156 COFFEE: ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



in a stream or torrent i.e., when the track has 

 crossed a ravine do not let it slope uniformly down- 

 wards, thus tempting the next spate to take a new 

 course along your dug-out, but let there be a gentle 

 rise of five or six feet, and then you can go on with 

 your descending gradient again. 



Two men will cut one average chain of road per 

 day, one foot into the solid sloping inwards to the 

 drain, and clear everything off excepting heavier 

 stuff. In light, standing jungle the path will move 

 forward with wonderful rapidity : in clearings as 

 pointed out it is a very different matter. Rs. 150 

 per mile may, however, be taken as an average cost, 

 mounting to Rs. 250 and 300 in heavy prostrate 

 timber or rocky land. Dynamite and gunpowder 

 sometimes expedite the removal of troublesome 

 stumps, &c. 



Draining is a kindred occupation, which should 

 be done if possible before the first wet season, 

 and at the same time with the roads. Drains 

 are usually half a chain apart, and falling to the 

 nearest nullah by a gradient of i in 18 or i in 15. 

 According to the steepness of the land so must 

 the size and frequency of channels be (taking 

 a drain of 2 feet wide, and 18 inches deep, 

 as an average), and the further the water has 

 to run to an outflow the broader the drain should 

 be made. The purpose of this work is that 

 when a deluge of tropical rain descends it ' shall 

 be intercepted, and led off the land before a head 



