172 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1887. 
SINGAPOEE AND THE PEENCH PLANTEK, 
M. CHASSEBIAU. 
From the Singapore Free Press we take a 
lively and quite characteristic narrative by a 
Frenchman of his visit to the Straits, in which 
there is some information regarding the enter- 
prising BUgar, manioc and Liberian coffee- 
planter, M. Chasseriau. He added coconut 
planting to his other enterprises, but the palms 
did not flourish in the clayey soil of his estate 
and when we visited his interesting plantation 
in 1881, he was cutting down his fourteen-year- 
old palms, because all these many years he had 
come seeking fruit and finding none. But, in 
reality, even in the most favourable circum- 
itanoes of soil and climate in Ceylon, coconut 
trees yield very little up to the fourteenth 
year, although there are, of course, exceptional 
trees which commence to bear at half that age. 
We doubt, however, if a whole plantation is ever 
in full bearing before its twentieth year. How 
long the trees will live and bear, those which 
escape beetles in youth and lightning in mature 
years, is an unsettled point. Sixty years has 
been mentioned, but we know trees still 
vigorous and bearing well which must have 
attained the full century. It did not seem to 
us, however, that the soil of Singapore was 
favourable for the cultivation of the coconut 
palm. On the other hand, that delicious fruit, 
the Mangosteen, flourishes there in low, swampy 
ground. At the time of our visit, M. Chas- 
seriau's manioc cultivation and his factory 
for the conversion of the tubers into tapioca 
were, without doubt, the most extensive in 
the world, and the system of manuring by means 
of the ashes and debris of turf, cut from the broad 
carriage tracks which intersected the estate and 
subjeoted to a smouldering process was in full 
force. Varieties of manioc from Brazil and many 
parts of the world were successfully cultivated and. 
the finest possible tapioca was turned out by means 
of very ingenious appliances, which we were per- 
mitted to see only when our worthy host and 
guide was satisfied we were not a Dutchman : 
only a newspaper editor seeing what he could see. 
We have a grateful remembrance of his kindness 
in driving us about and showing and explaining 
everything. But, as we remarked recently, tapioca 
was overdone and had ceased to be profitable. 
Now, M. Chasseriau has turned his attention to 
Liberian coffee, and we trust he may be more 
successful with that once source of sanguine hopes, 
than we in Ceylon have been. The effects of 
Hemileia vaxtatrix (which was not imported from 
Brazil) are with us most serious, while Liberian 
coffee did not sell well in the London market. 
In the Straits, the experience may be different. 
Ihe story about slips of the Liberian coffee plant 
seems as apocryphal as that of a boy of 16 who 
could not read, and yet was, in three months, an 
accountant. M. Chasseriau is, however, a very 
remarkable man, and we shall be sincerely glad 
to learn that in the evening of his days his for- 
tunes have been retrieved. 
THE STIIAITS SETTLEMENTS. 
(From Deux Mois Autour du Aluiide, by Geoboes 
IlIEtTSE 00.) 
The town of Singapore is situated upon the south 
COftSt of the island of that name, about 1" 6' north 
latitude and 103° 35' longitude east from the meri- 
dian of Paris, at 120 kilometres from the equator. 
The island is 43 kilometres long and 22 broad. 
It is separated from the Malay peninsula (terri- 
tory of the Sultan of Johore) by an arm of the sea 
about two or three kilometres wide. There is here 
a curious mixture of races and religions. Singa- 
pore, which has existed only for fifty years, has 
attained a considerable expansion because it forms 
a necessary stopping place on the great line to the 
Far East. There may be found the products of 
India as well as those of China and Japan. Trade 
is in the hands of the Chinese. Colonisation, 
favoured by rich soil and a fine climate, has itself 
reached a brilliant development. The island shares 
i in two monsoons, one of which comes to it from 
the China Sea for six months, the other from the 
Indian ocean during the remaining six months. 
That explains why the temperature, in Bpite of the 
latitude, is relatively mild. Nevertheless one's body 
is always moist, with a mean temperature of 28* 
Cent. We have bad news. For Batavia there are 
only Chinese boats up to February 3rd, the date of 
the sailing of the Messageries steamer, which makes 
ten days delay. The exchange of money is very 
heavy. The American dollar current here is not 
used in Java. A letter of credit upon the Dutch 
Banks in that island is neceesary. The syce asks 
a dollar ; this being the monetary unit is a very 
much worse affair than the rupee. The horse 
being a rare and costly animal here, makes 
carriage hire a very expensive matter. In addi- 
tion the jinricksha (pousse-pouste japonais) pro- 
pelled by Chinese is in constant use. There 
is not much of interest about the town. There 
are only Chinese there, and offices. The Europeans 
live in the suburbs, often a good distance out, which 
makes driving about an endless affair. Some splendid 
new buildings are occupied by the public offices. 
We notice the Town Hall before which, upon a 
pedestal, stands a big elephant, a present from the 
King of Siam. The esplanade is a pretty pro- 
menade on which a lawn-tennis club is installed. 
It runs along the margin of the sea for a consider- 
able distance. People take the air also upon the 
pier from which you can get a comprehensive view 
of the harbour. The evenings are generally cool 
enough to permit one to walk about, a fact which 
we naturally appreciate. 
Sunday, 25th January. — We arrive at the only 
promenade of Singapore, situated three miles from 
town, by fine avenues passing through the midst 
of European dwellings scattered about in verdant 
parks. Government House, which we leave on 
our right upon an eminence is a fine building 
surrounded with a park. The Botanic Garden is 
environed by charming villas, but scarcely merits 
its name save as a matter of etiquette. There is 
little shade there. An aviary contains some beautiful 
specimens of the birds of this region. 
The garden is enlarged almost every year at the 
expense of the neighbouring forest, a forest which 
in several respects is yet still virgin. In one of 
the paths recently made in it, we watch with curiosity 
the gambols of a band of large monkeys which 
leap from branch to branch. After a long detour 
in the country we return to a pretty lake where swans 
are gliding about. 
In the evening we visit the pretty residence of 
the Director of the Messageries charmingly situated 
upon an eminence from which one can see the bay. 
For a period of twenty years M. Brasier de Thuys 
has gathered an interesting collection of objets d'art. 
Monday, 26th January.— The Chinese boat, which 
after several stoppages will arrive at Batavia as soon 
as it can, leaves Singapore this evening. It is not 
a comforting prospect. Before coming to a decision 
we take a sampan rowed by a single Chinaman, 
and go on board. The sea is a little lively, and 
