36 THE TRAVELLING FORESTER IN ASIA. [Nov. 



already been singled out for railway traffic ; and it is not the fault 

 of the Maharaja that a railway has not been made through the 

 interior of his territory long ago. Thefe is little doubt that if such 

 a line was made to connect Singapore with Malacca and the Native 

 States, a very great impetus would soon be given to the trade and 

 commerce of Singapore. It was Sir Macdonald Stephenson who 

 said that the day would come when there would be a railway across 

 the continent of Australia that would join one from Singapore, through 

 the Johore territory, up through the Malay Peninsula and British 

 Burma, and on to Calcutta, and thus enable Australians and New 

 Zealanders to reach Europe by rail in a very short time. 



.I.A.PAX. 



From Johore to Japan is but to follow in the route which for 

 centuries was the only available one, when the Empire was virtually 

 a forbidden country to Europeans. It now vies with that via Cali- 

 fornia, and across the Pacific Railway to New York, for young 

 students in their journeys after Western ideas. 



THE JAPANESE COURT 



)ias perhaps been the most instructive feature of the Exhibition. 

 The skilful combination of objects and pictures liave in more than 

 one quarter been favoural;)ly commented on. The eye at once 

 appreciated neat models of forest rafts, sluices, and other objects of 

 a forest system from which several of our Indian Government 

 ofBcials gained new ideas, because of the pictures hung alongside 

 of them, showing features that could not be presented as objects. 



THE MAPS 



showing the vertical distribution of forest trees, as well as tlie 

 "eolosical characters of tlie soils suited for arboriculture, were 

 unique features of the Exhibition. The prevalence of volcanic 

 rocks, whether of juoderu origin, or of such more ancieut mineral 

 species as melaphyre, diabase, tuff', or granite, as well as the long 

 profile of the Japanese coast-line, whose lieights alternate from 

 3000 to 12,000 feet, besides tlie meteorological relations consequent 

 on its oceanic position, show them naturally well adapted for forest 

 growth ; wdiile the statistical map shows how the wliole Empire, 

 with an infinitesimal e.\.ception, is under skilled inspection. The 

 whole e.\hibit is a present-day plea for a forestry education ; for 



