400 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agric-idturist 



This climate is one of the best for the growth 

 of all tropical and semi-tropical products such 

 as coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton, &c. 



Labour costs from 3/- to 5/- per month, so that 

 any of the above-named products can be put on 

 the London market at about 2d. per lb. or less, 

 leaving a good profit to the grower. 



Labour is abundant and natives all over the 

 country are begging for work. 



The Shire Highland .Railway is now open 

 from Port Herald on the lower river toBlantyre ; 

 so there is now no difficulty in reaching the 

 Highlands from our coast port Chinde. 



Produce can easily be got out of the country 

 now, as the British Central African Co. will 

 undertake transport at id. per lb. from here to 

 London for coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, &c. 



Living is exceedingly cheap, being in propor- 

 tion to the cost of labour : fowls 3d. each, eggs 

 2d. per dozen, English potatoes |d. per lb. and 

 sweet potatoes at 6d. per basket of about 50 lb. 

 So that a large capital is net required to start a 

 man and keep a place going till returns can be 

 got from it by one or other of the annual crops 

 that might be grown. 



This country affords good sport for those in- 

 clined for shooting. Elephants and buck in great 

 variety can be got at usually in about 12 or 24 

 hours' journey from any of the planting districts. 



The Government is a settled one ; the natives 

 are a peaceable, law-abiding people, willing to 

 work, giving no trouble to their employer like 

 the Ceylon kangani and cooly. 



A word about the climate — which may be said 

 to be bad. From March to April is the wet 

 season, May to October is dry, but with haidly a 

 month without several inches of rain. During the 

 rainy season the thermometer ranges from 68° 

 to85°Fahr. ; and during the winter months, April 

 to October, 50" to 72°. Fever is prevalent, but 

 of a mild form, easily kept in check by quinine. 



Blackwater fever is 



THE ONLY DANGEROUS SICKNESS 



in the country, but those who take quinine 

 in small doses when required never get fever at 

 all. Many old residents have never had Black- 

 water fever. When men learn how to live in the 

 tropics and take precautions necessary to pre- 

 serve their health, they need not fear this country. 

 The writer has not had malaria fever for 15 

 years and knows many others who can give a 

 longer record of excellent health without one 

 dose of fever or other complaint. 



English fruit and vegetables grow well all over 

 the Shire Highlands. Finer cabbages, potatoes, 

 peas, lettuce, cauliflowers and strawberries, 1 

 have never seen than are at present visible in 

 most European gardens here. 



What is wanted in this country most is men 

 with a small capital of a few hundred or a few 

 thousand pounds; but there is no use in people 

 coming here in search of employment, as there 

 is none to be got. Europeans cannot labour here 

 any more than in any other tropical country and 

 only a few men can find work at supervising 

 native labour. You can give my name and 

 address to anybody who may want further 

 information about Nyassaland. 



H. B. 



PLANTING AND RUBBER IN 

 NYASSALAND. 



26th Sept. 



Dear Sir,— It is all very well for "H. B. 

 to crack up his corner of the tropical world ; 

 but can he tell us what percentage of his 

 fellow-planters or of his estate proprietors al- 

 together have made anything out of their in- 

 vestments in his part of the Shire Highlands? 

 And while he is about it, he might explain 

 why the Planting Company, specially got up 

 with Ceylon capital to do justice to the re- 

 sources he speaks of — namely the "Nyassaland 

 Coffee Co." in 1895 — had to be wound up after 

 a limited number of years without even paying 

 a dividend and with all the shareholders' 

 money gone? I daresay " H. B.' ; will say : the 

 usual fate of Pioneers, coming before there was 

 a railway, &c, &c. But let us hear of any who 

 are getting big returns, even now ? — Yours, &c, 



SCEPTICAL. 



"Sceptic" is justified in his criticism of our 

 correspondent "H.B."'s invitation to young capi- 

 talists to go and take up land and plant in 

 Nyassaland. We ought assuredly to get some 

 facts as to successful planters of recent years. 

 "H.B. : need not give names ; but following the 

 example of his uncle (" A.B."), one of the most 

 prominent of early coffee planters in Ceylo.v 

 let him give us a chapter on "The Vicissitudes 

 of plantations in Nyassaland " and show how 

 X.Y.Z., say, have come round and are now more 

 than paying their way in coffee, tea, tobacco, 

 cotton or any other product. — Following his 

 general information on the planting of tropical 

 products in the above territory, " H. B." gives 

 us an interesting summary of the present posi- 

 tion of rubber there. Hoot rubber, the rubber 

 vine, has been annihilated ; and so busy are the 

 exploiters of natural rubber in this Protectorate, 

 aided by the best seekers for it — the natives — that 

 the forests are expected ere long to be " worked 

 out." Ceara rubber, it is found, will not do ; but 

 Para has not been planted up as here and in 

 Malaya — so that Ni'assaland fortunately has 

 not to be added to the list of our competing 

 " plantation rubber " producing countries. 



ROOT RUBBER, CEARA AND PARA - 

 IN NYASSALAND. 



M lanje, Nyassaland Protectorate, Aug. 21st. 



Dear Siii, — You ask me for information about 

 Root Rubber ; this plant is well-known in this 

 part of Africa, but unfortunately the natives 

 have rooted up almost every vine, and I do not 

 suppose one could be found within a radius of 

 1 00 miles. Some years ago I used to see stretches 

 of miles of this rubber-yielding vine growing on 

 the sandy reaches of the big river banks, but 

 now non est. 



There is still some natural rubber exported 

 from Nyassaland, but it cannot be long before 

 the forests are worked out, even in the most 

 remote c )rner of the Protectorate ; for traders 

 are at work employing natives to search for 

 the balance of our natural rubbers, anywhere 

 and everywhere that there is any likelihood 

 of finding it. 



