THE: TROPICAL 
AomeuLfumsr. [May r , i8 90 , 
by an executive engineer of the Company, who re- 
presented that not only were Sir Lepel and Lady 
Griffin as well as Mr. Kirby going to the 
mines, but also the Chief Commissioner Sir 
Charles Orosthwaite and the Financial Commissioner, 
Mr. Fryer. Under these circumstances there was 
no means of transport available, and no accom- 
modation at Mogok — nor en route ; in fact it was 
impossible for him to go. Having got to Mandalay 
383 miles on his journey, his progress was barred, 
and after eliciting all the information he could 
he returned to Eangoon. This is what the local 
press said of this episode : — 
" In regard to the return of our representative 
from Mandalay, we now learn that Sir Lepel Griffin, 
as well as Mr. Kirby, seemed anxious that he 
should accompany the party to the ruby mines, 
but was eventually overruled by the representations 
of Lockhart, the Euby Mines Executive Engineer, 
who from the first exhibited an unwillingness that 
publicity should bo afforded as to the working of 
the mines. When the want of a pony or other 
means of transport was put forward as a pretext 
for our representative remaining behind, he under- 
took to do the journey on foot at the rate of twenty 
miles a day, but Mr. Lockhart was so evidently 
determined not to have him under any conditions 
that he had eventually to return to Eangoon, his 
mission unfulfilled, having done all in his power 
to get to the mines on his own account. One 
statement of the Executive Engineer, we have rea- 
son to believe, was a distinct misrepresentation ; he 
stated there was no accommodation on the road 
for travellers in which to rest and eleep ; but we 
are now informed there are small 'dalilwrigalows 1 
at stated distances of twelve or fifteen miles apart 
along the whole road. Altogether it would have 
been muoh more satisfactory had our own repre- 
sentative been able to proceed with the party and 
give a plain unvarnished account of what — deny it as 
they may — the public will be inclined to say the 
servants of the Euby Mines Company evidently 
wish to keep a profound secret." Your readers 
will see that the editor of the paper was not far 
wrong in his deductions, Mr, Lockhart having 
distinctly stated that he did not care to have news- 
paper correspondents knocking about the mines, 
and that the employees of the Company were strictly 
forbidden to make any communications to the press. 
" The district in which the ruby mines lie is 
about 75 miles in a direct lino north of Mandalay. 
It is a tract of mountainous country about twelve 
miles east and west by six or seven miles from 
north to south, with an elevation above the sea 
varying from 4,000 to 5,000 feet. It includes the 
larger vallies of Mogok, Kapein, and Kathe contain, 
ing the villages of the same name more or less in- 
habited. The whole district is grouped round the 
southern and eastern side of a considerable moun- 
tain ' Toung Mai' some 8,000 feet high. The 
elevation being nowhere less than 4,000 feet the 
climate is comparatively temperate and should 
prove healthy to Europeans residing at the mines. 
[Experience so far has proved it otherwise. — Cor.] 
Apple, pear, plum and raspberry grow freely in and 
around the villages. There is a well defined rainy 
season from May to October and a yearly rainfall of 
from seventy to eighty inches ; a little rain falling 
also in the dry season. In December and January 
the thermometer often falls below freezing-point at 
nights. In March and April it rises as high as 
80° in the shade during tho day." The above 
quotation is taken from the report made some 
two years ago by a gentleman of great local 
experionco and eminently fitted for the task 
which he had undertaken. For some reason not 
altogether explicable, the climate has not proved 
by any means so healthy as was anticipated. The 
natives of the valley suffer very considerably from 
fever, — and the immigrant police and coolies have 
died off in great numbers. The Europeans appar- 
ently have been but little better off in this respeot 
than the Indians and Burmans ; a number of the 
youDger and inexperienced men having suffered most 
deplorably. The opinion of Sir Lepel Griffin is 
worth recording, coinciding as it is does in great 
measure with that of Stanley and Dr. John Kirk 
in regard to travellers and residents in Africa :— " I 
fancy the fever is very much due to the rice 
cultivation, which is in a narrow confined valley 
and causes a certain amount of malaria; But 
certainly when we were there the climate was most 
delicious and invigorating. The inhabitants of 
Mogok, which is a rather large town of some four 
thousand people, suffer a good deal. Certainly there 
was a good deal of sickness amongst the English 
employees which I think is very" much due to 
their want of knoidedge of the country, and un- 
necessary exposure. They have not hitherto had 
good food. It has been very difficult to get good 
provisions there, but I hope that is arranged for 
now. I shall not believe in the unhealthiness of 
Mogok when the conditions are favorable, that is 
to say when there are good houses to live in and 
good food to eat. I do not oonsider fever should 
be worse there than in any other part of India. 
Of course the jungle parts of India you do almost 
all over the country find malarious fever in certain 
months of the year, but Mogok is tolerably cleared 
now and I do not see why it should be at all 
unhealthy." 
(To be continued.) 
• 
PLANTING IN DUMBARA : 
Cacao, Coffee, Cotton and Rubber. 
The weather for the past ten days has been showery 
in the afternoons with very hot sun duriDg the morniDgs; 
the showers have been more or less partial however 
Ccooa on the whole is looking healthy and well, making 
a good show of strong young shoots. Young coffee 
looks well for the coming season with a fair amount 
of crop already set and prospects of more to follow. 
Several natives have already commenced to grow cotton 
and where care has been bestowed in the planting it 
looks promising for a remunerative crop. The natives 
are being encouraged to grow this product by free dis- 
tribution of seed from Klarandagalla, from which 
estate a very fine crop of cotton is being secured. 
Helopetis, which for a time was playing sad havoc 
with both cotton and cocoa, appears to be on the 
wane, but whether permanently or temporarily, it would 
bo very risky to offer an opinion. 
You no doubt saw the article in the Observer of 
March 7tli on Rubber Cultivation in Ceylon, and I 
would endorse the last three lines of the article : " It 
is a pity he (Mr. Betts) should not see some of the 
old trees in Dumbara and Matale." The Superintendent 
of an estate in this district told me the other day he 
was getting over 1 lb of rubber per cooly per day. 
From 10 years old trees he took £ lb. and from 3 
years old trees 2 and 3 oz. this rubber last year 
netted 3s. 9|d. per lb, in England, so that though 
rubber is not generally liked as a shade tree for 
cocoa, it is woith while considering if the above 
figures should not deter the wholesale destruction of 
rubber trees as shade. — Cor., local "Independent." 
♦ 
COUNTRY-MADE QUININE. 
It was recently arranged in the Revenue Department 
that the manufacture of Cinchona febriluge on the 
Government estates be discontinued. Expensive ap- 
paratus has been provided for the preparation of 
quinine, and it is anticipated that with the new 
appliances the bleached alkaloid can now be supplied at 
quito as cheap a rate, considering its comparative 
