July if 1887.J §M$ TROPICAL AGRICULTURISTS 
TURTLE: A NEW MINOR INDUSTRY. 
It seems to us to be most desirable that in the 
midst oi larger questions for discussion we should 
never wholly lose sight of those many minor 
industries, the successful prosecution of which 
goes so far towards increasing the sense of the 
happiness and prosperity of the native races 
among whom, we Europeans, are dwellers. While it 
must be admitted that, primarily, the Ceylonese are, 
to a very great extent, dependent for both the qualities 
referred to, upon the successful results to European 
enterprize, there is no doubt that (hey may be 
largely added to by the endeavour to point out 
new fields for the exercise of such industries as 
are particularly fitted for the labour of individual 
natives. We have on many occasions endeavoured 
to fulfil this — as we deem it to be — important 
obligation. The result to our having done so has 
sometimes no doubt been failure; but that fact 
need not, and should not, restrain us from further 
endeavour. 
That the commencement of new undertakings 
among the natives of Ceylon is always attended 
with many difficulties must be fully recog- 
nized by all those acquainted with their 
character and with their conservatism. By the 
latter term we characterize that indisposition 
to move out of settled grooves which is, 
of course, but the outcome of centuries of 
habit and in many cases of centuries of prejudice. 
Still, in spite of the many failures that must cert- 
ainly appear on the record, we believe that we 
can in many directions recognize the result of that 
leavening which the infusion of European energy and 
of improved education has introduced. There seems 
to have been no want of desire and no absence of 
enterprize in respect of the recent failure to es- 
tablish Fish-curing on a wider scale and on a 
sounder basis than the desultory methods which 
have been customary among our seaside population 
for ages almost immemorial. Circumstances have 
been adver.se, and. some years must probably yet 
pass before they can become so changed as to 
admit of success where hitherto there has been | 
nothing but non-success. We should not, however, 
suffer such present results to altogether discourage 
us. If we lail of achievement of our purpose and 
desire in one direction, it still behoves us to draw 1 
attention to other sources whence it appears to ua 
that our native population may yet draw contrib- 
utions towards that improvement in their indus- 
turial condition which we are sure every European \ 
co onist desires to see established. 
A correspondent who from long experience with i 
suoh a subject is well qualified to inform us \ 
on the matter, expresses his regret that so little 
harvest is reaped by what he terms the "turtle! 
crop" of this island. He points out to us that, 
whereas the islets which fringe the Jaffna Pen- 
insula absolutely teum with these savoury reptilia I 
while the market of the chief town of that pen- 
insula is at all times almost glutted with fine 
sp°cimens of them, it is extremely rare to' see 
one in the markets or bazaars of Colombo 
or of our southern towns generally. He is in- 
clined to attribute much of the physical superiority 
of the Tamil race over that possessed by tho 
southern Sinhalese to the stimulating and nour- 
ishing diet thus freely, and at an extraordinarily 
oheup rate, placed at their command, and he 
holds that were a system established and well 
carried out— probably under some Government 
iupirvisiou-by which tho turtlo during thoir 
breeding season were protected from disturbance, 
they would soon so increase in numbers as to 
be compelled to seek feeding ground farther to tho 
south, and so bring to the doors, as it were, of 
our North-western, Western and Southern Provinces, 
a food supply of a most valuable character which 
is now, comparatively, wanting to their people. 
Why it is that up to the present time the turtle 
have not migrated to the southward it is rather 
difficult to say. Perhaps on our western 
•oast the barrier of Adam's Bridge greatly ham- 
pers that migration ; while the eastern coast 
of the island presents first the disability of very 
rough seas, and, secondly, it possesses but few 
of those islets which afford the quiet breeding- 
grounds in which the turtle delights. But both 
at Kalpitiya and Negombo, as well as at the 
entrance to the Mutwal river, there are, ve should 
say, many spots which if carefully watched and 
protected might furnish the quiet and security for 
which the female turtle seeks when about to in- 
cubate. The oyster has been made to accustom 
itself to habitats which it is not naturally inclined 
to, and with most profitable results. Why should 
not the turtle be made to be equally docile '? We 
must recollect that for its llesh there is not only 
a wide local market, but that it might be possible 
for us to become successful competitors with the 
West Indies in the supply to European markets of 
that dried material which furnishes the basis ol 
the nourishing soups so dear to gourmets and 
so restoring to invalids. Much we think might 
be accomplished by a Society established for the 
express purpose of forwarding minor Native In- 
dustries. To its members might be read papers 
embodying the experience of those whose residence 
in certain localities might have made it of value 
over a wider field. In the direction we have 
named, as in many others, we feel sure there is 
much that might be usefully done. 
LONDON TEA COMPANIES. 
Darjeeling Company, Limited ; paid up capital, 
£135,420, in 6,771 shares of £20 each ; area under cult- 
ivation 1,735 acres. Directors — Messrs. Henry Smith 
(chairman), William Sangster, James Percy Leith, and 
.- ir George Macleay, R. C. M. G. The twenty-second 
annual general meeting of the shareholders of this 
Company was held on the 4tli inst., when the follow- 
ing interesting report was presented to them by the 
directors : — 
The crop of te.v gathered in 188(i amounted to 
517,310 lb., being an increase of 0,279 lb. over the 
previous seafon, but the average price obtained for it 
was only Is. 3'18d per lb. showing a decrease of 2'54d 
per lb. as compared with the avcrago price of the 1885 
crop. The proceeds of tho sales amounted to £33, 111 
10s5d., or £4,835 12s 2d. below those realised in 885. 
On the other haud, the rates of exchange between 
Calcutta and Loudon were lower iu 1880 than in the 
previous year, so that the required amount in rupees 
was provided in India at a saving of £5,465 Ids Od, 
against £1.330 0s lOd in 1885, although the amount 
of drafts issued on the Company in London was only 
£l, r ),500 against £17,000 in 1885. 
The items to the credit of the profit and loss state- 
ment are as follows: — 
By Tea Account ... £32,411 10 5 
„ Exchange Account ... 5,465 19 (i 
„ Sales of Tea, 1885 ... 18 10 0 
,, Interest Account ... 20 2 2 
Total 
£37,917 0 1 
The expenditure in Darjeeling amounted to £11, 
lfis7d, showing n considerable saving of £1,468 1"" 
4d, over that in 1886, and Mr. Harcourt, the mani r 
deserves great praise for having succeeded iu rcdsf 
