October i, 1888.] THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
287 
JOHORE. 
.Shortly after his late vist to this country the 
Sultan of Johore established a new order of knight- 
hood in his dominions called tho Order of the Grown 
of Johore. The per ons upon whom this honour is 
conferred hear the title of "Dato," equivalent to 
"Chief" or "Headman," aud ranking in Johore 
with the "Sir" borne before the names of English 
knights. This title was given to Mr. James Mcldrum, 
the first British subject who settled in the Sultan's 
territory ; and tho only other British recipients of 
the honour are the Duke of Suthirland and Frince 
Bombard of Saxe- 'Weimar, both of whom visited the 
Sultan at Johore in the early part of this year. 
I). I'd .lames Meldriim K at present in this country 
a, the Sultan's Commissioner to the Glasgow Exhibi- 
tion, where there is a fine display of the produce of 
the Sultanate; and he gives a most interesting ac- 
eouut not only of the resources of his adopted country, 
but of tho future he believes to be in store for it, 
and of the important part it will fill in the develop- 
ment of the Eastern Archipelago as a producer of 
commodities, as a market for English manufactures, 
and as an essential portion of the great overland 
trade-routo which must eventually be established 
between England, India, and Australia. 
Johore itself is situated at the southern extremity 
of tho Malay peninsula, immediately opposite the 
island of Singapore, from which it is separated only 
by a narrow strait of half a mile in width. The 
Sultan is an educated and enlightened man, who has 
travelled much in Europe, speaks English well, is 
practically under the protection of the British Govern- 
ment, and i-. anxious for nothing so much as the 
11 . 1 1 istrial development of his country. The native race 
is, of course, Malay; but tho Chinese immigrants 
form the bulk of the population. The Government 
is administered largely with tho aid of Englishmen, 
and life and property are as secure as in any part 
of tho East. The climate is extremely even, foliage 
is perennial, aud there is an abundant but not ex- 
cess vo rainfall. As the general features of Johore 
are thos>! of the entire peninsula, it will be convenient 
to cousider the facts here stated as having that wider 
application. Irou ores are everywhere found, and in 
the south they exist in such profusion that at one time 
the roads of Singapore were macadamized with ore 
e nit. lining nearly tiO per cent, of pure metal. The 
while lengtn ajid breadth of the peninsula is said 
to abound in tin. (iold, silver, copper, and arsenic 
have also been found in such quantities as to sug- 
gest the likelihood that it would be profitable to work 
tlnni. Tho greater part of the surface of the 
peninsula is covered by immense forests of the 
finest timber. The export of timber is indeed one 
of the principal features of its trade, especially 
at Johore, whero Mr. Meldrum has established 
the largest saw-mills in the East. To develop 
this trade, however, a railway is necessary, as the 
forests nearest to the capital and along the sea and 
river shores are being rapidly cleared away. _ For 
tropical agriculture the soil and climate are admirably 
suited, l'epper and spices, garabier, indigo, cotton, 
tobacco, tea, tapioca, coffee, sugar, and other produce 
are easily grown, although neither the plough nor 
the burrow nor any other agricultural helps are in 
general use; the hoe being the only implemeut of 
liti ,1 andry employed by the < 'hine-e or Malays Two 
and a-half acres are the most that a Chinaman cul- 
tivates in the year, and oven this little is only ob- 
tained by hard driving if the man is wotking on 
nionth'v wage-, for a European. Kneji-h capital, 
intelligence, ami supervision would speedily alter this 
nt.ii of tilings, ami planting in tho Malay iVum-iila 
would then in all probability bo as profitable as iu 
Ceylon. Concurrently with tho development of the 
natural r« niroen nl the country it would be opened 
up a» a market for British and Indian manufactures; 
aud then, in! • , would come its inclusion in the 
Krcnt highway of which it may already bo said to 
bo the last one \ ploro.l and un-urveyed section. No- 
where, hi the whole world — not even in Africa — is 
there to I f fouudso promising a held for now enter- 
prises; and yet the most essential part of it, the 
Malay peninsula, has been known to us for nearly 
300 years as well as we know it to-day. — St. James's 
Gazette. 
A Cuke for Dysentery. — Says Dr. Taylor of 
" Scienco Gossip" in the Australasian : — For some 
time past naphthaline has been a course of some 
trouble to gas companies generally. Now it appears 
as if, like all other " waste substances" — which 
are only " waste" because we don't know what to 
do with them — naphthaline will come into vogue fur 
special as well as general uses. Medical men have 
discovered that it is a valuable drug in cases of 
dysentery, summer diarrhoea, and other intestin al 
disorders. Injections of it have proved valuable 
in cases of dysentery. 
Planting in Java. — From the Java papers we 
gather the following: — About the coffee culture at Java 
no cheering news can be gathered anywhere. For 
generations experiment has shown an abundant coffee 
year immediately following an occasional bad one. Now 
in 1887 the total coffee product in Java is reported to 
have been only 280,000 piculs, which is the lowist 
that can be found even over the last half century. 
The year 1888, instead of making up for it by a product 
of over one million piculs, as has happened several t'mes, 
is reported to offer hardly any better prospects than 
the last. This comes very heavy ; principally upon the 
native coffee planters, who are paid by the monopolistic 
Government for their labour relative to the amount of 
produce. The report says that during last year four 
million guilders were paid to native coffee planters for 
labour, the yearly average payment for that culture 
being about 14 millions. It is stated that during the 
last three or four years, the numbor of coffee trees at 
Java had actually been reduced by about 100 million 
trees, but as this would come to about 10 per cent of 
the total amount, aud as sufficient reason for this 
does not appear, there is some difficulty in believing it. 
— Before the Resident's Court ot the East Coast of 
Sumatra at Medan, Deli, a case was brought against 
the "Amsterdam Deli Company" and among the 
charges brought against the defendants it appears that 
they, as employers, had not offered to eight Boyanese 
Coolies, engaged at Singapore, discharge tickets at the 
end of their engagements and also that they had en- 
gaged aud actually put to work on their plantations 
the eight Boyanese coolies, being foreigners, w'thout 
written agreement. The Kesideut, sitting as Judge 
after hearing both parties, dismissed the case, but the 
Government Attorney, who had brought the charge, 
has entered protest against the judgment. — -S'. F. Press. 
DISTRIBUTION OF CEYLON EXPORTS. 
COUNTllII a. 
To United Kingdom . 
ti Marseilles • 
n Genoa 
•■ Venice • 
it Trieste 
>> Odessa . 
i, Hamburg • 
,i Antwerp 
■> Iireiueu 
• ■ Havre 
■ > Rotterdam 
i, Africa 
„ Mauritius 
,, India 3c Eastward 
H Australia 
America 
I'otal Kxr*Tti> Irom Uct.l 
1 s*7 to Sept. 30, IB* 
Po 1^*6 uo W8 
Uu 188& <lo 1 w 
Do 1SS4 do 
1887 to 30th 
SqU. 1888.) 
1 iC'chona 
Branch 
Carda- 
Coffee 
4 Trunk 
Tea. C'coh 
moms. 
cwt. 
lb. 
ib. ! 
BWt. 
lb. 
10131V 
11030059 
201095:21, 9320 
155803 
1070 
7757, 
701 
94 
1637 
33 
. 229S 
5CB190 
." 
. twv; 
"16701 
31 
200 
485 
401 II 
ioo 
1000 
IS 
HB01 
■Mi 
100 ... 
t 
11 1 
. I960 
"iiu 
lot* 
M ... 
s 
501 KJ 
. a»a 
... 
1166 
"'435 
101 
;«wo 
.. 9903' f 
2.t74'S 
818 WM.-2 
... 1171 
' ... 
47lNKiO b 307 
..1 613 1O09SC 
tSHI 
1177 ... 
IbsfilJMaU 11676*50. 37U60O4 6,4? 
;cji>< ' 
1 :i ■ 
