466 
THE. TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [January i, 1889. 
to, and seen a great number of the tea men here. 
They, one and all, speak highly of the Indian teas as 
beiag pure, &c, but confess that the taste of the 
Americans has been spoilt by Ohinas and Japans, and 
that it would be a long and difficult task to get them 
to take to Indians, though the brokers believe that 
they will ultimately find a large sale; but in the 
meantime, a heavy expenditure would be required, to 
introduce them prominently before the public. A 
large staff of agents would be wanted, who would be 
required to sell the tea at very little, or perhaps no, 
profit till such time as a demand for the teas was 
wanted, also a lot of money would be wanted for ad- 
vertising, which is the great outlet of American en- 
terprise. They also complain that the tea is too strong 
and pungent for the people's taste ; they prefer a 
nice flavouring tea ; they sacrifice the strength for 
the flavour ; they also go very much for appearance, a 
whole tippy tea fetching them greatly whereas a 
broken, let it be ever so good, they will not look at. 
I saw in a broker's office the other day a Pekoe from 
Dhurmsal, very pretty to look at, tippy and wiry — just 
what they want here; it was had for 9gd. = 19 cents, 
here. Another great fault they complain of is the 
unwieldy boxes we send the teas in ; they are chris- 
tened here the Indian Ooffins; they are in marked 
contrast to the neat packages, sent from China and 
Japan. 
" The people here put a great deal of trust in out- 
ward appearances, and are much taken by the style in 
which the Japans are preseuted for sale. Grocers here 
sell from the original packages, the customer insisting 
on seeing that the tea is taken from the chest and 
weighed in her presence ; hence when the purchaser 
'notes the heavy untidy chests that Indians are packed 
in, as a rule, she concludes that the tea can't be good, 
otherwise it would have been packed in a better box or 
chest. What is required for this trade, is neat boxes, 
containing say 20 lb. or 40 lb., neatly marked, the box 
well planed and wrapped in gunny or wicker-work, so 
as to make it of a size and weight easily handled, but on 
no account should the present heavy rnaund c hest be 
sent, they are very bitter about the heavy tare they 
have to pay railways on them. 
" In conclusion, I am of opinion that a nice Oachar 
Pekoe Souchong or DarjeeliDg Pekoe Souchong 
with some style-tippy appearance with flavour, 
but no strength, packed in neat 201b. or 40:b. chests 
should be the tea that ought to be tried first; as the 
tea gets known, more grades could be introduced. 
" I am sending you by newspaper post the New 
York Record, a most influential wine paper here. In 
it you will find a notice re Jas, & Oo., Lonchemi, of 
which firm my brother is junior partner. He has in- 
duced me to remain here and I propose going into 
business in Brooklyn from 1st proximo as wholesale 
Ten, 0 ffi-e, Wine and General Stores. I will 
be back, d up by his firm and have no fear 
but I will g< t iju, as my Store will be the first 
of the kind in tliat dis'riit. I have made ar- 
rangements for Coffees, Fruits (canned), Wiues, &c, 
and write you in the hope tliat you will be able 
to give me some assistance in the tea line. I should 
be most happy to push Indian teas as much as I could, 
and amongst the connection that I will have, I should 
bo able to do a large business. Brooklyn especially, 
where I am located, is principally inhabited by family 
men, who attend business during the day in New 
York and return home every evening ; they are a very 
respeotable population, and I feel confident that I 
wouid be able to do a good thing, as I would be able 
to sell them direct. I propose confining a portion of 
the Store for tea sampling, that is where a lady can 
come in and get sever* 1 grades of tea brewed for 
her to taste, and whichever the prefers, she ran pur- 
chase right away. This plan, I believe, will answer 
well for introd"" v l Indians, as the people here are 
very fond of noveiij ." 
PIONEERING AND PLANTING IN BURMA. 
I have had rather unforeseen hardships to contend 
with, viz. in our little Tavoy war. The town was first at. 
tacked on the 28th March and • vrd by the Tavo 
Volunteers from destruction by fire and sword, etc. I 
am Lieut, in command of the detachment of the Moulmein 
Volunteer Rifles here, and had plenty to do, but did my 
work with efficiency and received the special thanks of 
the chief Commissioners, Col. Furlong. Col. Hayter.Col. 
Plant, and Major Adamson. A few lives were lost on 
both sides in several encounters with the rebels, and 
one extra assistant commander killed at Naboola near 
Tavoy, and a few natives and police and soldiers. Over 
45 rebels have been brought in, and 3 have been hanged 
and the other 11 sentenced to be hanged are now in jail in 
Tavoy. 14 will be strung up before thVend of the month, 
and some 16 will be transported for life. Some 85 that 
were caught by the authorities in Siam, near 
Bangkok, 10 of this number have been identified by 
Photos sent here, and I fancy the whole number will 
be given over to be tried here in due course. The hang- 
man in Tavoy is making more money just now than 
anyone else. 11 men strung up in one day and all at once 
at R25 per man is a good day's pay. What a time we 
had until w j got reinforcements from Rangoon it would 
be bard for you to believe. To see all the families, 
women and children, huddled into the Courthouse and 
the Courthouse protected by a fort of sandbags to give 
the Volunteers some protection, and the little plucky 
band armed to the teeth, ready for them. Night after 
night, and week after week, we had been on the alert, 
and it was rather hard when the then chief authority 
disregarded the rumours until he had ocular demon- 
stration, and then he was " too late," just like the 
manny's dog, — the hare was off. Well, he was sent 
off himself by the Chief Commissioner, and we had 
a good man sent down until matters were settled a lit- 
tle, and about 250 soldiers and police with Col. Hayter 
and Lieut. Rindal, and they went out and fired boldly 
and in volleys, and wounded thousands of trees, fired 
900 rounds and killed no one; but they put the fear 
of death into them and scattered the enemies and 
brought in one dead man shot by a Karen Chief 
aud some 26 live rebels, and amongst them one no- 
torious phoongee (Burmese priest), armed with guns, 
swords, dahs, pistols, revolvers, powder, shot. What a 
time of anxiety, and your humble servant managed to 
get one arm broken badly, and the other severely 
sprained in the beginning of May: thank goodness I am 
now able to wag my pen again, but this misfortune 
pulled me down with other worries of different sorts, 
and nothing for it but a good many kicks behind ; cer- 
tainly not before, for I came off with the thanks in 
general to Tavoy Volunteers from all the authorities 
for pluck, efficiency, loyalty, ana untiring determina- 
tion: yes, and we held our own against hundreds. 
I have no pleasure I can assure in the fighting line, 
and pray that our weapons of war may be turned into 
reaping-hooks, and that we may live in peace with 
mankind, for this gives to the rich more, and to the 
poor less. Poor people have been in great want 
this fnd of the year, living on wild roots, 
such as wild potatoes jams, bamboo shoots, sprouts 
of different trees and shruhs, and fish catching. 
Rice has been as high as R4 8-0 per basket— a 
basket, is a little less than a bushel measure. I have 
paid B4 myself for a basket: rice has been sent down by 
the steamers from Rangoon and Moulmein. The paddy 
crop this season is A 1 ; never saw a better crop no- 
where, and the poor people this year will be better off 
if we have the late rains to help the paddy to fill pro- 
perly. Sugarcane, and Indian corn, and all green crops 
are firstrate, and the fruit trees are loaded : I have 
some bending down to mother earth with the weight of 
crop on the trees; I hope to get a good crop this season 
of sorts. I am a paddy planter and have 3 acres of 
paddy, the ears take me over the head,Liberian coffee, 
annatto, cotton, croton, divi-divi, tea, tea, tea. Fine 
tea A 1. It would make your hair curl to see my 
fine tea — aye I and my weeds would make some of you 
swear, and Jam Clarendon if he is still to the fore would 
be in his element, for be would cet weeds galore, which 
is much against my grain. What can do ? Shallie ellia 
dorie; must grin and bear it until returns come to baud 
Well, 1 might have gone further and been worse off. 
I am to make money, that 's certain, if the old taber- 
nacle hold together, there 's no doubt about that. I am 
