ch. x.] Tobacco. 205 



potatoes, mangoes, bananas, yams and corn cobs, were 

 offered, for sale in neatly woven baskets made of cocoa- 

 nut leaves. The leaves of piper betel made up into little 

 packets, and lime beautifully fine and white (made by 

 burning coral limestone and shells) were offered to betel- 

 chewers ; nor was a good supply of the betel nuts them- 

 selves wanting. We especially noticed a very large 

 fruited variety of Areca catechu here, which I had never 

 before seen, the individual fruits being as large as a 

 hen's egg, and of a clear bright yellow colour. The 

 typical form so common in Singapore and Labuan, has 

 fruits the size of a pigeon's egg only, and of a clear 

 orange-red colour. 



Tobacco leaves of native growth and manufacture were 

 exposed for sale in bundles, and some of it is made up 

 into balls as large as a man's head, and several pounds in 

 weight. Although tobacco can be easily grown here, it 

 is but little valued, owing to faulty preparation ; and the 

 inferior Chinese tobacco is preferred by the Sulus to 

 their own produce, and is a regular kind of currency in 

 which almost all small payments may be made. Thus, 

 the hire of a pony for a day is about two bundles ; a 

 day's wage for a man about the same. The wholesale 

 price in Singapore is about sixpence a bundle, or even 

 less. At the time of our visit rice was very scarce and 

 dear in Sulu ; indeed as much as ten dollars per picul 

 was paid, while horses and cattle were relatively very 

 cheap. Thus good buffaloes could be bought for eight 

 or ten dollars each ; cattle at six to fifteen dollars a head, 

 and ponies at ten to twenty dollars ; indeed many of the 

 people were well nigh starving owing to the last war and 

 the dry season combined ; and in many cases they were 

 glad to sell their cattle for rice, or the means of obtaining 

 it. Among the few articles of native manufacture offered 



