Fiiu. I, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



a'v 



PLANTING IN CENTBAL AMERICA. 



AN BX-OETLON PLANTER ON HIS IKAVEL8 ROUND THE 



■WORLD, ENDING WITH GUATEMALA. 



LIFE AND CULTIVATION IN GUATEMALA. 



REVOLUTIONS O.lLOIiE. 



Mv DEAR "Observer," — It is now a long time since 

 I pi-omised to write you, and many curious and 

 exciting things have happened in tlie meantime. 

 These events followed in such rapid succession that 

 I always postponed writing, waited and wondered 

 what would be the outcome, so that 1 would have 

 something else to chronicle. Wars, revolutions, 

 assassinated presidents, and earthquakes are now 

 of almost daily occurrence, and cease to excite 

 much interest. I shall accordingly wait no longer 

 but proceed to tell you of this country and its 

 cultivation, the city of Guatemala and its peculiar 

 situation, coffee, cinchona, and my own adventures. 



When I first arrived in Guatemala, March 1S83, 

 I was most kindly received by the English Consul, 

 who introduced me to some of the leading plant- 

 ers. As the first East Indian planter who had 

 visited Guatemala I was presented to General 

 Bulino Barrios, President of the Eepublic. The 

 President liked me very much, and offered to pay 

 all my expenses through the Eepublic and furnish 

 me with letters of introduction to the Governors 

 of the different Departments. This of course I 

 most readily accepted, and in a few days I was 

 mounted and equipped for a journey up the Pacific 

 slope. 1 visited all the coffee districts, skirted 

 the Mexican boundary, and returned again to the 

 city by way of the Atlas, or high plateaus. I 

 was in the saddle 4.5 days, and averaged eight 

 hours a day riding. 1 gave the Minister of Public 

 Works a report. A few days after 1 cabled a 

 proposition to introduce the cultivation of cinchona, 

 which was accepted. I then left the city again 

 for the Atlantic coast, crossing the continent. 

 Thence by steamer up to the Mississippi to New Orleans, 

 Chicago, Niagara Falls, New York, crossed the At- 

 lantic to England, through France and Italy to 

 Brindisi, and on to Ceylon again. I went thence 

 to the Madras Presidency of Southern India to 

 get cinchona seed. From the Government cinchona 

 plantation, Dodabetta, I collected a large cjuantity 

 of ofticinaUs seed. But I was mostly indebted to 

 the superintendent of a large cinchona plantation 

 of succirubra cinchona whose name quite slips 

 my memory. The estate adjoins the Government 

 plantation of Neddevattam about 18 miles beyond 

 Ootacamund. This gentleman was extremely kind 

 and I owe him lasting obligations. On my return 

 to Colombo I procured from the Government Gardens 

 15 wardian cases, containing a selection of plants 

 which I knew were not in the Eepublic of 

 Guatemala, cardamoms, tea, cloves, croton, cin- 

 namon, etc. 



I had 50 pounds of cinchona, I think the 

 largest quantity that was over shipped across the 

 ocean. I packed it in a peculiar way all my own, 

 and as it was a complete success I shall describe 

 the method. I had 150 bags made of cotton cloth 

 which were about a third tilled with seed. My 

 intention was to take the seed as baggage, which 

 would enable me to take it out of the ship's hold 

 at least every week, turn it over and handle it 

 thoroughly to prevent it from caking together or 

 getting musty ; also to have fresh air circulating 

 inside the box frequently would also bo a good 

 thing. The box was an iron one, which closed 

 hermetically and fitted inside another box made of 

 wood to protect it. Mr. Thomas A. Gockburn of 

 Eathkelle estate, Badulla, an old New Zealand chum 

 T2 



of mine, obtained leave of absence and came down 

 to Colombo to see me. Together we fixed all things 

 up nicely. Cockburn had made some puroliases of 

 seed for rae in Ceylon, which I had marked 

 separately, and. am pleased to say, came up all right. 



From Colombo to Singapore I opened my box 

 of cinchona seed and placed the bags in the sun 

 for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. 

 This I did several times. By this exposure I ex- 

 pected to kill any moths or worms that 

 might have been collected with the seed. After 

 leaving Singapore I did not expose it longer tc 

 the sun, but handled it well, turning it over and 

 over. I was strongly advised to pack in bottles. 

 I am glad I did not, because I should have been 

 obliged to ship as general cargo, which would have 

 prevented me from handling or stirring the seed 

 up from time to time. Bottles, too, are apt to 

 break, and being corked the seed is always in its 

 own atmosphere, which I don't think is good. 



I see by my Ohserrerit that your Mr. John 

 Ferguson has made a trip round the world. The 

 articles which he wrote were extremely interesting 

 to me, iiarticularly so as I had preceded him only 

 a few months on the same road. I shall dismiss 

 the story of my trip therefore, as I can only repeat 

 what he lias already so ably communicated. I may 

 mention I got remarkably good dispatch from 

 Hongkong. We reached that port at i o'clock in 

 the afternoon and by 10 next morning we were 

 steaming away out of the harbour on the good ship 

 " Arabic " for Yokohama, Japiin. We stayed 

 four days in Japan, and had a most gay and 

 festive time. It h.ippened to be the Mikado's 

 birthday. Tokio was decorated in the most gorgeous 

 array of banners and bright bunting, and the in- 

 habitants rejoiced in their own peculiar way. After 

 leaving Yokohama we had extremely bad weather 

 for six days. A week before a cyclone had passed 

 through the sea, which accounted for the extremely 

 ugly waves. On the night of the fifth day out a 

 lundtic who was on board had to distinguish him- 

 self by setting fire to the ship. He went very 

 cunningly to work and nearly succeeded. At mid- 

 night he got up from his bed, noiselessly passed 

 the berths of the other steerage passengers without 

 disturbing them and entered the forehold, closed 

 the door and shut himself in. He then struck a 

 match and set fire to a number of bales of straw which 

 were stored there. The material was very inflam- 

 mable and the most disastrous consequences might 

 have resulted ■, fortunately by chance a heathen 

 Chinee happened to be standing on the upper deck 

 opposite the gangway leading down to the steerage 

 rooms and saw the man enter the forehold, 

 and had the curiosity to follow and watch 

 him. He at once flew on deck and rang the fire- 

 bell. It was the first officer's watch ; he leaped 

 down from the bridge and entered the hold at a 

 pace fitting the occasion, nearly brained the lun- 

 atic, and set to work to extinguish the flames. 

 The crew were very well trained, and in a 

 marvellously short time a flood of water 

 was streaming into the tire. I arrived on deck 

 at this time and saw the first officer enveloped 

 and nearly choked in the smoke. I joined him, 

 and when we and the other men came on deck 

 after the danger was all over and the excitement 

 subsided, it would have been diliioult to recog- 

 nize what kind of animals we were : a something 

 more than monkey; but a very undignified man. 

 Darwin I think would have claimed us as the 

 long looked for "inissinii link." 



Wc reached San Francisco in due course and 

 thence to Guatemala. I completed the round of 

 the world in eighty-four days deducting the 



