1884.] THE TRAVELLING FORESTER IN ASIA. 35 



fish. They keep dogs — poor wretched pariahs they are, yet they 

 help their owners materially in hunting the deer and wild pig. 

 Frequently in one small leaky boat may be seen a man and his wife 

 and one or two children, and an old man or woman aged and worn 

 — the father or mother mayhap of the owner of the boat. Those 

 aborigines have no firearms. A sumpitau or spear, a chopper or 

 parang, and an axe, are all the tools or weapons they use. 



THE CHINESE EMIGRANT.?. 



The Malay Peninsula offers a good field for immigration to the 

 Chinaman. Many come to Johore, and last year 120 small settle- 

 ments were made by them. The periodical droughts brought on in 

 no small degree by the absence of forests in China cause famines, 

 which induce many to leave their country, so that there is a pretty 

 steady stream of immigrants at all times. There are about 100,000 

 Chinese on the Johore territory, principally employed in the cultiva- 

 tion of gambler. A piece of land covered with primeval forest is 

 selected. A rich Chinese mercliant makes advances to a band of 

 ten or a dozen of his poorer countrymen, who may have perhaps 

 just arrived from China in debt for their passage. They proceed to 

 clear the land by felling and burning off all the timber. They then 

 plant between the fallen and charred trees, and within a year they 

 have a crop. The leaves and twigs are plucked off, and chopped up, 

 and boiled to a certain consistency — the inspissated juice is then 

 ladled out into shallow wooden trays and allowed to cool and 

 congeal. It is next cut into cubes about an inch square, dried in 

 the sun, put in bags and taken to the merchant who made the 

 advances of money. Some of them deal fairly ; Ijut on making up 

 accounts, the poor coolie who has done all the work, often finds that 

 he is not out of debt. The manufacture is conducted in a very 

 rude way, and were it possible to have a general factory at the town 

 of Joliore Baru, where the produce of the plantations could be treated 

 in a more perfect manner, a great saving might be made in cost of 

 production, and an improved quality might be expected. Two- 

 thirds of all the gambler exported from Singapore is raised on the 

 Johore territory. Its cultivation and preparation is destructive to the 

 forests, as a large quantity of fuel is required by the present system 

 ■ — each plantation having a cooking-place of its own. 



A TEANS-ASI.ATIC RAILWAY. 



The genius of Sir Stamford Eaffles appreciated the geographical 

 peculiarities of Singapore. The sleepy Malay anchorage is now the 

 bustling stopping - place for eastern maritime trade. Johore has 



