THE PALMS OF ASIA. 93 



inside of the palm tightly filled with clay. I 

 ■was assured that not more than one of ten trees, 

 thus treated, ever fails to recover its health. 

 The nocturnal attacks of elephants are checked 

 by means of lighted fires, and an occasional shot 

 or two during the night. Wild hogs and 

 porcupines are caught in traps and hunted by 

 dogs. The monkeys, like the squirrels and the 

 -white ants, are poisoned. In spite of all these 

 measures, however, an estate often suffers 

 severely, and its productiveness is much inter- 

 fered with by these many depredators. 



" The soil over wdiich I had as yet passed had 

 been of one uniform description, a light sandy 

 earth, containing a little vegetable matter, and 

 but a little. Afterwards, I arrived at a tract of 

 planted land, cpiite different in its nature and 

 mode of cultivation. It was of a far stiffer 

 character, deeper in colour and more weedy. 

 This portion of the estate was in former days a 

 swamp, in which the porcupine, the wild hog, 

 and the jackal delighted to dwell, sheltered 

 from the encroachment of man by a dense mass 

 of low jungle, thorns, and reeds. To drive 

 away these destructive creatures from the 

 vicinity of the young palms, the jungle was 

 llred during the dry weather. It was then 

 perceived that the soil of this morass, althouf^h 



