?I0 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [April 2, 1888. 
glossy green leaves taste exactly like sarsaparilla, 
and I believe it is the bark of this tree which 
gives the pleasant flavour to this favourite decoc- 
tion. In beer, and even infusedastea.it has long 
been used by settlers here. The Auodopetlam or 
horizontal bush is here forming a barrier, breast- 
high, everywhere obstructing the traveller who 
would venture from the corduroy track. " Good 
thing this horrid nuisance like your devil is pecu- 
liar to this island," I said as I stumbled over it 
in trying to reach a beautiful specimen of native 
pepper. " It might be worse," said our ever amiable 
philosopher. " How ?" I said, as I gathered myself 
up. " Well, it might have thorns," was his ready 
reply. " Ah I you 're right," I said, " like our wait- 
a-bit in Ceylon. Let me tell you about this Acacia 
horrida," and here I looked as learned as I could, 
gaining thereby a little rest for my weary limbs, 
as I told them of how the ancient Kandyan kings 
needed no other fortification than ihis terrible 
thorn, how the British ultimately cut their way 
through it, how exasperating the thing still is to 
those who have to leave the beaten tracks, that 
the best of men can hardly help swearing when 
caught by it. But to return to my pepper. Tasmania 
aromatica, sometimes called Drimys, is a very pretty 
red-stemmed shrub with lanceolate leaves, strongly 
pungent, and black berries quite equal in my opinion 
to the best alspice. I am surprised that this hand- 
some plant is not more- common in our English 
greenhouses or on the hills of Ceylon. There are 
other plants here growing in great profusion, which 
I do not remember coming across at home, 
such as Aristotelia and Drimophila, the brilliant 
coloured berries of which surpass in beauty any- 
thing of the kind I have ever seen. It 
may be that Tasmania has no indigenous 
fruits worth eating, but few countries can show 
more beautiful ones to look at. For more than one 
reason I would have preferred more leisure on this 
journey : the day is very hot, the shade under the 
noble tree-ferns is very inviting, and the under- 
growth of vegetation in this humid climate be- 
comes most interesting ; but the strides of my 
guide and philosopher seem to increase as the sun 
gets higher, and the gradient becomes more abomi- 
nable. Midday, however, came at last, and by a 
unanimous vote a halt for dinner was agreed to. 
In a trice the billy is hung from a tripod, and 
a fire speedily blazing under it. In 10 minutes 
the tea is being handed round, or rather each 
man helps himself, for alas 1 no kindly cooly 
waits upon master in this benighted land. The 
tea is pronounced exoellent, and indeed it 
would be a strange conooction that the empty 
stomach of a weary bushman did not relish, but 
I may say once for all that the metallic-tasted 
liquid universally imbibed in Tasmania is no more 
like tea than turpentine is like sweet milk. There 
were not many " courses " at this dinner, nor like 
the gubernatorial repast supplied by the Scoto- 
Oeylon planter, was it "ower lang atween the 
coorses," for the half hour was too soon up and 
so was our philosophio guide, who has no taste 
for after-diDner libations and abominates smoking. 
The corde du roi (cord of a king, forsooth!) did 
not improve, nor did the scenery much vary ; the 
giant eucalypt still towered aloft into the sunny 
air above, while the grateful shade below is 
a perfect fern paradise. Polypodiacie in untold 
variety nestle under the protecting fronds or cling 
to the trunk of their big brother the Todea fern, 
while the queer-looking orchids Diuris Pterostylix, 
Caladonia (fee, peep out in every odd corner. 
How s'range that all this loveliness should be born 
to bluBh unseen 1 We have not met nor seen a living 
craature, and no sound greets the ear, not even a buzz- 
ing bee in "these matted woods where birds forget to 
sing." The temperature became quite tropical, and it 
was not without a feeling of relief that I noted some 
little black thunder clouds obscure the sun as we 
trudged along, now climbing over a ridge which the 
surveyor had evidently gone out of his way to embrace, 
and now rapidly descending to what proved to be 
the Whyte River, here there is actually a small 
hut prepared at the expense of Government for the 
reception of travellers. Never was the sight of four 
walls and a roof more welcome, for rain now fell 
in heavy drops, and the prospect of shelter was 
hailed with delight by more than myself. Soon 
the swags were thrown on a prostrate tree, 
while one of the party ventured to inspect the 
interior. It was not inviting : the earthen floor 
had evidently never been swept since it had a roof 
above it, while a heap of suspicious looking rags 
disclosed the fact (so it was said) that the place 
is permanently inhabited by " Jerusalem travellers. 
This settled the question! "Anything would be 
better than this," we said, as with a creeping 
sensation we shoulder our swags and depart. 
Henceforth let me never despise the humblest 
Sinhalese ambalam, and to the little ladies and 
gentlemen who periodically tramp barefooted along 
the north road I lift my hat : I have seen the 
lair of an Australian tramp. Silently we now 
trudged on, up one ridge and down another ; the 
situation was getting decidedly tedious and 
uninteresting, when all of a sudden our guide 
turned at right angles and went scrambling into the 
bush. Follow him we must, but it was past a joke, 
and I felt that after this it would be a rest to 
follow "Peppercorn" up his near cuts. At length an 
opening came, a plot of knife and button grass, 
and beyond two tiny tents, to which we hurried, 
and presto ! all sense of weariness was soon for- 
gotten in the agreeable surprise of seeing some 
50 tons of rich silver ore. Yes, the philosopher's 
hammer has again been at work, and to some pur- 
pose, for here is what may probably turn out to 
be the richest silver mine in Australasia, though, 
strange to say, as yet, the Tasmanian newspapers 
have not had an inkling of the fact. And now 
all ye young Indian planters, who vainly seek to 
extract rupees, quantum suff, from tea leaves or 
shuck coffee, here is your chance of reaching the 
metal more directly. The old miner I have been 
talking to declares he could easily put out an 
average of two tons per day, and as this means 
240 oz. of pure silver, and 70 per cent of lead, there 
is evidently money to be made even if we 
reduce his estimated output by one-half. To me, 
however, I must confess, the life of a digger has 
but few charms. Some must dig, I daresay, but, 
compared with the life of a planter, it is a barbarous 
and demoralizing business. 
. 
LETTERS FROM JAMAICA :— No. 22. 
COFFEE — A VISIT TO MANCHESTER PARISH AND BROCKEN- 
HDRST PLANTATION COFFEE PROSPERING UNDER SHADE 
— CINCHONA. 
Blue Mountain District, Jamaica, Jan. 1888. 
Dear Sir, — Coffee crops in the lower districts 
may now be said to be completed and the greater 
part of it already sent away to Kingston for ship- 
ment : the yield as formerly reported has been 
large, and the quality much above the average, 
in consequence of the wet season. In the Blue 
Mountains proper, crop is just beginning to ripen 
up ; the heaviest pickings are in February, Maroh, 
April, and May: what the eventual result will ba 
would need a "seer" to predict. Iam of opinion 
that the yield, though rnu^h better than last year's, 
will by no means be a bumper; for, after the 
