10 



ruin by having a second string to their bow. Many a deficit on sugar 

 has been covered by a handsome profit on vanilla, backed up by sales of 

 manioc (cassava) coffee, tobacco, perfumes, cloves and market garden 

 produce. 



The largest of all these secondary products is undoubtedly 

 vanilla.* There is hardly a sugar estate in the island which has not moT& 

 or less land under vanilla, varying naturally in extent according to the 

 nature of the locality. On the other hand, in certain districts are to be 

 found large planters who cultivate nothing but vanilla, and as regards 

 the quarters of Ste. Rose, St. Philippe, and St. Joseph, it is no exag- 

 geration to say that the mainstay of the people is vanilla. The yards 

 and courts and little plots of ground round the huts are covered with 

 the vanilla creepers. When the pods are ripe they are sold green to a 

 neighbouring merchant, realising quite a small fortune for the grower. 

 The only drawback to this crop is that it gives rise to an immense 

 amount of theft and dishonesty. The pods are stolen by night, and in 

 spite of stringent laws are passed from hand to hand, and finally lost 

 for ever to the grower. Many considerable fortunes are known to have 

 been accumulated by illicit vanilla buyers, but the detection of the 

 culprit is almost as difficult as that of a diamond thief at the mines. In 

 a separate report 1 am drawing further attention to the treatment of 

 vanilla by chloride of calcium. 



The next largest industry is that of coffee. The coffee shrub is 

 generally planted in the higher lands, where the cane, if it grows at all, 

 does not do well. The output is increasing yearly, but although many 

 parts of the island are admirably suited to coffee, planters hesitate on 

 account of the length of time before bearing, and fear of the hemeleia 

 vastatrix to change from the quick-producing cane. Slowly but surely, 

 however, coffee is forcing its way and in time it is hoped to equal if not 

 to surpass the output of the palmy days of Reunion of 1824:-29. Coffee 

 also enters largely in the Creole diet, and there are probably no sugar 

 planters who buy a pound of coffee in the year, and many private per- 

 sons grow enough for their daily use. 



The tobacco plant is largely grown, but not on any great scale by 

 the sugar planters. As a rule it is found in small plots of newly cleared 

 land, belonging to quite poor people. It is in great demand by the 

 Creoles, both in Reunion and Madagascar, and a fairly large quantity 

 is exported to Mauritius, 



Tobacco is a Government monopoly, and no doubt were it freed 

 from the many trammels which surround its cultivation and sale, it 

 would be produced more largely. On the whole it is a crop which pays 

 well, and it is estimated that the annual local consumption in Reunion 

 alone is 1 kilo, per head. The aroma, if not agreeable, is strong, but 

 Reunion tobacco is not much favoured except by the natives. 



Another crop which figures largely on Reunion sugar estates is 

 that of manioc (cassava.) It serves a double purpose : first of all as a 

 covering for lands lying fallow, after a sugar crop, and next as food for 



* An article on Vanilla was published in the Bulletin for October, 1888,. 

 No. 8, which can still be sent on application, 



