tS6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1885. 



pulated with success as a substitute for silk. What I saw 

 at Bhim Tal answers very much to the description of the 

 Kew Zealand kkid ; and if a supply is wanted for an ex- 

 periment on a large scale, it could easily be obtained from 

 this locality after the raiuy season is over. In a small 

 tin-box enclosed in the packet I am now seuiiing are a 

 few of the spiders, not in very good order, but I had to 

 send for them. 



Mr. Thomas Wardle of Leek, England, reported thus 

 on the Bilk and the spiders ; — 



The fibre is evidently of a silken nature, and, like silk, 

 it is loaded with a gummy substance. In a boiling soap 

 EO'.ution this gum or varnish dissolves, leaving 

 the fibre apparently pure and of the nature of fibroin 

 if not identical with it. Eight micrometric measure- 

 ments of the diameter of the fibre in different 

 parts of the mass showed great irregularity in thickness 



/ I J_ J_ I— — 1- -J— ' _i_ \ 



\.230b' 2800' 3500' 2800' 3500' 3500' 3500' 3500/ 



giving an average of 3^00 inch. It has therefore a 

 considerably finer thread or fibre than silk, Italian silk 

 averaging in thickness ^-qq inch. The average strength 

 of the spider silk is jjroportionately greater than that of 

 Bilk, a single fibre of the spider silk breaking with an 

 average weight of 2J drams (Av.), whilst that of China 

 silk breaks at 2^ drams. The most curious property of 

 this fibre is its elasticity, which is considerably greater than 

 that of silk. Thirty centimetres of it will stretch to an 

 average length of 36-G centimetres before breakingt while 

 China silk will only stretch to 34 centimetres. Like silk 

 this spider's web silk is lustrous and has a round fibre. 

 Its coatnig of gum or varnish is disproportionate to the 

 weight of the silk. On boiling with soap it lost 7J oz. 

 per lb., that is, 1 lb. of the spider silk discharges 7J oz. 

 of gum. With silk the proportion is much leas, seldom 

 being over 25 to 30 per cent. Before boiling iu soap the 

 sjiider silk was well combed to remove all the dirt poss- 

 ible, but a little remained. The fibre appears to dye 

 readily. I enclose a small pattern of it dyed, and also 

 one as I received it and one after boiling in soap. I be- 

 lieve if it can be obtained in quantity it might be packed 

 in bales and sent to England where it would readily find 

 a market for being carded and .spun into spun silk-thread 

 for sewing or weaving purposes. It is dilBcult to estimate 

 its marketable value. I dare say it would at any rate 



realize 2s per lb. It 

 some extent detract 



is rather dirty, and this would to 

 from its value as compared with 

 silk wdste. I have tried to discover how many seripositors 

 this spider has, but beyond noticing under the microscope 

 that the fibres often run in pairs but not regularly, I am 

 unable to trace whether there are two, as in the ordin- 

 ary silk-worm, or more. Probably an examination of the 

 spider would show this or an ^^udisturbed portion of its 

 secreted silk. 



Here is an opening for a new industry. Our only 

 fear is that the scouring of the jungles for spiders' 

 webs, might end in the destruction of so many spiders 

 as prejudicially to destroy the balance of insect life, 

 common llies, mosquitoes and other creatures of the 

 kind becoming inconveniently abundant. But some of 

 our readers might 1 ke to try the experiment of 

 breeding silk-weaving spiders in perforated boxes, 

 where each mscct, if necessary, could have its own 

 compartment for wfaving in. 



POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF FIJI. 



DEPRESSION IN FIJI — CEYLON MEN LEAVING — THE CADSE OF 

 FAILURE, DEAR LABOL'E— THE NATIVE TAXATION SCHEME 

 — lOO.OUO I'MIANE — AS LABOURERS AND AS PRISONERS — 

 POLYNESIANS AND WAGES — PRODUCE : — COFFEE, LIBERIAN ; 

 TEA ; t A1(DAM0M.S ; SUGAR ; COCONUTS. 



Fiji, 20th May 1885. 

 Formerly I used to see a good many letters 

 from diHcrant correspoudents out here iu the 

 Ohsci'ivr, but latterly, none; so 1 conclude those who 

 uacd to address you, have either left the group for 

 pastures new or have given up writing. The former 



is most likely to be the case, as moat of the Ceylon 

 planters who were in Fiji have left disgusted at not 

 having been able to make money or at the poor 

 salaries they were receiving. Amongst the Ceylon men 

 who have left I know of Christian, Hedges, Akera, 

 Thompson, and Whitton, and many more, I feel con- 

 vinced, would leave if they were certain of getting 

 in Ceylon or elewhere, even the low salaries they are 

 iu receipt of now. Fiji has not turnid out the 

 *' Eldorado " we all expected ; it has in fact just turned 

 out the opposite. Instead of making, one loses money 

 in most of the industries embarked in, and, unless things 

 take a radical change for the better, most planters will 

 simply become bankrupt — many of them, I should say, 

 are verging on or in this state already. It 's sad 

 to have to write in this strain of a new colony, but it 'a 

 the truth and it 'a no good disguising the fact. 



Opinions differ, of course, to a great extent 

 as to the causes which lave led to this state 

 of affairs. Some affirm the land is not suitable 

 for some of the products planted ; others that 

 the labour, owing to Governmental action, is now 

 so scarce and expensive, that it would not pay to grow 

 anything in any country at the lates ruling; others 

 that the markets are so bad and the prices realized for 

 products so low, that it does not pay to cultivate ; and 

 others ngain, who form the majority, say it 'a all owing 

 to the native taxation scheme, which greatly interferes 

 with the free working of the native and compels plant- 

 ers to get men from other countries at a far higher 

 rate of wages than the Fijian could be engaged for, be- 

 sides havinj! to pay a very heavy sum for introduction 

 expenses. The latter subject has been written about 

 over and over again until it is threadbare, without as 

 yet doing any good. Whether the freeing of the 

 F'jiaiiS and allowing thtm to work when and where 

 they liked in the group would be a panacea for all our 

 evils, 1 am not prepared to cay. If they were allowed 

 to do so and pay a capitation tax of £1 each, insttad of 

 the same amount in produce as they have to do now, I 

 fancy a good number of them would, at first, be willing 

 to go out and work, but whether they would keep it up 

 is doubtful. Every Fijian has laud on which he can 

 plant the little he requiies during the year, and, when 

 the novelty of being free had passed over, I think he 

 would prefer staying at home and certainly rot go in 

 for regular work. In disposition he resembles, in my 

 opinion, the Sinhalese : likes grog (yagona) drinking, 

 smoking sulukas, and eating and sleeping, with a min- 

 imum amount of work. If you add to these qualities 

 that they don't caie about hoar ing up money, or for 

 so-called luxuries, one would naturally ask why does 

 the Government then not do away with the native tax- 

 ation scheme? I think the great object is, the preserv- 

 ation of the race by keeping the people in their towns 

 as much as possible togeiher. The year before last, if 

 I remember right, the statistics showed a slight in- 

 crease in the popjifation ; as yet I have not seen those 

 for last year, but should say, owing to hooping- 

 cough among the children, there must be a large 

 decrease. Whether the race can bo preserved, 

 only time can show. History points to the fact 

 that where the whites settle, as a rule, the blacks 

 die out. Look at Tasmania, for instance, and see how 

 rapidly the natives are dying in Australia, New 

 Zealand, Hawaii, &c. Shoula cholera, smallpox or some 

 other epidemic be introduced, it will be a pt^or look- 

 out for the race, if we judge by what measles did 

 some time ago. The present native population is about 

 100,000, and it certainly appears an anomaly that we 

 should have to introduce lahoureis from India, 

 Hebrides, Solomons and other far oflf islands, when 

 the present planters in the group only require a 

 few thousands, I should say 10,000 at the outside, 

 amongst them altogether. The Fijian will never work 

 Ro cheaply as he did before, and it cannot be expeottd 



