October i, 1889.] THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
229 
Ten jears ago these hills were almost unknown. 
They were now and then visited by sportsmen, for 
the sholas were full of elephant, bison and sambur, 
and on the tops of the hill there were and still 
are large herds of ibex. The only inhabitants were 
a few hillmen, a strange aboriginal race by no means 
like the Podas of the Nilgherries, who live almnst 
entirely by hunting, felliDg every year some forty or 
fifty acres of forest, planting there a crop of raggi 
and then next year moving on to another shola. The 
ordinary shepherds from the plains never come to 
these hills, for they hold them in superstitious dread, 
believing them to be haunted by devils. About 
twelve years ago some sportsmen who had visited 
this beautiful solitude resolved to try and turn it into 
a planting settlement. Thoy obtained a grant from 
the Travancore Government of about 100 square miles, 
containing some 35,000 acres of virgin forest, and 
then set to work to form a company. Some ten years 
ago the company commenced operations, and began 
by planting out cinchona, coffee and tea. The various 
valleys in the concession contained land suited for 
each of these crops, the elevations being from 3,500 
to 6,(00 feet. The actual summits of the hills are 
much higher, and Analmoody, the biggest of all, is 
the highest point in South India, being som6 80 feet 
above Dodabett on the Nilgherries. A beginning hav- 
ing been made some others soon joined : and now 
there are about 16 estates containing about 2,5C0 acres, 
chiefly of cinchona, there being only about 300 acres 
of tea and the same of coffee. Some of the cinchona 
clearings are now nine years of age and are in full 
bearing : the youngest are from four to five. There 
are about a dozen planters scattered over this large 
area, each of them reigning supreme over some lovely 
valley, one of the charms being that every valley 
has a distinct beauty of its own. 
The bungalow at Devikulam is a perfect museum 
of trophies. The walls of the verandah are covered 
as thick as possible with ibex horns, a mighty bison's 
head frowns over the mantel-piece, a bear's skin forms 
a screen some six feet high, an elephant's foot is 
used as a waste paper basket under the writing table, 
and the walls are a perfect forest of sambur, antelope 
and ibex heads. Only yesterday we were perspiring 
in the plains; but here a wood fire burns brightly in 
the fire-place, and when after a hearty lunch we 
draw our arm-chairs up to the fire, light our pipes 
and toast our toes, we feel that it was worth under- 
taking the long journey to enjoy this comfort at the 
end. * * * 
On other days we visited the plantation, and watched 
the barking of the trees, &c. The growth of the cin- 
chona trees is everywhere exceedingly fine. They are 
almost entirely C. condaminea and hybrids. The latter 
are remarkable for their vigorous growth, and the 
former are also fine specimens, and show great uni- 
formity all through. Cinchona at present is at a 
discount ; the unit is down to one penny and a half- 
penny, whereas a few years ago it was a shill- 
ing and more. With the unit so low as this 
the bark must contain a very high average of 
quinine to pay the planter. Being in a place 
where such documents are available I took the trouble 
of examining the sale-lists of cinchona, which are 
periodically sent out by the London brokers, I was 
at once struck by the great difference between the 
prices fetched by Ceylon bark and the bark which is 
grown on these hills. In Ceylon the prices range 
from one penny half-penny per pound to fourpe nee or 
fourpence half-penny. A few estates range as high as 
sixpence or sevenpence, but the average of the whole 
is only abc ui twopence halfpenny. Now it costs 
quite two pence a pound to cut the bark, pay for 
freight and put it into the Louden market : so that 
planters selling at these prices are selling at a loss. 
The cinchona grown on the Devikulam hiils, however, 
averages as high as sixpence a pound, the original bark 
fetching tourpeuce half-penny and the renewed seven 
pence, eigbtpeuce and even ninepence per pound. On 
some of the best estates they get as much as five 
thousand pounds of bark per acre, and with this 
yield and an average of sixpence there is even 
thought the unit is so low, a good margin 
of profit. The result seems inevitable. Ceylon 
ark now swamps the London market, but it is 
impossible that the planters can go on selling at 
a loss. Blany of these estates will be abandoned 
only those being retained where, at a high ele- 
vation, high class trees can be grown. If this is 
so there should be a good future in store for the 
Devikulam hills. The company — it is styled the 
North Travancore Agricultural and Land Planting 
Society, with head-quarters at Madras — have still 
some 30,000 acres of splendid forest land untouched 
at elevations ranging from 3,500 to 0,500 feet, which 
at the present moment can be purchased at less 
than half the pric-e that similar land can be bought 
for in Ceylon. The great drawback of the Devikulam 
hills is the want of communications. The bridle path 
by which I rode up is very steep, and even with 
considerable outlay could never be turned into a cart- 
road. The result is that in spite of their rich soil 
and splendid climate the hills are shut off from the out- 
side world, visitors are few and the land finds no pur- 
chasers. Whilst I was there I attended one of the plan- 
ters' meetings, at which this question of road was discus- 
sed. What they wanted was a road from the low country 
on the Travancore side so as to put them in communi- 
cation with the port of Cochin. This road would run 
through and open out an immense tract of virgin 
forest suitable for tea, coffee and cinchona. Being an 
idle man, with still a few weeks of my holiday to 
spare, I offered to go on an embassy to the Travancore 
authorities, in order if possible to induce the Govern- 
ment to sanction the road required. This offer was 
gladly accepted and I was supplied with any amount 
of statistic^ and figures wherewith to back up my 
argument. For rre the journey itself, involving a 
distance of nearly six hundred miles by road, and back 
by water, offered considerable attractions. I had long 
wished to see Travancore, the land of charity as it is 
called in Southern India, and which is spoken of as 
a "model State." I accordingly started on my expedi- 
tion with a light heart. G. 
* 
WHY ARE GEMMING AND MINING 
LICENSES IN SABARAGAMUWA REFUSED ? 
MINERALOGY V. AGRICULTURE. 
[From our Mining Correspondent.] 
With reference to your remark that the ques- 
tion should be asked in Council as to whether an 
offer was made for the right to gem on < 'rown 
lands in Sabaragamuwa, I am in a position to 
tell you candidly that Mr. Maurice Unger, who 
brought credentials, letters of credit &c. to hatna- 
pura about 12 months ago ; also a letter (I am 
informed) to the Government Agent from the 
Governor, came for the purpose of making in- 
quiry about gemming lands, but whether he made 
any definite offer or not I am unable to obtain 
authentic information. It is however said that he 
came from the house of Baring Brothers or the 
Rothschilds, and offered, as I have already mentioned, 
one million sterling for the right to gem on Crown 
lands ;* but whether the offer was rejected, or dis- 
couraging obstacles thrown in the way, I cannot say. 
Gemming is discouraged and almost prohibited 
in this Province for many reasons, the first and 
most important being the inability to look after 
the gemmers who obtain licenses. When two 
or three men secure a license 20 or 30 proceed 
to the tame neighbourhood and commence opera- 
tions. Who is to check them? No one except 
the village peace officer, who usually gets his 
* If such an offer was made, it must surely have 
been for very extensive as well as exclusive rights ; 
and only very objectionable conditions indeed could 
have led the Oeylou Government to reject so tempt- 
ing an offer.— Ed. 
