Mey 



1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



857 



loug home, his durai beiug the oiily moiu-uer, though the 

 Mahiy headman remarked that he hoped somebody would 

 give him as good a funeral when his turn came. 



Being now without au intrepreter, and my knowledge of 

 Malay very limited, for I had only been 6 weeks or two 

 months in Perak, there was difficulty in making myself 

 understood, and Mr. Bozzolo kindly relieved me, he com- 

 ing down to Cecilia and I I'eturning to the mountain top 

 bungalow. I believe Mr. B. made short work of the 

 Chine.sc and soon put a stop to the nocturnal row they 

 made by chasing them round with a long bamboo, and, as 

 they owed the Government money for advances on con- 

 tracts for the jungle felling and cleanng, a holing 

 contract was given them to clear themselves and then clear 

 out altogether ! 



Suffice it to say, at the expense of his health, for several 

 bad attacks of fever laid him low, Mr. B. succeeded in 

 getting the Ceciha clearing planted before the rains were 

 over about Christmas time. 



The climate here is vei'y similar to that of Ceylon : 3 

 months of wet weather in October, November, and Dec- 

 ember, squally weather at the change of monsoons in 

 the middle of the year, and the rest as di-y and hot as 

 — as — well — as a baker's oven ! 



It may interest some of yom' " clerks of the weather," 

 who take an interest in meteorological returns, to see the 

 rainfall for the past wet .season in Perak, so hereivith a 

 copy of the register on oiu' Government Hill Garden : — 



Meteorological returns for Nov.-Dec. 1882 and Jan. 1SS.3 of 

 the Government Experimental Mountain Gardens, Perak. 

 Elevation 3,.500 ft. Thcr. in the shade. 



Inches. Average Temp. 

 1882.— Total rainfaU for Nov. 16-79 7U° 



1882.— „ ,, „ Dec. 6-66 70° 



1883.— „ „ „ Jan. 1-42 74° 



Total 24-87 

 Both December and January fell short of the average rain- 

 fall of past years in Perak. October retm-ns were sent to the 

 Government Office. 



N.B. — Though the December rainfall only amounted to 6-00 

 tlie days were cloudy and we had good planting weather, 

 which was much better than heavy phimi^s of i-aiu, there 

 beiug few breaks in the working days. 



On the 2ud Feb. (this month) we got 1-74, on the 6th 

 42 points, and points on the 7th Feb. 



You will see that January was very deficient in rain, 

 and our newly planted supphes suffered to some extent 

 in consequence on the hill, though on Cecilia, where the 

 forest wa.s only recently felled virgin forest, everything 

 put down is gi-owing remarkably well, and promises 

 to be a successful clearing for tea and coffee of both 

 Liberica and Arabica as well as fruit-trees and rubbers, 

 &c., ifcc. 



Although more fortunate than Mr. B. in escaping fever 

 nevertheless I began to feel out of sorts, and used an 

 Englishman's pri\Tlege pretty freely by " growling like a 

 bear with a sore-head " at everything and anj-thiug— a 

 sure sign of the Uver being out of order. When in this 

 state a letter from Captain Schutze generally arrived by 

 a kling, inviting me to spend the follo%ving Sunday at 

 Waterloo, and this of course was duly accepted, the Jjony, 

 which we named "the Diike of Wellington," being m 

 readiness at the lower bungalow. The nde to Waterloo 

 was not "beer and skittles," however, for the " Iron Diike " 

 was very ti'oublesome and lazy at times and bad at going 

 downldll, and if I dismounted he expressed objections 

 to my getting up ag.ain, and then when everj-thing was 

 going on smoothly and the rider began to hum a tune 

 m contentment whilst passing through a natural 

 botanic garden (for such is the vii-gin forest of Perak), 

 the Duke would come to a dead stand-still before 

 a giant of the forest l.i or 16 feet in circumference 

 lying prostrate acros.s the bridle path, and all this time 

 the heavy rain falling iti a most pitiless fashion on horse 

 and rider. 



A climb up .Jacob's ladder brought me to the Waterloo 

 bungalow, tired and wet through, and the " gin-sliug," 

 already on the verandah table, for our especial benefit, was 

 very acceptable, the dis*ance travellnd beiug about 14 miles, 

 more than half of which distance walked, and breakfast 

 nowhere, except perhaps a bottle of beer and a Chinese 

 rusk at the tamby's caddy on the Kwala Kangsa road 

 to Gapis 



On another occasion we made a journey to Waterloo' 

 walking eight miles down our own hill to the lower garden 

 on the banks of the Kangsa river, and mounted the 

 female elephant, who carried u.s along Lady Weld's road 

 and on towards " Eomah Papan " to the turn off at Sara 

 Liberian coffee garden without mishap, but when des- 

 cending the steep jungle path roiuuling the picturesque 

 Limestone-hill before referred to, she began to show signs 

 of unwillingness to go on any further. Oapt. E. had dis- 

 mounted and Mr. Yare got up in liis stead, but our combined 

 weights only amounted to about 300 lb., or say three hundred- 

 weights, not at all a heavy load for an elephant (although a 

 female). I remarked that her ladyship was very lazy, where- 

 upon Mr. Yare gave her a gentle kick at the back of the 

 left ear and she accordingly went a little faster, but on 

 arrival at a dirty pool of water sucked up a considerable 

 quantity of gray, muddy, luke-warm water and throw- 

 ing her trunk high in the air gave («c the full benefit of 

 a warm bath, smothering my shirt front and lilue cloth coat 

 with m,ud and filthy smelling stagnant water. This was 

 quite an unexpected unadulterated christening and so care- 

 less was this young woman in rounding corners where the 

 road was a gradient of about 1 in 6 and in passing by pro- 

 jecting branches of trees by the roadside that we thought 

 it prudent to perform the rest of our journey on foot, getting 

 wet as usual before reaching the ^^'■atorIoo bungalow. How- 

 ever, it is a long jungle path that has no short cut, and on 

 arrival a bath and cliange of clothes with refreshment soon 

 made us forget the unpleasantness of jungle travelling in the 

 rainy season in Perak. 



The young ladies treated us to select music, and everj' 

 luxury that could be wished for was obtainable at Captain 

 Schutze's hospitable board. A full description of this estate 

 was given in letter 3. So we need say no more than what 

 has been before stated that it is a fine property, beautifully 

 situated and the bungalow very comfortable. Among.st 

 other amusements in the drawing-room is au organ mounted 

 by four figures, one of them a monkey in full dress play- 

 ing the violin, whilst another gentleman collects the half- 

 pence, though, should anybody play him a practical joke by 

 putting anything foreign to money into the plate, he de- 

 liberately throws it back to the donor. Another holds a 

 bottle in one hand and goblet in the other and drinks to the 

 visitors, and the fourth is an ancient individual who twists 

 a golden serpent round a pole. All of them shake their heads 

 in a knowing manner and roll their eyes, making up a very 

 comical and amusing exhibition (" all for a penny"). 



Unfortunately the Schutze family took their departure from 

 Perak to Singapore last Christmas, and Mr. Wambeek from 

 Ceylon is in charge. Poor fellow he nnist have a lonely 

 time of it by himself. There are no planting neighbours 

 between this and Kwala Kangsa on the one side and 

 Thaipeng on the other: both towns very far away. 

 Perak is certainly very thinly populated and tlie monkeys 

 seem to hold possession of thousands of acres that might 

 be under cultivation. It seems a desolate country at 

 times and requiresa stout heart to make oneself feel 

 at home in such a wilderness. Poor Taylor isdown 

 with liver in Penang and bis good wife and family with 

 him and it is feared he will not be allowed to return to 

 his duties. I believe Mr. B. has gone to see them off to 

 England, if fit to be removed from his sick bed. The 

 state of Perak loses the services of an able and energetic 

 officer of loug and steady service. He was in charge of the 

 armed police-force at Kwala Kangsa, the Resident's 

 quarters. 



When at K. K. Mrs. T. kindly supplied us with bread 

 on the hill, but .since Christmas we had to depend entirely on 

 Huntly & Palmer's. .Sometimes runinng out of biscuits, we 

 then tried a bag of flour and a bottle of baking-powder, and 

 Mr. B. purchased a " Mistress" stove. The writer turned 

 baker and the first loaf was a success, being made with milk. 

 The next loa.' not so good, being heavy and causing dreams of 

 murder and Si-e, two-edged swords, snakes, centipedes, and 

 other dreadful things. 



The last-named imect comes down from the roof regularly 

 every evening when the duplex lamp is put on the dining 

 table. Great big ones sometimes come Hop on the table, and 

 one night a centipede stmig me on the pulse vein and threw 

 me into a fever all night, ch-cauiing that another 

 was inside the bed and had stuug my left leg! On 

 New Year's night a big fellow dropped iuto my plate, 



