162 Dr. Heifer's Fourth Report [No. 98. 



Which part of the province may be the most fertile, is as yet 

 undecided, as so little land is cleared. The northern parts will 

 have the preference as rice countries, on account of the great 

 plains ; as the southern parts will be found preferable for peren- 

 nial cultivation, on account of their approaching more in climate 

 to the equatorial regions. The complaints of natural barreness of 

 soil, and inaptitude for cultivation said to exist in the Malay ar- 

 chipelago, and so much complained of by Marsden with refer- 

 ence to a great portion of Sumatra, is not applicable to Tenas- 

 serim. 



V. The great choice of lands to be had, forms another great 

 advantage in a beginning colony. 



There are as yet no conditions laid down by government 

 under which lands are given to private individuals, probably 

 on account of no body having yet asked for land. Probably the 

 same, or similar regulations will be fixed upon, which exist at 

 present in the Straits of Malacca. 



It should then be remembered, that the cultivation will proba- 

 bly take a different turn from that in India, viz. that very few 

 annual, but mostly perennial plantations will be reared, such as 

 of spices, coffee, betel-nuts, &c. and that short leases would 

 be detrimental to the landholder. 



The price of land where so much is lying waste, and where 

 it should be the interest of government to keep as much as 

 possible of the land occupied, will probably be insignificant in 

 the beginning. Under the present system, borrowed from the 

 ancient Burmese, every part of land occupied or not is the 

 property of government, the natives merely farm it, and pay 

 for the productions raised upon it nominally 25 per cent ad 

 valorem. 



VI. The greatest variety of articles which can be raised in Ten- 

 asserim is another great advantage which the provinces offer; 

 not only every tropical production thrives well, but also exclu- 

 sively intertropical articles promise to succeed in the southern 

 parts of Tenasserim, and amongst those, some of the most valu- 

 able known, which are confined comparatively to a narrow 

 sphere, such as nutmegs and cloves. 



