374 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Nov. i, 1835 



of the Briton in 1815, \Yhat are now "estates" 

 was trackless forest, the sons of the soil never 

 having, for thousands of years, pitched their 

 villages higher up than the open country far 

 away down in the valleys. Tliis was possibly 

 owing to the depotisni under which they always 

 lived, but it also suited their own temperament 

 and love of a hot climate and lazy habits. There 

 are often several thousand feet of difference 

 in elevation between the bottom and top of an 

 - estate ; and to get about it, in looking after the 

 various works going on, is no child's play, but 

 requires all the go and strength of vigorous youth. 

 Steep land, as a rule, bore the best coffee ; but for tea 

 an easy " lay " (as it is called in Ceylon parl- 

 ance) is far the best. For this there are two 

 reasons : one, and the principal one, being, that tea 

 thrives better in flats and is cultivated with 

 greater ease, efficiency and economy ; the other 

 reason being the greater number of times in a 

 year the ground is gone over by the coolies than 

 was the case with coffee. The land is, or should 

 be (in Ceylon), weeded once a month lor ever ; 

 narrow drains are cut across the sloping fields, 

 and narrow paths or roads wind and zigzag 

 through every part of the estate. It is part of 

 the work of the superintendent to trace all these 

 roads and drains, in new estates and in new 

 fields of old estates, and to mark out the land 

 in " lines " or rows, 3 to 5 feet wide, along 

 which the tea is planted from '1\ to 4 feet apart. 



The " buildings " of an estate consist almost 

 exclusively of (1) " lines " for the coolies, of very 

 j)rimitive architecture, being only rows of rooms 

 about 12 X 12 X 8 feet high, %\ith a door (but 

 no window) opening on to a six feet 

 wide verandah running their whole length. 

 (2) The tea-factory and withering-house, which 

 may be as simple or elaborate, as small or ex- 

 tensive, as the ijroprietor's means will permit : 

 some have cost thousands, and others not 

 so many hundreds ; some are expensively fitted up 

 and filled with costly machinery, at others they 

 still " roll" by hand, and " tire " over stone-built 

 " chulas," but this is the exception, not the rule, 

 and nurchinery for every jjossible purxiose will 

 soon be universal. (3) The bungalow, one or more 

 for the manager and his assistant, conveniently 

 placed to be central to the work, and away 

 from the coolies, whose ncigbbourhood is not always 

 very odoriferous. (-1) Cattle-sheds. 



The coolies are immigrants from the coast of 

 India to Ceylon, specially to the estate for 

 which they have been engaged, and upon which 

 they often stay for many years, though at liberty 

 to leave at any time by giving a month's notice ; 

 or only 21 hours' notice if their pay is more than 

 three months in arrears. 



They are called to work early every morning by beat 

 of tomtom, or sound of bugle, and are " mustered " by 

 the superintendent and told off in gangs to work 

 by 6 o'clock, and at 4 o'clock in the after- 

 noon the " horn blows " again to " knock off." 



The work of the estate hm to he done, and, as 

 coolies n'Ul shirk all they can, they have to be 

 looked alter by the superintendent |and his assistant, 

 how much or how little depends upon the man 

 himself. Uesides this tield-work, and the work 

 of the tea-house, the construction and maintenance of 

 the buildings, and the care of the machinery and cat- 

 tle, the superintendent has to keep all the accounts 

 of coolies' jiay and work, and of all that is ex- 

 pended on the estate, and produced bii tlie estate, 

 to be furnished monthly to the proprietor, with 

 ruled spaces lor every conceivable particular of work, 

 crcjj and expenditure. lu addition to this a jjiraud- 



motherly Government insists also upon certain 

 returns being made quarterly, and that an estate 

 " register " be kept ; and that all cases of illness, or 

 death, or birth, be reported within 24 hours. This 

 restlessness of certain Ciovernment officials in framing 

 laws "for the protection of the cooly" has defeated its 

 own object by tending to sap up" the interest and 

 humanity of tlie superintendent, who inreturn for 

 being harassed by Government throws upon Govern- 

 ment aU the responsibility which he can by any 

 possibility avoid. 



The same Government keeps the jails of the 



country chokeful of starving and lazy natives, by 



turning them all into convicts for the sake of the fat 



; fare supplied to them in prison. This single cause 



is rapidly demoralizing a great part of the native 



population, who commit the most atrocious crimes 



for the sole purpose of getti ng into prison to be fed 



j on the fat of the land, warmly clothed and lightly 



I worked (or rather only gently c.veiri!:etl) during the 



day. But this en jia^^int. 



I have thought it desirable to add this separate 

 chapter on the " working of an estate," wdiich 

 will make much of the first part of the " 50's and 

 80's " inteUigible and be valuable to enquirers at 

 home. 



If a superintendent has no European assistant, ho 

 has nearly always an English-speaking and English- 

 writing native '• conductor," many of whom arc 

 exceedingly useful and trustworthy men, keeping th« 

 fieldbook (checkroU) and tools, rice and other ac- 

 counts, and are out with the coolies all the day. They 

 also act as interpreters whenever occasion arises 

 for a serious confab, but the " tea-house " also 

 requires the exclusive attendance of either an- 

 other assistant or professional native "tea-maker." 



PLANTING IN CENTRAL AMEKICA 

 (GUATEMALA). 



(By (in Ex-Ceylon PUinter). 



The effect of these revolutionary times on my 

 cinchona nurseries was the worst thing that 

 could possibly have happened. Most of the labour 

 was taken off' the plantations, and the planters 

 l«st interest and heart in everything, and quite 

 neglected the cinchona plants. This happened 

 unfortunately just at the time that " pricking 

 out" operations were in full swing. However, 1 

 think tliat, altogether, I have over a million left, 

 which is much better than none at all. 



I should like to tell you a lot about this country 

 and its present position, but as I leave tomorrow 

 morning at 4 o'clock, on a visit of inspection 

 upcountry, and have to make some preparations, 

 call on the I'residcnt, and say "good-bye" to oiu' 

 Consul, my time is short. I have to ride 140 

 miles before I reach the coffee districts where my 

 work begins, I cross 10,000 feet elevation on tlie 

 way, so you see it would not take me long to 

 trot round Ceylon with my mules ; by the time 

 I had got round, I should only have begun to feel 

 I had started on my journey. The Indians here 

 will beat the cooly out and out in carrying burdens 

 or running distances. The maxiiuum burden 

 allowed by law is 100 lb., but this is never 

 adhered to : the load ranges from 100 to loO lb. 

 and often a great de?il more. In regaid to 

 running, a week ago .1 visited Antigua and 

 Zapote, and returning from Zapote to Antigua I 

 found my servant had forgotten my shoes ; I 

 was very wroth, and ordered him back at onco 

 for them, and to punish his forgetfuluess I left 

 Antigua and rode to Gnatcmala without him 

 the next day. Wliat was my aslonislimcnt 

 to find the " boy " iu Gyateiuiila at a o'clock 



