Polytechnic Association Proceedings. 749 



the Sultan, for which it pays a yearly rent of $9,500. The island is 

 600 miles long, and England holds the only fee simple. The 

 natives are an indolent set and cannot be taught, and will only 

 work when compelled by necessity. There are many races on the 

 island, and all have a different language. They resemble the 

 Australians, and gradually depart as the white man advances. 



There are five settlements of Europeans on the island. The 

 American numbers seventy-five persons, eighteen of whom are 

 Americans, and takes in the northern part. It contains no white 

 lady. It was settled November 25th, 1865, and is called Eleanor. 

 The settlement is named Kimanis. All the labor has to be drawn 

 from China, who are ruled very strictly for fear of revolt, they 

 being a very arrogant people. The natives are copper color. The 

 climate is very healthy, a cool breeze blowing night and day all the 

 year. The rainy season is during the S. W. monsoon. It is gene- 

 rally clear then until two o'clock, and then rains until midnight. 

 A gale of wind has not visited the island for twenty-two years; 

 prevailing winds are N. E. and S. W. There has never been a 

 drought. Typhoid fever prevails to some extent. Mean tempera- 

 ture, eighty to eighty-three degrees. It is a very mountainous 

 country, rising from the sea in three tiers, the third being called 

 the backbone of the island. Erom this extends a large plain, on 

 which the grass grows from six to seven feet high, and is always 

 green. On the other side are the same arrangement of tiers. The 

 interior is little known; trap rock prevails. He then showed some 

 edible birds' nests, of which the natives make soup. They consist 

 entirely of gluten, and are good for weak stomachs. They are 

 made by a species of swallow from seaweed, by digestion. They 

 build them on the sides of caves, a sort of concave shelf. The 

 nests are tasteless and colorless. He also showed some coal, but 

 it is not much used. Some antimony ore, taken from the surface, 

 yielded by analj^sis from thirty to forty per cent. India rubber is 

 in the shape of balls, and is gathered from vines instead of trees. 

 There is no limit to the quantity. Another curiosity was exhiljited, 

 a piece of close bark. It is very highly scented. He stated in 

 connection that there were many strange and new woods on the 

 island. Camphor of a peculiar quality, very powerful, and retain- 

 ing the odor a long time. Sago, mahogany, pine, wild cotton, and 

 all the ordinary tropical plants flourish. Sugar of an inferior 

 quality is made, though better than the China sugar. Sweet pota- 

 toes have a red color; no white ones. Bananas measure twenty 



