74 COFFEE I ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



and going round to the windward and lowermost 

 corner, he puts a match to a handful of dried 

 leaves. The result is instantaneous ; the fire 

 springs up in forked tongues that enfold everything 

 within their reach, driving back the originator of 

 the conflagration, and then seething out into the 

 open in a sea of crimson flame, that burns as 

 though it would never have done for several days 

 (if the jungle was heavy) a column of smoke by 

 day, and more than a pillar of fire by night ; the 

 destroying element curling up any tall, mastlike 

 stems that may not have fallen, making them into 

 huge torches, and finally bringing each to the 

 ground. 



If the "burn" is all that the planter could 

 desire, it consumes everything but the very heaviest 

 logs, and renders the clearing accessible again. 

 He has previously taken the precaution of throwing 

 back the light rubbish from under the "belts" 

 of trees left as walls to the clearing, and thus pre- 

 vented the fire from lapping against and destroying 

 them. For overlooking this slight but essential safe- 

 guard we have seen many a man punished by the 

 loss of shelter and the land spoilt for the time. 



The hot white ash of the noble sal and cedar 

 trees, worth princely sums as timber a few weeks 

 ago, could they have been got down to the coast, 

 now cumbers the soil, and the thick shade of the 

 woods is turned to an open plain of desolation. 

 If the flames have not done their work to the last 



