24O COFFEE I ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



in his latest letter, dated Wabadam, July 

 1884, has the following: 



" I inspected the gardens, and was astonished at the luxu- 

 riance of the crops, 1,550 feet above sea level. The people 

 of this country have no conception of the capabilities of the 

 soil. The natives grow more than they want, and this suffices. 

 Were these lands in the hands of European planters we should 

 soon be astonished at their productiveness. Coffee, cinchona, 

 cocoa, ginger, vanilla, rice (mountain), and a host of fruit 

 trees could be admirably grown here. Ceylon has been 

 almost ruined by the Coffee leaf-disease (Hemilia vastatrix), 

 and many planters have been inquiring in Queensland for land 

 suitable for Coffee growing. Here they will find not only 

 land of the best quality, but also labour at their very doors. 

 If these people are kindly and honestly treated they will work r 

 and work willingly and well for the Britaniata, as they call us. 

 But England must take the utmost care that, in purchasing 

 the land, the present proprietors receive a fair value for it, 

 If, after a few years, they find out that they have been swindled, 

 there will be serious trouble. They will soon obtain firearms 

 and learn how to use them. Then they will not prove con- 

 temptible foes, especially as they have quite sense enough to 

 join together and make common cause. I do not desire to 

 dishearten intending settlers, but everyone should know what 

 the people are like, and that in coming to New Guinea they 

 will find an agricultural race owning the soil, and perfectly 

 aware that they do own it not a race of unfortunates like 

 the Australians, who, after being robbed of their land, were 

 left to perish of starvation, or ruthlessly shot down for daring 

 to hunt over their own soil. 



"Cane 16 ft. high, Bourbon ribbon, and, I believe, Scott's 

 cane or Otaheite, a small yellow sort ; bananas in full bearing, 

 the large bunches tied up in leaves ; bread-fruit trees (A rtocarpus 

 incisa) 50 ft. high, and plantations of small trees of all sizes ; 

 taro, whappa, a very large-leaved species of arum, yams, 

 sweet potatoes, tobacco, pumpkin all were growing here in 

 profusion. The tillage also is superior to anything of the kind 



