June i, 1887.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



801 



ARTS AND INDUSTRIES IN EASTERN 



AFRICA. 



Domestic arts and industries have not yet reached 

 a high state of development. IMost of the agricultural 

 implements are made from a hard wood, called "black- 

 wood " or"cuist ebony.'' The ]Makuas make a fine 

 string from the roots of a tree termed mhimlKt. The 

 AVatussi draw out fine copper threads, with which they 

 fabricate nicri/es. a kind uf ring compose<l of giraft'e- 

 hair bound spirally with the metallic thread, and worn 

 as leglets. 



In I'sambara, native talent has devised more than 

 one form of mnsical instrument. A small clarionet, 

 called zuittali, about Is inches long, and with a reed 

 mouthpiece, gives out sounds much resembling those of 

 the Welsh bagpipe without the drone ; it ranks second 

 to the drum in puliiic favour. The jtavi/n, or :('ze, is 

 a doble-striuged lute, in which half a calabash serves 

 as a sounding-board. The /.(r«f//f/ is a shield-like board, 

 about 2 feet long and 8 inches wide, rounded at the 

 ends, into which two round notched sticks of hard wood 

 are inserted, so as to form a curve over it; these notched 

 sticks are then rubbed up aid down with smaller 

 sticks, so as to produce a rasping and most unmusi- 

 cal noise. A more capable instrument is the viriiiija, a 

 large, rude, paino-like contrivance, formed of two thick 

 banana-stems laid parallel, and of pieces of hard wood 

 fastened crosswise between these, made so that those 

 giving the highest notes are in the middle, the lower 

 at each side. It is played upon by striking the notes 

 with two sticks. 



In the INIassasi district ironstone abounds, and is uti- 

 lised by the natives. They smelt this mineral in furna- 

 ces dug out of old ant-hills, and then forge hoes and 

 axe-heads from the iron tiius obtained. One of the 

 chief employments of the people of ^lakua is the smelt- 

 ing and working of iron, the ore of which is procured 

 from the hills of Ohiga. The manner of workinsr is 

 very similar to that practised by the Ajavva or Yao 

 tribe. The charcoal furnace is blown to a white heat 

 by four separate blowers worked by hand, consisting 

 of skins of a small deer, into each of which is bound 

 a retort made of clay, the mouth leailing into the fire. 

 The anvil is a slab of granite; the hammer a heavy 

 cube of stone, slung with fibre cord let into grooves at 

 its sides. Hoes, knives, aud axes are thus made at very 

 cheap rates. 



Every woman in Chole, south of Zanzibar, appears to 

 be engaged in plaiting grass mats, which are largely 

 exportel. In this district, near each village, bark hives 

 are fixed on cross branches about G ft. from the ground, 

 bees being very numerous, and the wax of good quality, 

 is brought to .Samanga for barter. The Kufizi delti 

 furnishes an almost inexhaustible supply of mangrove 

 wood, which is shippped to the Red Sea and Arabia 

 as_ "Zanzibar rafters." In the forests and jungles of 

 this region the rubber vine {Landolphia ) is plentiful, 

 and the product is collected. The produce of the Mozam- 

 bique coast consists chiefly of oil-seeds (awr/c/onw aud 

 f/ergelim), rubber, ivory, copper, aud wax. Rubber vines I 

 compose much of the forest in Masisi;the trees are , 

 gashed, as the escaping fluid soon assumes a pasty con- 

 sistence, and is then rolled into orange-like balls for sale. I 

 Somaiiland exports myrrh and incense; the forests of i 

 IJsambara afford " ebony, '" copal, '• teak, " acacia, rubber, 

 orchella, betel-pepper, prickly smilax, and other useful I 

 plants. The bagamoyo coast exports copal, grain, sem- 

 sem, ivory, wax aud rubber. On Lake Ugombo the hard 

 reed-grass called miombo, when beaten, rubbed and twist- 

 ed, makes splendid rope, while another reed termed 

 mdfte affords excellent material for sun-blinds. The finest 

 timber tree met with iu Gaza is a species of f/ardenia, 

 known as I'lnshaaatse or vuipani, furnishing planks 2 ft. 

 wide and 40 ft. long. In IJsambara gates to towns are 

 made from the wood of a species of Acacia, called 

 hiLonf/olo. black within and white without, which is so 

 hard as to almost withstand the; attacks of white ants. 

 The mhtingit vine ( LnndoJphia) is known from I'angani 

 to Handei, and the copal tree ( .s-7/aZas! ) is abudaut in 

 the woods adjoining the inner side of the wilderness of 

 l-sa,mh&Ta..—Jot(inal cf the Societii of Arts. 

 IPI 



TOBACCO GROWING IN DELI. 



The United States Tohaccn Jovrml published lately 

 a report by the German Consul at Singapore on the 

 cultivdtaion of tobacco in the Island of Sumatra. 

 This report gave first a detailed account of all the 

 localities in Sumatra suitable for tobacco raising ; it 

 then described minutely and graphically the process 

 of planting, &e., and lastly, it gave a pretty close 

 1 calculation of the cost of production. To buy a plant- 

 ation of a hundred fields, says the report, and to 

 I put it in a perfect state ready for cultivation, in- 

 clusive of the erection of sheds and houses for the 

 I men and tobacco, cost about from §25,000 to §.'10,000. 

 j The raising of the tobacco is done by coolies, who' 

 . receive from §2 to SS for every thousand plants, the 

 j price depending on the quality and yield of the crop ; 

 j while every plant is permitted to bear only twelve 

 I to twenty leaves. "We will take an average of fifteen 

 leaves to the plant, tliat will give 15,000 leaves to a 

 I thousand plants. Let us average a hundred leaves 

 I to the pound, of fine grade of Sumatra, and we shall 

 ! get 5i cents (of dollars) as the price of Labour re- 

 ; presented in one pound of Sumatra-grown tobacao. 

 A plantation of a hundred fields, representing an 

 investment of a capital of, say §30,000, will yield on 

 an average 225,000 pounds per crop; the interest of 

 the capital at six percent, amounting to §1,800, will 

 add another 3 of a cent. The freight-charge from 

 the eastern coast of Sumatra to Amsterdam has just 

 ; been put down to §1-.^1, per bale by the Xord- 

 deutscher Lloyd, con.sequently the entire gross outlay 

 j to raise a pound and ship it to Amsterdam amounts 

 I to about c.7i. Considering the depressed state of 

 the tobacco leaf market of the United States, the 

 I Tobacco Journal refers its countrymen to this mine 

 of wealth, open to American enterprise, and is sur- 

 prised that the Americans generally having the repu- 

 1 tation for smartnes.s, should have allowed the Ger- 

 I mans aud other nations to get the start of them. 

 Likely they (the Americans) are deluded by the belief 

 that none but Netherlanders are permitted to acquire 

 land in Sumatra. On this point we dare say that 

 a considerable part of the tobacco growing in Deli, 

 1 by which name a large part of the eastern coa.st of 

 Sumatra is called, is in the hands of foreigners, notably 

 Germans and Swiss. Among the planters 'of Deli 

 proper every European nation is represented. We 

 should have omitted tliis remark had it not been that 

 in the report by the Germun Consul at Singapore 

 the contrary is intimated. A report compiled by this 

 official is certainly very inaccurate in several parti- 

 culars, and no woudor that thel'nited State^ Journal 

 thinks its countrymen somewhat behind the times 

 if such were the case. 



A tobacco plantation is not a pear garden, pur- 

 chased in spring to sell the fruits in autumn, how- 

 ever, and we need not explain how much labour 

 and capital are required before the grounds are ready 

 for cultivatiou, and ready to yield the first leaf of 

 tobacco. But besides this, we do not understand 

 wliere the Consul got his statements. He first cal- 

 culates that a plantation of a hundred fields will 

 yield on an average of '225,000 pounds of tobacco, 

 2,2..0 pounds, or IS piculs per field ; it is generally 

 known that an average of 7 piculs per field is very 

 satisfactory, and one of 8 piculs may be considered 

 as very successful indeed. There are really fields 

 yielding exceptionally 10 or 12 piculs, but, on the 

 other hand, there are a great number of fields yield- 

 ing only 3 to 5 piculs. The freight-charge calculations 

 to raise a pound of Sumatra and ship it to Amster- 

 dam is so ridiculous that we shall say no more on 

 t;he subject. It may be suflicient to state that the 

 following expenses are omitted, viz. : — Salary of mana- 

 gers, clerks, mandors, &c., iu India, and iu the Nether- 

 lands for directors, administration, outlay of capital 

 on buildings aud materials, carriage, freights on board, 

 charges for unloading and storage, &c. It comes to 

 the amount of c. 18| (Netherlands currency) per pound. 

 Iu order to warn our American friends we add here- 

 uuto that with a single exception a pound of Sumatra 



