of year iu which it is cut, the 

 rain-fall of the locality or facility obtainable for 

 artificial irrigation. A consideratiou of paramount 

 imporiauce is that the outlay, diligence and care in- 

 di^pensable for a rhea plantation cease (so far as the 

 area planted is coucerned) with the end of the second 

 year. After the second year the agriculturist has an 

 increasirig and perpetual income and a minimum ex- 

 penditure. Rhea is an evergreen, and once properly 

 planted fills every vacrint spot of ground, leaving no 

 room for weeds. The normal crops really begin on^y 

 after the second year of plantii g; from that lime the 

 crops obtainable thiougout India and latitudes fr.>m 

 0° to 20° may be calculated as from 3 to 6 p^r annum, 

 each crop giving in tLe third year about 200,000 stems 

 per acre. This number, however, as well as the weight 

 of each stem and of the fibre in each stem, will vary 

 according to the conditions mentioned above. Taking 

 an ave-age of four crops a year or 800,0('0 stem.s per 

 acre pr year, and 10 green stems (stripped iff their 

 leaves and with the tops cut off) to the pound, and 

 taking it hIso that the ribbons, when decorticated, 

 will weigh one-tenth of the gross weight of the green 

 stem (Stripped off its leaves and minus its top) the 

 800.000 green stems will weigh 80,000 lb. aud should 

 yield 8,0<;0 lb. of dy ribbons. As-umiug the selling 

 price of these ribb ms to be £10 per ton on the 

 ground there would be in tbe first and second years 

 enough top.s for thd nursery, plants for transplanting, 

 and i-tems cut f' r ribbons to cover all costs incurred 

 except the ori in il outlay for preparing the ground 

 and purchase of p ants. According to the statements 

 of the mannger of the Company it will require about 

 two millions of matured sterns to yield a tonof m-tiket- 

 able fibre woi th £-30. The preparation of the ribbons 

 for working int'j the fibre is, I am assurei^, of the 

 simpl' 8t and most inexpensive kind, by a patented 

 process which the Company will place at the disposal 

 of unyone working them. I furnish these outlines in 

 the belief that someone or more with spare land ou his 

 hand may care to try this new cultivation. — Local 

 «'Time»." 



BRITISH NORTH BORNEO: ITS PEOPLE AND 



PRODUCTIONS. 



The island of Borneo and the surrounding; de&a 

 are exceptionally ri-jh in natural products, many of 

 which, are, as yet hardly, if at all, collected or 

 utilized. The m;.iii reason why these resources have 

 been so little takeu advatitage of hitherto, la, that 

 matters have been in .Ruch a disorganized and anar- 

 chial state, that it was impos.^ible to store up the 

 slightest wealth, without some one more powerfu 

 than tbe poasessor coming and seizing it, by force 



of arms, if need be. It was useless, therefore, up 

 to quite lately, for any one to attempt to do more 

 than provide for his immediate wants, and bo much 

 has this grown to be a habit, added to the natural 

 laziness of the Malay character, that the bulk of 

 the people simply have, even now, no thought for 

 the morrow. A remarkable illustration of this is 

 found in the undoubted fact, that it has been known 

 that Bajau boats having brought some "find" of a 

 rather higher importance than usual to market, 

 aud bartered it for the only article they attach any 

 value to, rice, have afterwards thrown the greater 

 part of the remainder into the sea, rather than be 

 at the trouble of taking it about witii them. It 

 will thus be understood that the people of these 

 parts have come to regard it as but a ma.tural state 

 of affairs that they should be surrounded by wild 

 produce of a valuable character, which they hav« 

 only to stretch out their arms to gather, and, in 

 fact, as a Bank upon which they simply have to 

 draw, whenever the need arises. 



Sea Produce. — Beche-de-mer, scientific name, Holo- 

 tkui-ta, or Sea-cucumber : Malay, trepang : Bajau, bart. 

 These repulsive looking echinoderms occur in quant- 

 ities all round the coast, and are collected princip- 

 ally by the Bajaus, or sea-gipsies, who cure and 

 dry them, and bring them to market, where they 

 are bought by Chinese traders, and sent ultimately 

 to China, where they are much appreciated, being 

 used principally to make soup of. They vary csin- 

 siderably iu price. Some of them have no value at 

 all, aud go uncollected ; others fetch as much as 

 S25 a picul, but the usual price is from §10 to S15 

 per picul. Along our own coast they are rather 

 fully collected, but amongst the i.=ilands, and on the 

 coast line down to the south there are immense 

 quantities left undisturbed from year to year. The 

 exports of this curious produce during the years 

 1882, 1883, and 1884, were valued at S6,739, S9>057 

 and 7,373 respectively. 



Keema is a large mollusc, resembling an enormona 

 cockle or clam. Their shells may occasionally be 

 seen in museums in England, and are much used 

 in France as vessels for Holy Water at tUe entrances 

 to churches ; these shells are sometimes found six 

 feet in width, and the natives aver that they grow 

 very much larger, and state that on the coast of 

 Tawi-Tawi, there is one as big "as a house." It 

 may be mentioned, however, that fifteen feet broad 

 for a Bajau house, would be quite a respectable 

 size. Kecma is usually found on a coral bottom, 

 and it requires the keen and practised eye of a 

 Bajau, to distinguish between them and the sur- 

 rounding lumps of coral, etc., they usually present 

 tlie appearance of an indigo-blue streak, the partly 

 opened month being all that is visible, the shell 

 being too much covered by sea-weed, anemonies, &c., 

 to be seen, and when the Bajau distinguishes one 

 from amongst the quantities of other creatures and 

 colours, with which the bottom abounds, he thrusta 

 a three-pronged spear into the aperture, whereupon 

 the two sheila close with a firm grasp, which enables 

 the fisherman to bring it to the top without further 

 trouble. The price of Keema is usually so low, that 

 it is despised by the gatherers, though however low 

 the price might be, §2 to S3 a day, could always 

 be earned by collecting it. During the war between 

 France and China the prices of Keema rose con- 

 siderably, owing, I was told, to its being more easily 

 prepared for culinary purposes than trepanri, and 

 therefore more adapted for soldiers on the march. 

 There are places on the coast where boat loads can 

 be got in a very few days, and its collection was 

 being largely expanded, when the end of the war 

 came, and prices showed a disposition to fall. 



Agar-agar, an edible sea-weed grows freely enough 

 in many places at the bottom of the sea, and is to 

 be had for the collecting. 



Mother-of-Pearl Shell is the produce of a very large 

 oyster, known locally as trpai. Beds of this oyster 

 are found in the seas all the way from Borneo to 

 Australia, more or less; they would soem to termin- 

 ate, however, about Lat. 6, North. There is a tra- 

 dition of a large bed being situated outside Balhalla, 

 Isomewhere between the islands of Nunuyan svnd 



