Description of the 



[No. 33, 





Cocoa Plantation. 









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For 1827.. 



29,975 



2,102 



19,851 



8,022 



1831.. 



34,428 



1,21)7 



23,433 



9,7S8 



„ 1S39.. 



27,100 



3,630 



11,823 



11,647 



,, 1844.. 



29,297 



2,525 



11,855 



14,917 



The statement in the margin shows 

 the state of the cocoanut cultivation 

 on this island. The column *' total 

 productive trees" shows their num- 

 ber to have nearly doubled since 

 1827, and the column *' young trees" 

 testifies to the activity with which 

 the planting goes on. The exactness 

 of these native returns however I 

 fear cannot be relied on. The counting of trees on these islands is 

 a business of great difficulty, for they are perfect thickets without 

 land marks of any description, besides which a good deal of care and 

 attention is requisite in classifying the trees. Our sihhendy^ is so 

 weak that the Monigar is unable to conduct this computation in all 

 the islands, and it is deputed to Vipeon and eventually to the Islanders 

 themselves who probably (and especially the cunning fellows of Kiltan) 

 understate the numbers. The establishment is perfectly large enough 

 to perform all its duties, this only excepted, and a small hangamy\ 

 establishment sent over once every 5 years would be quite sufficient 

 to keep up a very accurate knowledge of the state of these islands — 

 for no material changes can take place in cocoanut plantations in less 

 than 5 years. These remarks apply more or less to all the islands. 



The whole island is given up to cocoanut plantation. 

 The bread-fruit tree, soopary and lime tree do not 

 thrive, and there is no hat where the stone has been broken up. 

 Dry cultivation has gradually given way before cocoanut cultivation 

 and may be said now hardly to exist on this island, but under cocoa- 

 nut plantation the soil is remarkably productive. The limited popu- 

 lation cannot consume the leaves, and the ground in some parts is 

 covered with decaying vegetable matter most beneficial to the trees. 

 In other islands, it is necessary to rear plants for one year with care 

 and then transplant them ; in this, a nut buried with a knife will grow, 

 requires no attention, and comes into bearing early. The average 

 annual produce may be taken at 80 to 85 nuts per tree, and in many 

 parts I observed trees, where it had been necessary to support the 

 luxuriant growth of fruit, artificially. 



Coir—proba- ^^^^ hands in this island are unequal to making up 

 ble waste. into yarn all the coir produced, and with a large surplus 



• Fiscal Establishment. f Temporary. 



Cocoanut 

 Plantation. 



