GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



357 



a total area of 16,233,000 acres in the island, only 

 2,159,698 acres are tilled and 763,850 acres pas- 

 ture. Rice and cereals were grown on 728,112 

 acres in 1897, coffee on 19,477 acres, tea on 404,- 

 574 acres, cinchona on 891 acres, cocoanuts on 

 878,909 acres, cinnamon on 42,289 acres, tobacco 

 oh 10,122 acres, and cacao on 32,354 acres. There 

 were 4,007 horses and 1,289,536 cattle. The most 

 important mineral product is plumbago, 584 mines 

 of which were in operation in 1894. The total 

 value of imports in 1897 was 98,027,474 rupees; 

 of exports, 85,099,603 rupees. The exports of tea 

 were valued at 46,931,190 rupees; cocoanuts and 

 coir, 13,142,622 rupees; plumbago, 3,670,846 ru- 

 pees; coffee, 1,472,346 rupees; areca nuts, 1,316,- 

 595 rupees; cinchona, 32,512 rupees. The export 

 of cacao was 35,121 hundredweight. Disease 

 among the coffee plants has reduced the export 

 of coffee from 824,509 hundredweight in 1879 to 

 18,605 hundredweight in 1897 ; meanwhile that of 

 tea has grown from 2,392,975 pounds in 1884 to 

 98,581,060 pounds in 1895, 110,095,193 pounds in 

 1896, and 114,466,318 pounds in 1897. The ton- 

 nage entered and cleared during 1897 was 6,704,- 

 747 tons. The merchant shipping of the colony 

 in 1898 comprised 187 sailing vessels, of 13,458 

 tons, and 4 steamers, of 629 tons. There were 



tion. Land ordinances recently enacted denying 

 the communal rights of the natives in wild lands 

 by presuming that all waste land is the property 

 of the Crown until the contrary is proved have 

 been criticised as an enactment for taking the 

 lands away from the natives in order that they 

 may be disposed of to planters. The Government 

 replies that the intention of the ordinances is 

 to check and regulate the sales of forest and other 

 lands, which speculators are in the habit of get- 

 ting the natives to deed to them for a trifling 

 consideration, and also to provide an easy way 

 of settling disputes as to whether lands belonged 

 to the Government or to native villages. The 

 Ceylon teas, which have long been popular in 

 Great Britain, now find a demand in the United 

 States and Australasia and in Russia and Ger- 

 many. The disturbance of exchange caused by 

 the interference of the Indian Government with 

 the currency checked the too rapid growth of 

 the tea-planting industry and of other enterprises 

 that were stimulated by the falling rupee, and 

 has even led to the contraction of cultivation by 

 the abandonment of poor fields, so that in Cey- 

 lon, as well as in India, there is no immediate 

 prospect of an increase of crops. A graving dock 

 to accommodate first-class battle ships was begun 



CINNAMON PACKING IN CEYLON. 



297 miles of Government railroads in operation 

 in 1897, and 215 miles more were authorized. 

 The telegraphs had 1,733 miles of wire. The 

 Maldive Islands, west of Ceylon, are ruled by 

 the native fandiari, or chief judge and priest, 

 under British protection. The inhabitants, all 

 Mohammedans, number 30,000, noted as sailors 

 and traders. Expenditure has been authorized in 

 Ceylon to open up new districts by building rail- 

 roads and to carry out large schemes of irriga- 



at Colombo in 1899, and will take five years to 

 complete. 



The Straits Settlements form a Crown colony 

 embracing Singapore, Penang, with Province 

 Wellesley and the Dingdings, and Malacca. The 

 total population is 512,342, of whom 6,589 are 

 Europeans and Americans, 213,073 Malays, 227,- 

 989 Chinese, and 53,927 natives of India. The 

 revenue in 1897 was $4,320,207; expenditure, 

 $4,429,693. The imports were $219,910,296 iu 



