August i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
121 
catching and holding fast until forfeit has been paid 
by eittier clothes or flash. Having discovered and 
selected the spot desired, you mark your boundaries, 
travel back to civilization, begin the slow and uphill 
work of gutting at the Sultan, and before the consent 
of this individual is obtained, many minor dignitaries 
of various grades have to be appeased with the 
customary palm oil. You have now to agree about 
the price of the land, for, I believe, 99 years. When 
all is settled so far the contract requires the seal of 
the .Resident or Assistant Resident, for the Sultan 
cannot dispose of his laud without the signature of 
this official. The soil ot Deli and Lnnkat is strictly 
a noh vegetable deposit on a volcanic base, in some 
places lying a foot and a half to two feet in depth. 
In low, swampy land, a stiff, white clay in some 
parts, and in the higher plantations, a light reddish 
soil, with here and there patches of bare rock are 
found. I mention these facts as they are the guides 
to treating the tobacco plant at a certain stage of 
its growth. At other places are encountered large 
stretches of clear ground, covered with long stiff grass 
called lalang. Tnero are two kinds of this grass, 
one a broad bladed kind, and another thin and spiral. 
Where the broad bladed grass grows, and given a 
sufficiency of rain, the tobacco plant giows well, but 
upon the land where the spiral blade is found the 
tobacco crop is patchy, thin yellow-looking, and meagre. 
Where the soil is stiff, white clay so hard at times 
that the hoe can scarcely penetrate it, the tobacco 
is generally large, oily and heavy, and after working 
seems to give the most even colour, a great desideratum. 
The rich soil has naturally the preference, and the 
to bacco grows in it to the greatest perfection, the 
best laud of all being where the largest and heaviest 
jungles have previously stood, aud in seeking land ex- 
perienced planters give the preference to the latter 
kind above all others. 
THE COOLIE. 
Without the Chinese coolie, no tobacco could be 
grown in Deli, I know of no race who could, or would 
face the difficulties of clearing anil preparing the land 
for that purpose, the pluck aud perseverance of 
good (Jhiuese workmen are astonishing. No Kuropean 
could do the work, aud the natives are too idle to 
ever be of use in planting, and it is therefore a 
necessity that Chinese labour be obtained. There 
are three ways in which the coolies are engaged : — 
1st. The planter goes to Pe:.ang aud places himself 
iu communication with the coolie broker, and the 
planter and broker go together to the houses where 
the new immigrants are staying, and there see and 
pick out those suitable to the work. There are a 
variety of opinions as to which district supplies the 
best workmen, but men from the neighbourhood of 
Macao are universally condemned as incapable of 
field work, aud but few are found in Deli working 
as coolies. Heilochongs, Khoh men, and Teochew 
men (Swatows) are usually preferred, and these are 
mostly employed, although the latter are a hot-tempered 
tribe. They are fine, powerful men, and mostly 
accustomed to field work. Managers who can speak 
Chinese ask the men if they would like to go to 
Deli to plant tobacco, and the desire to be chosen 
for the plantation seems to bo universal. The planter 
having selected his coolies and agreed upon the 
advance to be made to them (I use the word "ad- 
vance," because it is a sum outside the commission 
paid the brokor and cannot be called purchase money,) 
coolies, broker, and planter, proceed to tho Protector 
of Coolies, and a contract is entered into as follows : — 
The coolie agrees to plant, cut and sort tobacco 
during one season ; to pay back all advauces he may 
receive; to plant two feet by three; to cut ripo 
tobacoo ; to accept tho following standard of valuation of 
tobacco ; S8 per thousand trees for ripe, unbroken 
No. I, S7, No. 2. SO, for No. 3. and soon, till Jl, 
(the lowest valuation) is reached. That ho will obey 
tho manager aud those whom the manager shall 
api oint to direct and carry out the work. That he 
will accept a curtain price for other work, such as 
road and ditoh making, and so forth necessary work 
•oolies have to do out of growing seasons. There in 
a clause also that unripe tobacco shall not be received. 
There are some other stipulations as to holidays (which 
are given, one day out of every fourteen,) housing, 
&C, not at all necessary to repeat. This contract is 
read over (in Ohinete) to the coolies, aud upon these 
agreeing to the conditions (which they always do) 
they sign the contract. The Protector of Coolies 
iu Penang is present to see that no advantage is taken 
of them, and it is entirely of their own free will that 
they engage. All these contracts are afterwards pro- 
duced upon the arrival of the coolies in Deli, and 
are inspected by the Dutch authorities, who take 
care that the men are free labourers in every sense 
of the word, officials being specially appointed to 
that duty. The coolie is now supplied, at a fixed 
price, with the necessary implements for the cultiv- 
ation of tobacco, and is drafted off to the division 
iu which he is to work. Thus far as to the coolie 
engaged in Penang. The seooud way of obtaining 
hands is to send an old and trustworthy coolie or 
headman to China, who brings back with him a 
batch of his own clansmen, aud similar contracts 
are entered into. The coolies obtained ia this way 
are, as a rule, good, steady men. The third method 
is a most distinct refutation of the charge of inveigl- 
ing the coolies. When all the tobacco is sorted off, 
in the way I shall presently describe, those men 
who have worked that crop can re-eugage themselves 
for another season ; and should they do so they 
receive $10 at once and $5 more on the Chinese 
New Year as an advance. It is by this method that 
the best men are obtained, .as their experience en- 
ables them to do better lor themselves aud for their 
employers, by raising a more valuable and more care- 
fully cultivated leaf. Many men do go away with 
their earnings, and after visiting their native country 
return and re-engage with their previous employers, 
and it is an undeniable fact that the old hands are 
in a majority on most estates, new men only being 
required to fill up, say, from five to twenty per cent, 
of the total number employed. The old coohes who 
re-engage have also the privilege of electing in what 
division they will work. On arriving at their destin- 
ation they go to the coolie houses ; not miserable 
hovels but houses, placed most conveniently near to 
their work; roomy, well drained and ventilated with 
beds on each side and a clear space in the centre. 
Two wells are dug outside the coolie houses, one for 
the men to bathe in, the other for drinking water, 
and in close proximity to the house stands a covered 
space where each coolie makes his cooking place. 
These houses are kept clean ; the ditches are cleared 
out eyery morning before the holiday, and the interior 
is swept, as the tandil.i are liable to be fined should 
the houses under their care be found to be in a 
dirty condition. I do not pretend to say that from 
one holiday to another the houses are like new pins ; 
but I do state that the Chinese in their own home 
of the coolie class in Hongkong are nothing like 
so well off as they are in a Deli coolie kongsce. At 
5 a.m., a horn is blown by the headman of the 
division, when the coolies get up, bathe, and have 
their breakfast, which they cook themselves; at G 
a.m., the horn again sounds, and the men leave the 
houses for the field. Should a man bo ill, he goes 
to the Etiropeau who superintends the division, where 
he receives what medicine will suit his case, or should 
the assistant consider it beyond his knowledge, the 
coolie will receive a letter of admission to the hospital, 
where a qualified doctor will attend him. Iu tho 
company with which I am best acquainted, to prevent 
mistakes, each assistant is provided with a brief but 
simple description of the diseases to which coolies 
are liable, with the necessary instructions how to 
treat the case, and strict rules were laid down as 
to what casts were at once to be sent to the dootors. 
The work goes on from 0 a.m., to 11 a.m., and when 
the heat is excessive, coolies are allowed to return to 
their bouses a quarter of an hour sooner ; timo is 
now allowed them to batho, cook, aud sleep, aud at 
1 p.m., the horn is blown ami the men arc usually 
at work again a quarter of an hour later ; at d it.m. work 
is finished for the day. 
