Oh. XVI.] EEAOTION IN THE TEEES. 265 



traced it to the attacks of what, from his description, must 

 have been a small black aphis, which perforated the branches, 

 and caused them to wither one by one. I find no two ac- 

 counts to be precisely alike in respect to the manner of 

 falling away of the trees ; but all agree that their destruc- 

 tion was rapid, certain, and irremediable. 



"When it was found that, ia spite of care and lavish ex- 

 penditure, the trees surely died, a reaction took place. The 

 planters abandoned the plantations in disgust, in many cases 

 while there were still numerous healthy trees ; and the land 

 reverted to the Government. In other cases, where ex- 

 pensive bungalows were built upon the estate, they were 

 sold for a small proportion of the sums expended in building 

 them, since they were, as a rule, too far from town to com- 

 mand any competition, and ceased to be conveniently sit- 

 uated. Many planters, both English and Chinese, whose 

 whole estates were invested in nutmeg-plantations, were 

 thus reduced to ruin, and became absolutely penniless ; and 

 distress and disappointment everjrwhere prevailed. 



It is a curious fact that many of these abandoned trees, 

 around which has now sprung up a thick jungle under- 

 growth, have, since they have been thus neglected and left 

 to themselves, recovered, and relieve the generally dismal 

 prospect of bare branches and skeleton trees. I have myself 

 seen these dark-green healthy trees in many situations where 

 they are quite uncared for, even amongst the oldest planta- 

 tions in the island ; and this fact seems decidedly corrobo- 

 rative of the idea that the disease was one of exhaustion and 

 decay, arising from unnatural forcing. Another fact is 

 significant, viz. that, while at Penang, where this cultivation, 

 as described, was carried on with the greatest vigour and 

 the greatest expenditure, the destruction has been most 



