October i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
287 
whioh is now offered for sale for gemming pur- 
poses, for five years, by Government. Only cats 
eyes are found in this forest near the surface, but 
doubtless other gems would be discovered deeper 
down. 
ABANDONED PITS REOPENED. 
When passing through Everton Estate, I 
observed a number of abandoned pits being reopened, 
so that the whole Gap looks like a fishing village 
with so many ships' masts, yards, and stages 
formed by the machinery used by the natives for 
taking up the water. It is an upright pole with 
a beam lashed to the top ; to this at one end is 
an upright stick used to fasten the bucket and 
at the other end is a lot of stones to act as a lever 
balance and weight, to help the man to 
bring up the water. This contrivance is rather amus- 
ing and ingenious. Sometimes a man is to be 
seen running along the yard, as it might be 
called, from one end to the other, as the water is 
being brought to the surface, if the barrel is a 
large one. Some of the old pits run into each 
other and cau3e disputes as to who is to work 
them : of course the landowner is called to 
the rescue, whose decision is final and binding. 
The whole of Everton Gap presents a very 
wild aspect, between a background of very 
precipitous rocky forest and scrub on the one 
side, and a network of abandoned gem pits and 
subterraneous passages, enough to frighten anyone 
to look into them, on the other. I should not 
care to be the owner of the herds of cattle 
to be seen about there, for they cannot 
very well_ increase in number with so many 
traps, but it is wonderful how the animals manage 
to avoid the holes. 
THE INTEREST IN GEMMING 
is extending in the Morawak Korale. I hear that Mr. 
Perera, Justice Dias's superintendent, was lucky in 
finding a good gem the other day, and intends pros- 
pecting further. It is said that some parts of Mr, 
Dias's property are very rich in precious stones, as 
well as many other parts of the Morawak Korale 
district ; so that some anxiety to begin on their 
own hook is showing itself amongst the residents. 
VALUABLE FINDS. 
A splendid catseye and sapphire were found in 
a pit on Aberfo.yle estate, long noted for its large 
and pure sapphires. I heard, thatB5000 was refused 
for the gems, and that the pit had only cost the 
five partners a few bushels of rice each, besides 
the usual ground rent of E10. On Aberfoyle the 
digging is mostly surface work, no deep shaft sinking 
has been attempted like that on the Everton side. 
Success can hardly be depended on in washing the 
" lllian " found only a few feet deep, and it 
becomes, therefore, more or less gambling. Those 
who sink deep shafts don't consider the surface 
" ilhan " worth wasting time and labour upon. 
SALE OF GEMMING RIGHTS. 
I hope the gemming right over the 400 acres of 
land to be sold by Government will not be 
longer delayed than necessary, to give time for 
communication with London people, as the whole 
land has been overun by illicit gemmers for 
many months past, who have, it is said, found 
some magnificent catseyes, and it is well-known 
that some wealthy native gemmers applied for the 
lane , as well as Europeans, long ago. There will 
doubless be strong competition for it. 
NOTES FROM LOWER MATALE. 
™. , September 12th. 
i.he abnormal weather of this year has amply 
oompensatod for the losses of the last, by 
reason of the long-continued spells of dry 
weather, and tea is now seen at its best, in the 
low flat lands round about Matale and Ukuwala. 
Mr. Hodgson's clearing with its eighteen months' 
old field of indigenous Assam is about the most 
luxuriant growth to be seen anywhere. 
Ittaliadde has changed hands at an advance of 
the figure it realized a few months back, indicating 
that a demand for land is setting in just now in that 
direction. This property will go into tea as part of 
Mr. E. Storey's clearing. 
Tobacco too has done well in places where the 
soil was rich and loamy, but ehena lands over- 
grown with lantana do not produce, on being 
cleared and planted, the same size of leaf as clear- 
ings of older jungle growths. 
Cacao is no new product in Matale and its neigh- 
bourhood, but it will grow satisfactorily only in 
choice spots and under shade. " The Grove " and 
the "Glen" at Ukawala, new clearings scarcely 
two years old, have many plants now already in 
crop. Being of the Forestero varieties the different 
coloured pods clinging to the stems of the young 
trees present a very pretty picture, but the 
difficulties of the first year or two are never 
absent anywhere and gaps are always visible in 
the best planted fields of cacao. If cacao 
planting may be treated by the enthusiastic gar- 
dener as a fine art, quite apart from its financial 
and grosser aspect, then verily it is a "joy for ever." 
The same acre will answer the demand over and 
over, monsoon after monsoon, and give the planter 
his opportunity for indulging in the pleasant occu- 
pation of supplying, shading, hunting for white 
ants, staking and so forth. But once established, 
shaded with jak or the wild fig, which ultimately 
fertilize the ground for the cacao, a steadier and 
less troublesome product there is not to be found. 
Then also it is a joy for ever. 
Pepper has proved a great success in the district. 
But its planting is not taken up with earnestness 
owing to the success of the other products. 
Messrs. J. S. Fry & sons have taken a portion 
of old Bristol Gaol for their ever-growing cocoa 
business. — Chemist and Druggist, Aug. 24th. 
The Aderbach Quinine-works have made a 
profit during the financial year 1888-9 of 184,126m. 
=9,263?.).— Chemist and Druggist, Aug. 24th. 
Farming in California. — Mdme. ModjeBka adds 
to her other accomplishments that of being, if not a 
skilful, at all events a lucky farmer, for her ranche 
in California is turning out splendidly. Fortunately, 
as it happens, she and her husband Count Bozenta, 
did not plant vines, and so have escaped the terrible 
pest which, it is thought, must have been imported 
from Australia, and which is devasting the Califor- 
nian vineyards. Their oranges, walnuts, and olives 
are all doing splendidly. — Globe, August 23rd. 
Gfms in Ceylon. — The Sunday Times of 
Aug. 25th has the following : — ■ 
A recent arrival from Oeylon brings news of the 
discovery of " gem-pits " in that island so productive 
that a European syndicate has been formed to take them 
over from the present holders and work them 
under the name of the " Ceylon Gemming Company." 
An alexandrite, that beautiful sherry-coloured stone 
that shines pink by gaslight, said to be valued by its 
possessor at £25,000, is one of the latest products of 
these " gem-pits." What a fascinating word tbat is ! 
And how delightfully suggestive of Sindbad and 
Rasselas, the Epicurean, and the Seven Champions, and 
of, in fact, any of the stories of jv-wel-treasure. 
As the alexandrite is of a green colour by daylight 
and dark red by artificial light, the writer's " sherry, 
coloured stone " must be something else. 
