3Z2 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1882. 



land is as plenty as the wild tracts of prairie in our west. 

 It will not pay Europeans, with their usual mode of 

 plantiuy in the east, to engage in planting gambler at 

 the present prices, and Chinamen only can exist by it. 

 Other natives, Hindoos and Ma'ays, could also exist by it 

 if they were possessed of the industry and stamina for 

 making money as the Celestials are. Kich Chinese capit- 

 alists, known as " Towkays," upon the arrivals of shiploads 

 of poor coolies from China either hire them and make 

 contracts with them for planting and boiling gambler, or 

 they advance them money upon condition of obtaining a 

 certain share of a crop, and take care that they receive 

 the " lion's share." Those gambier-plantiug coolies are 

 little Ijctter then slaves, since, as a rule, they only earn 

 a scanty living. But it is wonderful with what tenacity 

 they stick to their " Towkays" until they get a Httle 

 better acquainted hi the country, and find they can do 

 better at something else. By dint of careful management 

 and great industry some of the coohes that plant on 

 shares earn a little more than a living, and invest this 

 in such a careful manner in something or in some way, 

 that in a few years they become small " Towkays " them.- 

 selves, and pretty soon wealthy ones. There are to-day 

 in Singapore immensely wealthy Chinese " Towkays," who 

 were once gambier-planting coohes. The same or a similar 

 mode is observed in tin mining. 



The only marketable gambier is obtained (" cutch," or 

 " catecu," a species of gambier, planted in British Burmah, 

 and the coast of Tenasserim also) by boiling the clippings 

 (shoots with leaves and teudrUs; of the vines in huge 

 boilers ; the mass is strained and the extracted juice is 

 boiled until it becomes thick ; when cooled it is pressed 

 into square blocks or " cubes." When pressed into small 

 cubes it goes into the market under the name of " cube 

 gambier." The latter sort commands a higher figure because 

 it is treated with much greater care and is more free 

 from foreign matter. 



Oambier possesses" tannin" in a high degree, and is 

 exported chiefly for tanneries in Em-ope and America 

 as a very excellent substitute for bark. It is also used 

 for dyeing, and iu a pru-ified state for medical purposes, 

 being a great astringent. I have also been told that 

 beer-brewers purchase it, but I have been unable to learn 

 for what special purpose — I suppose to give beer a dark 

 brown color ; it so, while it serves to cheat, it is at least 

 harmless if not used too freely. 



When I first came here gambier was not largly ex- 

 ported to the Uuited States, and rather to Europe, Eng- 

 land principally. At that time it vacillated between S3 

 to Ig3.50 per picul, and that figure was (for the common 

 usual sort and not " cube") not often exceeded until the 

 latter half of 1S79, when it gradually rose, owing to 

 unprecedented demands, to §4 and over, and this with- 

 out getting lower than S4 to the present time. 



The exports of gambier to the United States during 

 the last tliree years have amounted to 81,060,619.05. 

 Considering this large quantity, it must be extensively 

 used in tanning and must be regarded at home as a 

 profitable material for that pm-pose. 



The blocks, in which shape gamliier is exported,, being 

 very heavy, the article comes very handy as "dead 

 weight" to ships loading produce, more especially since 

 nearly all the tin for the past five or six years (the 

 longer the more so) is shipped in steamers to the United 

 States. The more gambier a ship can get the sooner she 

 will be able to complete her cargo and go to sea. It is 

 to be regretted, however, that nearly all the tin, being 

 the best and easiest handled " dead weight" is, nowadays, 

 shipped by steamers, carrying nearly all tea as chief cargo. 

 Tin comes very handy to them because it is heavy and 

 clean, and, being cast into blocks or slabs, it can be 

 carried easily to any part of the ship for the purpose of 

 '* trimming the ship." 



GVU COPAL AND GUM DAMAR. 



Gum copal and gimi damar, both very important articles 

 of export iu larger quantities, steadily increasing, and iu 

 price as well, have been exported. 



Gum copal is a rosin of the earth, of which there 

 are very heavy deposits on or near the islai.d of Temate 

 in the Southeastern Archipelago, and at Goroiitalo or 

 Celebes, near the Moluccas. As we all know, it is used 

 in making varnish, and nothing here could have been a 



better barometer of increased manufacture and building 

 of edifices and vessels in the United States then the in- 

 creased demand for this valuable gum. The average 

 price of gum copal, including all charges, per picul, in 

 1S78 was about S6.90, in 1879 about S6|, and iu ISSO 

 about $12.50. Truly a strange change ; and the deposits 

 of the gum being regarded inexhaustible, I cannot 

 account for this enhancement iu 1880, excpt as the result 

 of an eager demand for immediate use, old supplies 

 having been exhausted. 



Gum damar (some call it and write •* dammar" which is 

 too strong an expression, and does not sound as the 

 Malays pronounce it, ?". e. , sounding hke damar, if pro- 

 nounced by an Itahan) — unlike gum copal, which 

 is of blown color and a rosin of the earth — is a tree- 

 rosin of hght amber color, and when prime almost 

 white and transparent. It exi.sts in the jungles of the 

 Malayan Peninsula and on the island of Sumatra and 

 other adjacent islands. That brought from Sumatra is 

 counted the best, though I have, myself, seen it on the 

 branches of trees in the interior of Malacca, and it had 

 as clear and white an appearance as any I have ever seen. 

 There are, however, various species of damar trees, each 

 producing a cHifereut shade in the color of the gum. 



The gum-trees are not at all scarce. I found them 

 always growing on the banks of rivers and creeks, the 

 branches overhanging and so low that the gum could be 

 gathered easily from a boat underneath, and from the 

 most of them no gum had appareutlly been gathered, 

 the branches having large adhesions of it. The price of 

 this gum has been on a slow, constant rise for several 

 years back, but I could not account for it through any 

 scarcity of it in the jungle, or a scarcity of natives to 

 go and gather it, without any hardsliips, except rowing 

 and raising the hands to gather it. 



The exports to the United States of gum copal and 

 gum damar during three years ending September 30 last 

 amounted to about S400,(XI0. — Oil mid Paint ICeview. 



THE MAKING OF TEA AND COFFEE. 



Some curious fanatics in matters of taste, bent on 

 belittUng the conclusions of extreme civiUzation, maintain 

 that the true and only wise method of taking tea and 

 coffee is to drink them as do the Cluuese the one and 

 the Turk or the Egyptain the other. The Celestial, who 

 exliausts his iesthetical powers on the appreciation of 

 bu"ds'-nest soup, and his gastronomic on the preparation 

 of rats and puppies in pies, puts a pinch of tea-leaves 

 into a tiny cup, pours on to it boiling water, and swaUows 

 it. The gustatory fanatic adniu'es the simphcity of the 

 operation, reflects that the Cliinaman grows tea, prepares 

 it for our use, knows every grade and quality of it, and 

 himself drinks it — ergo, the Chinaman's way of drinking 

 tea is the best \Fay. The Arab, again, discovered coffee, 

 wave it to Europe and the world, drank it first and drinks 

 it still. He roasts it a little, pounds it to a fine powder, 

 puts it into a little copper boiler which they call an ibric, 

 pours some boiling water on it, boils it an instant, and 

 serves it hot, to be drunk grounds and all. Now, the 

 Arab, quoth our fanatic, invented the beverage, grew the 

 berry, drauk it first, and drinks it still — therefore his 

 way of drinking it i.s ideal; and one continually hears 

 peojjla who have passed three months in the Levant talk 

 with the gravity of a Turk on the supreme and subhme 

 perfection of Turkish coffee hot from the il ric, and swallowed 

 grounds and all. I'hilosophy and gaslronoiuy are both 

 a"ainst the fanatic; the one against the assumption that 

 the taste of the barbarian is a proper stamlard, and the 

 other against the absurtl concUision that tea and coffee, 

 which are infusions, can be rendered more delicate to 

 the palate by the swallowing of the woody particles from 

 which the infusion is made simultaneously with the decoction 

 itself. I have never drunk tea with a mandarin, but I 

 have often taken it iu the houses of China merchants 

 habituated to the Celestial u.sages, and as choice in their 

 selection of the herb as Kuug himself could have been, 

 and of all varieties — Assam, Japanese, Chinese — and at 

 prices varying from £3 per lb. avoirdupois to Is. 3d., 

 yellow, green, black, overland, and sea-borne. I have also 

 had a large range of observation in coffee, my father 

 having been a Sybarite in that article alone of aU that 



