JOUKNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. IX. 



1884 in view of the depression which prevailed, and which 

 is vividly represented by the comparative figures for the 

 totals for the Island of ten-rupee license fees to dig on 

 Government ground for 1883 and 1884, which, with (in the 

 Western Province) rent of 10 per cent, of the yield, gave 

 Rs. 4,736 for the former year and only Rs. 1,054 for the 

 latter, a falling-off equal to Rs. 3,682, representing pro- 

 bably a deficiency of a couple of hundreds in the licenses 

 applied for and granted last year as compared with 1883. 



As has been proposed in the case of chips in the cinnamon 

 trade, it would almost seem desirable that low quality dust 

 should be excluded from the exports. Buyers are strongly 

 inclined to confine their attention to lump of best quality, and 

 I have heard that some of the local dealers have injured their 

 own reputation, and that of the article in which they deal, 

 by mixing lower qualities with the higher. As matters 

 stand, the proportions in which the mineral seems to be ex- 

 ported are : — lumps, 1st and 2nd quality, 50 per cent. ; chips 

 and dust, each 25 per cent. ; so that dust is only one-fourth 

 of the whole. In the home market during the past five years 

 of unprecedented outturn, I am informed that prices have 

 ranged from £20 per ton, the highest for lump, down to £1*0. 

 In Colombo, apart from the exceptional case in the experience 

 of Mr. W. A. Fernando, already mentioned, the highest 

 prices ever known are stated to be Rs. 320 per ton for fine, 

 Rs. 270 for ordinary, Rs. 95 for dust. In the old sailing 

 ship days plumbago was taken at an exceptionally low rate 

 of freight as " dead weight." Since 1880 the average rates 

 for a ton of 20 cwt. have been : — steamer 40s. ; sailer 35s. 



The United States are our best customers in the case of 

 plumbago, the Ceylon form of which the late Mr. Joseph 

 Dixon saw and appreciated in 1827, and of which he 

 secured a first shipment in 1829. In 1882 the quantity 

 received in the United States from Ceylon was stated 

 at 16,000,000 lb., and of the comparatively small quantity 

 of 22J millions of pounds sent from Ceylon in 1884, more 

 than half went to the United States. But a memorandum 

 showing the various countries for which the plumbago 

 exported in the past five years was destined, will clearly in- 

 dicate how important a customer for our mineral we have 

 in the United States with its large steel manufacturing 



