482 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December i, 1882. 



petition with and perhaps supersede the large quantity 

 of imported fisli, on which a tax is levied avowedly 

 for the purpose of protecting tlie revenue from salt. 

 Salt fish is, with rice, the staple food of a large 

 portion of the people of Ceylon, especially the im- 

 migrant coolies ; and it is obvious that the more 

 salt fish is eaten the less salt in a separate state 

 will be purchased and used. But we should think 

 cor. I'.erat: : 5 •' ' this kind would be put aside if 

 there was really the pros^iect of fostering a new and 

 profitable industry amongst a poor and hardworking 

 race of men — the fishermen of Ceylon. At present 

 they somehow, do cure a certam quantity of fish probably 

 by means of salt mud or salt sand. It stands to 

 reason that fish treated with impure salt is likely to 

 become putrid and unwholesome, and leprosy as well 

 as elephantiasis have been traced to the use of putrid 

 fish as food. We are glad to notice that the Madras 

 Government, while makiug liberal concessions as to 

 the use of pure salt, have stopped this source of 

 danger, and similar concessions on the part of the Cey- 

 lon Government might be accompanied with coiTe- 

 sponding restrictions. The result would naturally be 

 salt fish of a better quality and at cheaper prices 

 than can now be obtained. Of course if the Government 

 of Ceylon followed the example of the Government of 

 Madras by establishing fish curing compounds, the 

 first experiments would be tried in proximity to the 

 natural formations at Hambantota in the south of 

 the island ; Tondemanaar in the extreme north ; and 

 near Puttalam on the north-west shore, where " bay 

 salt " is extensively manufactured in evaporating beds. 

 All the fish caught within a good distance of Colombo, 

 Galle and other centres of population, will, of course, 

 find a ready market in its fresh state, the passenger- 

 steamers now crowding to Colombo, helping to swell 

 the demand. But there are extensive sweeps of coast. 

 Indented with bays and estuaries, in the east, north 

 and south of the island, in which fish must swarm, 

 for which uo near market is availalile. For instance, 

 on both sides of Batticaloa, especially round by 

 MuUetivoe to Point Pedro ; on both sides of Manaar ; 

 in the Gulf of Calpentyn, &c. The question is : 

 are our fishermen enteiiirizing enough to take 

 advantage of the proposed concessions if Government 

 made them ? As our readers are aware, the existine 

 fisheries are carried on not merely by the Siuhalesg 

 in the outriggered canoes and ballams, but by Tamils 

 from the opposite Continent in their primitive rafts 

 called catamarams — the simplest floats on which 

 human beings can trust themselves on the waters of 

 the great deep. They seem as safe as even the out- 

 riggered canoes, which we regard as not ouly models 

 of beauty and swift sailers, but as excellent life-boats. 

 AVe recollect the time, some thirty years ago, when 

 the catamaram men first came over to compete with 

 the Suihalese iu the fisheries of our coast. Great was 

 the indignation of the local Hsliermen and gi-eat 

 their surprize that the local Government would not 

 accede to their petitions to drive away the interlopers 

 from what they regarded as their hereditary preserves. 

 The proper policy 'v\as adopted of leaving a pursuit 

 on which a large portion of the peojile are depend 

 ent for most of their food, open and free ; and 

 now if the Sinhalese fishermen should be backward, 

 the Tamils may step in and shew them the 'nay to 

 catch and cure fish on a large scale. And is it not 

 possible that a joint-stock Fishery Company supported 

 by European capital and guided by Kiuopcan energy, 

 might be formed and successfully v\crked ? It is 

 considerably more than frity years ago since we made 

 a similar suggesstion through the Oherrcr—when 

 Governor btewart Mackenzie abolished the fish tax, 

 in truth. During a residence of forty -five years in 

 Ceylon, which has just been rounded ofij the writer 

 has been ii pretty close observer of the doings and 



appliances of the fishermen. But it is only within 

 the past month that we have not'ictd the plan of 

 fishing adopted by the catamaram men of having a 

 lender attached to the raft which carries the net. 

 We saw five Tamils — stout, well-formed men — pre- 

 paring to " go a-fishuig " from near the KoUupitiya 

 raUway station. There were six separate logs lying 

 on the beach. Of these, four were first lashed together 

 and the net placed on the completed structure. The 

 three men told off for her then navigated the raft 

 cleverly through the reef and the surf ; the two 

 men left behind, meantime lashing the two logs, em- 

 barkmg on this narrow raft and following the larger 

 one, evidently in order to pull out and deposit the 

 net in tlie sea and help to haul it ia again. Is this 

 system of fishing new, or is it merely that we have 

 only now observed it ? We shall be glad to hear 

 from any who knows, on this and the general question. 



THE BAMBOO DISTRICT OF COORG, INDIA. 



"Broad Gauge" writes: — "The little province of 

 Coorg, girdled byhills, and washed by a thousand 

 streams, for a longtime little kuown outside the Presid- 

 ency, is fastpu-hiiig itself iutoa prominence which bids 

 fair to give it first rank amougst the planting districts of 

 India. A belt of forest immediately inside the ghiiut 

 range, varying f'om ten to fifteen miles in breadth, 

 and traversing the conulry its extreme length, gives 

 an area of some 250,000 acres. Within these limits 

 the soil and climate are admirably adapted for the 

 growth of coffee and cinchona. Only some 25,000 

 acres, or a tenth of the land available, are at pre- 

 sent in cultivation. In this favored district, com- 

 monly called 'the bamboo,' the coffee is kept in a 

 high state of cultivation, and planters are content 

 with nothing less than an aver,\ge yield of 7 cwts. 

 per acre. Cinchona cultivation has not made much 

 advance, but nuw that its adaptability for the more 

 hilly parts of this belt has been ascert.iinpd, it is 

 expected the enterprise will take a new departure. 

 It is an absolute fact that one can ride for twenty 

 miles throifgh an unbroken sheet of coffee, no single 

 field of which, at the present moiieiit, can truly be 

 characterised as in a negli-cted condition. Can this 

 be eaid of any other coffee district in India or 

 Ceylon ? Tliis Eldorado of coffee planters, posseas- 

 ing a gfnial climate, a teeming soil, aud an abnn- 

 dint labor supply is not without its drawbiick.i. A 

 remedy for these might be found, where the Mail, 

 which is now the recognised mouth-piece of Southern 

 India, to lift up its powerful voice iu behalf of those 

 enterprising men who have devoted all their energies 

 and tht best part of their lives to bring about the 

 stale of things described. The first and chiff require- 

 ments is improved means of communication. A rail- 

 way ia wanted, good roads are wanted, and a bridge 

 over the Cauvery at Sidapore. This latter work was 

 projected Boine years ago, and the Chief Commis- 

 sioner, on his last visit pledged himself toset it in 

 train, but so far nothing has been done. For six 

 months in the year the roads are practically blocked 

 fur wheeled traffic, and in the dry ivhether they con- 

 trast more unfavourably with the smooth^ well-kept 

 roads intersecting the planting districts of Ceylon. 

 Bnt a railway would develop the country more than 

 all the rest. The route from Tellicherry via the 

 Br.ripoHi valley and over the Gh.its at Kootiyal, 

 where the depression is greatest, and thence through 

 an easy rolling country into Mysore, would tap ex- 

 tensive forests rich iu latfnt resources, aud convert 

 in a tew ye-rs the present 5,0000 tons export iuto 

 50,0t;0 tons ol' coffee, not to mention other products 

 such as cliinchoua, rubber, cocoa and rice. The 

 present executive show unwonted liberality, and are 

 ever ready to recommend any policy that would pro- 



