CULTIVATION OF COFFEE IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 59 



a year, viz., in March, June, September, and .December. 

 Natal, about twenty-five miles north of here, is the chief 

 port to which is brought the valuable coffee raised in the 

 fertile valley of Mandheling, of which port Elout is the 

 capital. Mr. Bickmore refers to a portion of Sumatra 

 where the Musi makes a great bend to the south-west and 

 the path leads eastward over a gently rising elevation, 

 on the top of which is a large and most thriving coffee- 

 garden, and near by are rice-fields which yield abundantly. 

 "This garden has been very lately planted, and yet all 

 the trees that are old enough to bear are nearly loaded 

 down with fruit. The rice-fields show that an abundance 

 of food could be raised here, and the only thing that 

 is wanting is people to do the work. The elevated sit- 

 uation of this country makes it very healthy for for- 

 eigners. If any one could obtain a grant of land here, 

 and also the privilege of bringing a large number of 

 Chinamen, he w^ould certainly realize a fortune, for coffee 

 can be here cultivated with little care; and rice, the 

 staple article of food among that people, can be raised 

 in any quantity. Such a privilege could not be obtained at 

 present, but the liberal tendency of the government of the 

 Netherlands in India promises that it may be, at no distant 

 time in the future. Such an enterprise would not have 

 the character of an experiment, for the facility with which 

 coffee and rice can be grown has already been shown on 

 this plantation, and the cost of transporting it to Padang 

 or Palembang would be very light. Sumatra undoubtedly 

 contains large quantities of gold, but the true source of 

 her wealth is not the precious metal she possesses, but the 

 cups of coffee she produces." 



Of Brazil, the popular idea seems to have been, that it 

 is a place of mighty rivers and strange-looking mountains, 



