bECEMBER t , I889.] 
THE TROPICAL AGTRItSULTU R1 ST. 
399 
own native materia medica, and of the virtues of 
many of these plants there can be little doubt. Aside 
from these strictly domestic remedies, the region 
affords to civilization some of its most useful drugs, 
and every year is adding to the list. 
One of the most interesting of these is guarana, 
the virtues of which as a remedy for migraine are 
rapidly becoming appreciated. It is the product of the 
seeds of Paullinia sorbilis, a, plant quite ntarly related 
to the horse chestnut. There is much false informa- 
tion afloat concerning this drug, and I have taken 
pleasure in investigating the real facts concerning it. 
The plant is a woody vine of considerable size, ex- 
isting naturally in many parts of the Amazon valley. 
Considerable portion of the drug, however, is the pro- 
duct of the wild plants, it being extensively cultivated 
in the Maderia region. Under cultivation its appear- 
ance is quite changed. Instead of being allowed to 
climb wildly it is trained to stakes, as the grape in 
many sections, so that at a distance a plantation 
bears much resemblance to a vineyard. The white 
flowers are borne in terminal panicles, and are small 
and inconspicuous except by being massed together. 
The fruits begin to ripen in December, as indicated by 
their bursting open and exposing the seeds, about equal 
to a hazel nut in size. No time is then iost in gathering 
the harvest, lest the seeds fall to the ground and be- 
come lost. From the outer husks, resembling those of 
a small hickory nut, the seeds are shelled out with the 
finger, a very laborious process. The pulp, a white, 
phlegmy tubstauce, is then washed in the river. The 
seeds are then most carefully roasted and placed in 
sacks and beaten to remove the cartilaginous shell. 
They are then roughly milled in a small hand mill or 
in a wooden mortar, an exact quantity of water added, 
and the whole kneaded into a doughy mass. This 
mass is then moulded by hand into rolls, which are 
carefully dried by a process requiring several weeks 
of diligent attention, and are ready for the market. 
Contrary to the general belief, no adulteration or sub- 
stitution of any kind is resorted to, these Indians 
vieing with one another in the manufacture of the best 
product. The reason that failure has universally 
attended attempts to manipulate the seeds in this 
country is that the process requires a great amount of 
time, patience and experience, which have not been 
given to it. 
The ipecac plant is found on the upper branches of 
the Maderia. The causes of the present scarcity and 
high prices are twofold. In the first place the known 
localities have been largely exhausted, and new ex- 
plorations have to be undertaken to secure supplies. 
But another influence of much greater importance is 
the growth of the rubber industry, which has monopo- 
lized the attention of the settlers. Until this inter 
est shall decrease, or until the population of those 
sections shall become largely increased, steadily cheap 
supplies of ipecac can scarcely be looked for. It is 
this fact which gives added interest to my new drug 
cocillana, which embodios to a great extent the pro- 
perties of ipecac. 
The copaiba tree is one of the handsomest trees of 
the Brazilian forest. It is not to be classed among 
the larger trees, yet it often reaches a diameter of five 
or six teet. Its wood is extremely hard and tough, 
and is used for various importaut purposes. A dug- 
out from this tree often serves as the basis of the 
strong boa's by which the dangerous rapids are navi- 
gated. A cross section of the trunk, properly trimmed, 
constitutes the rude cart wheels of the section. The 
seeds of the tree when dry resemble bleached bone 
in colour and hardness, and are used by the savages 
for making 1 beads. 
Very similar to the copaiba tree is the related tree, 
Dipteryx odorata, which yields us tonka beans. With 
its tali and polished trunk, surmounted by the most 
dense head of dark and glossy leaves, it constitutes a 
Stately ornament, and during the fruiting season loads 
tho air with the vanilla-like fragrauce of its seeds. 
The viini'la also grows wild here, and the beans, of 
poor quality, are sold at 10 cents each. 
The jaboraudi fringes the river bankB, the pariera 
climbs over the smaller trees, and the sarsaparilla 
covers the little elevations. Other drugs exist in rich 
profusion, but I can only refer to them by name, the 
strychnos, mauaca, stachytarpheta, soliman, barbasco 
and cbamairo. 
I confidently expect that in the future, when rational 
methods of examining and comparin g the effects of 
drugs shall have become more general, many of the 
drugs now used only by the savages of Brazil will 
replace the similar agent in use by us. 
+ 
PADDY CULTIVATION IN SABARAGAMUWA. 
With referrence to the recent discussion in your 
columns about paddy cultivation, I can assure you its 
a source of trouble from the day the seed paddy ia 
sown till it is secured in the granary in Sabaragamuwa. 
(1) The field has to be fenced to keep out cattle and 
wild animals during the day, the water has to be 
turned on and off at night, the villager has to watch it 
for fear of pigs and other animals. (2) When the 
ear3 begin to form and come to maturity the cul- 
tivator has to go over the whole field every morning 
with a paddy winnow on the end of a long light pole, 
the inside of which is plastered over with jak milk, 
with which he brushes the top of the paddy to catoh 
the insect pest named goyan messa : were the villagers 
to neglect the abovenamed pest they would get no 
crop at all, for the little midge-like insect would destroy 
the whole crop in a week. When the paddy has been 
out it is u-ually thrashed by the men who fix a hori- 
zontal pole to hold on to whilst they crush the 
grain from the straw with their feet: why buffaloes 
are not used as in other districts I don't know, the 
percentage of light is about J in each bushel which 
is winnowed out in the field if the weather is fine 
before removing it to the houses. The paddy before 
being pounded out by the women is again winnowed 
and found to contain about 4 measures to the bushel of 
light. The outturn of rice from a bushel of paddy is 
usually half if it has been boiled and dried to toughen the 
grain and burst the husk to making it easier for the 
women and prevent wastage, if green or patcharisi 
is required, which is not boiled and contains much 
more starchy matter and is usually made into flour 
for hoppers and sweet cakes, the outturn is less than 
half as there is much more waste. 
The price paid for paddy in Sabaragamuwa when 
thoroughly well winnowed is from El to 1*50 per 
bushel according to the distance from the cart road, 
or large town, and the price of village rice from 8c. 
to 12c. The price paid for converting a bushel 
of paddy into rice is alsj from 8c to 12c, but it is 
usually paid in kind by giving 1J to 2 measures of 
rice and the broken leavings. 
Village rice is much more satisfying than Coast, but 
it does not boil out nearly so much, and is therefore 
considered less economical than Coast rice. When very 
white village rice is required it is pounded with straw 
and you would not know it from the best Coast table 
iice. 
There is nearly as much hill paddy grown in 
Sabaragamuwa as wet — the wet climate being very 
suitable for hill paddy, but it is not considered so 
nourishing and is in my opinion less palatable than 
the water-grown grain. 
♦ 
NEGOMBO CINNAMON AND COCONUT 
DISTEICT. 
Nov. 13th. 
Weather very dry: only 2-26 inches of rain Bince the 
17th October. This I fear augurs a dry north-east 
monsoon. For the last 10 years or so the seasons have 
been most unreliable. I remember the time when it 
was possible to have progonsticated the weather ahead 
with great certainty : now anyone attempting such a 
thing would fail miserably. The only reliable augurs 
now are the scientific ones, and we should pay more 
attentiou to their predictions than we at present do. 
The health of the distriot is pretty good, the mornings 
and evenings cool and the intervals scorching, 
