OctobER i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
231 
at his wits' end. He had como to consult Mr. Burnet 
as to what was to be done ? The whole country side 
could not have its peace, and property risked for 
one man. The Hattamvella " mahatmaya," no 
doubt with a twinkle in his eye, suggested as the 
only sufficient (and legal) remedy, that the Arachchi 
should proceed to Matale and apply to the Agent, 
Mr. Burrows, for " a licenso to shoot " the rogue 
" Mudiyanse," who was certainly a greater public 
nuisanco than any wild trespassing buffalo in 
the district. The Arachchi took the counsel quite 
gravely ; it met with his full approval ; it looked 
a legal as well as equitable course of peocedure 
and ho made up lu3 mind to visit Matale — with 
what result wo have yet to learn. The general 
opinion was that the face of the Assistant Agent 
would be worth photographing when he received 
the application of his worthy headman I 
But if planters can get a little fun out of 
headmen, they certainly get a quid pro quo some- 
times. On my way up to Dangkande, I passed, on 
a piece of Crown patana, three stately but solitary 
trees of goodly appearance, about which there 
hangs a tale unprecedented perhaps in the annals 
of timber, red-tape and Kachcheri business in 
Ceylon. Mr. D. Watson, the manager, being in 
want of timber, in place of cutting down stray 
trees which could scarcely ever be missed, did the 
honest thing in a formal application to purchase 
these three particular trees ; it was referred to the 
headman for report as usual, passed on to the 
Kandy Kachcheri and from thence came the 
required permission on payment of 708 rupees as 
tho appraised value of the said three trees 
Anything more provocative of fun among practical 
men at the expense of dry-aa-dust officials could 
scarcely be imaginod. The headman, no doubt, was a 
clever fellow in his way, but that there was not suffi- 
cient humour at the Kandy headquarters to understand 
the joke of valuing three trees away up on the 
side of the Laggala rango at R250 a piece, is passing 
strange. Had Mr. Watson sent ten rupees for 
each troe with his application, he would certainly 
have done handsomely by the Crown and general 
revenue 
(To be Continued.) 
WHAT IS A THOBOUGHBBED ARAB? 
To the Editor of the Queenslander. 
Sir,— It is a curious fact that in tho Biblo uo men- 
tion is made of horses iu connection with Arabia. 
When tho Israelites came iu contact with the tribes 
of the desert, as the Midiauitcs, wo tiud that such 
tribes lmd plenty of camels, asses, oxen, and sheep ; 
but no horses are spoken of. At a later period, when 
the Midiauitos made hostile forays upon Palestine, 
"tlioir camels were past numbering," and evtfti their 
chiefs ro.lo only upon camels (Judges vi. and viii.1. 
In the days of King .Saul, when tho Jewish tribes be- 
yond Jordan fought for tho pasture grounds with tho 
Arabian nations, the victorious Hebrews took 50,000 
camels, 200,000 shuep, 2,000 asses, onj 100,000 oxen; 
but still uo horses are mentioned (I. Ohron., v. 10, 20, 
22). When Solomon was forming a body of cavalry it 
wad from Egypt that they wen: mounted (as the. writer of 
the paragraph in the Quetnslander remarks), although 
naturalists luivo often supposed that Arabia was the 
native country of horses. Tho Arabs themselves say 
tbat tlioir host breeds are descended from tho stud 
"i Bolomon, a tradition without any solid foundation 
but it seems at least to involve ati admission that 
horses w. r- us. . 1 in Palestine earlier than in Arabia. 
Btrabo, tho geographer, who wrote ,w> long >>■ fore the 
Christian »ru, expressly states that in Arabia thoro 
were DO horses in bis tiino, camels supplying their 
place. 1 am sorry I cannot give a direct referouco 
to tho passagu iu Strabo where bo makes this state- 
ment, but I am quite certain he does mike it; and 
in all cases where ho had personal experience ho 
is thoroughly reliablo. If, then, Strabo's state- 
ment be true, it entirely upsets the theory that 
"the Khamsa is doscended from one of the five 
ruares of King Solomon." When the Arabians began 
to pay attention to the breeding of horses, ever has 
been , is, and probably over will remain a mystery 
but it is certain that horsos, wherevor they came 
from, were numerous aud highly valued in that country 
in the time of Mohammed (vide Dr. Kitto). Yet it 
is singular that the Patriarch Job gives a glorious 
description of tho horso as used in war: "He paweth 
in tho valley, and' rejoiceth in his strength ; he goeth 
forth to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, 
aud is not affrighted ; neither turucth he back from 
the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the 
glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the 
grouud with fierceness and rage ; neither believeth 
he that it is the sound of tho trumpet. He saith 
among the trumpets, Ha, ha ; and hu smelleth the 
battle afar off, the thuudering of the captains, aud 
the shouting." (Job, xxxix. 19-25). (I have quoted 
this passage at length not only for its great beauty 
but also because it goes far to confirm tho opiuiou 
of those who place the scenes of this ancient Book 
in the deserts towards Mesopotamia.) 
Bacon knew nothing about horses, Shakspeare did. 
At the present time when such strenuous, efforts are 
being made to tear the laurel wreath of Genius from 
the brow of Shakspeare aud plant it on Bacon's head, 
which already is adorned with quite as many as it 
deserves, I feel suro you will excuse my endeavour 
to enlist the sympathy of our very horsey fellow- 
colouists for Shakspeare, by concluding this letter with 
his opinion of what are the qualifications of a good 
all round horse, though the quotation be somewhat 
irrelevant to the subject matter iu hand : 
Round hoofed, short jointod, fetlocks shag and loug; 
Broad breast, full eyes, small head, and nostrils wide ; 
High crest, short ears, straight logs, and pissing strong ; 
Thin main, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide. 
—I am sir, &c, John Nelson. 
Hillsborough station, 26th July. 
INDIAN TRADE IN 1836-7. 
From a Planter's Point or View. 
The Indian Administration reports for the 1886-7, 
which, having just come to hand, are not very 
fresh or very light reading. People have almost 
forgotten the period with which they deal. Never- 
theless, in some respects, they are instructive, and 
if they have taken a long time to compile, the 
reason is that the mass of statistics with which 
they deal is not easily ascertained or quickly 
arranged. Under the head of manufactures, mines, 
and industries, wo observe that the export of indigo 
showed an increase of 15$ per cent., but prices 
fell heavily, except in the descriptions suited for 
the American market. The increasing production 
of Java indigo, the quality of whioh is said to rival 
the best produce of Tirhoot, has seriously affected 
the Indian trade, except in tho exports to tho 
United States, whioh showed tho largest ligures on 
record. Of course tea developed largely in the 
period referred to, and the statistics on tho subject 
are anoient history. The Assam reports show a 
total production in that provinoe of 61,719,6781b. 
during the year 1886-7. This, added to the 
16,500,0001b. from the Bengal tea gardeus, makes a 
grand total of over 7S,000,0001b., as against about 
15,000,0001b. in 1872— an astonishing development 
of production. Chinohona cultivation suffered 
seriously from a landslip in Darjeeliog, which 
uprooted and buried 300,000 trees, including some 
of the best on tho estato. In the earlier part of 
the season 20,000 promising young trees wero de- 
stroyed by a hailstorm. Looked at from a purely 
uomtnoraial point of view, tho year has been a bad 
