6o 



RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON 



for cost in Ceylon would be nearer actual practise, while Para rubber 

 costs, landed in Para or Manaos, often forty, fifty, and sixty cents a 

 pound, the figures being dependent upon the section that it comes from. 

 As a matter of fact, the Tamil coolie whom the planters employ is 

 not a high salaried individual. His pay averages about thirteen cents a 

 day, United States money. To this is added the coolie "lines'' or houses 

 which are free of rent to him, as is also medical attendance. The 

 planters keep no stores usually, but they do buy rice and furnish it at 



"HEVEA" PLANTED 18,89; PHOTOGRAPHED 1903. 



cost to their laborers, the allowance being one bushel a week for a man, 

 and three-quarters of a bushel for a woman. , 



It was while sitting on the cool flags under the broad porch at 

 the Harrison bungalow that the subject of snakes came up. Both my 

 host and his friend acknowledged that cobras were very plentiful, and 

 that they had a great liking for cool bungalows, which they sought to 

 enter whenever they thought they could safely do so. They said it was 

 a very rare thing, however, for a white man to be bitten by one. But 

 the natives are often bitten, and sometimes fatally. The Singalese won't 



