THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1889. 
THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS. 
Colonel T. Cadell, V. 0., Chief Commissioner of 
the Andaman Islands, delivered a lecture on Jan. 15th 
on " Andamans and Andamanese " to the members 
of the Royal Scutish Geographical Society in the 
Freemasons' Hall, Edinburgh. In the course of his 
lecture, Colonel Cadell said that it was beyond his 
ability to describe the lovely scenery through which 
one passed when sailing among the Andaman Islands, 
covered as they were with luxuriant vegetation down 
to the water's edge. It was like fairyland ; the water 
deep and clear as crystal ; on either side, within a 
stone's throw, magnificent forest trees reaching to a 
height of 200 feet, the Btems of some straight and 
white, like gigantic silver rods, with umbrella-like 
topB ; others clothed from foot to summit with creepers 
in beautiful festoons ; palms, rattans, and canes of 
many varieties interspersed among the forest trees, 
creating striking contrasts of form and colouring, 
while beneath the vessel were inconceivably beauti- 
ful coral gardens. The most gorgeous combination of 
vegetable and animal life afforded but a poor sub- 
aerial representation of these submarine gardens. 
Year after .year in his cruises among the islands he 
saw a perceptible diminution in the number of the 
people, the principal causes of which were apparently 
syphilis and pneumonia. Hardly one woman in a 
dozen bore children, and the mortality was very great 
among the few children that were born. It was un- 
doubtedly a moribund race, and probably none of 
them would be found alive some twenty or thirty 
years hence, except perhaps in Little Andaman, where 
the inhabitants had heen kept free from the dire 
effects of contact with civilisation. They were merry 
little people, and it was very saddening to live 
among them and realise that they were so fast 
dying out. One could not imagine how takmg they 
were. Every one who had to do with them fell in 
love with them. Contact with civilisation had not im- 
proved the morality of the natives. In their natural 
state they were truthful aud honest, generous and 
self-denying. He had watched them sitting over their 
fires cooking their evening znea), and it was quite 
pleasant to notice the ab.-ence of greed and the polite- 
ness with which they picked off the tit-bits and thrust 
them into each other's mouths. The forest and sea 
abundantly supplied their wants, and it was there- 
fore not surprising that the attempts to induce them 
to take to cultivation had been quite unsuccessful, 
highly though they appreciated the rice and Indian 
corn which were occasionally supplied to them. All 
was grist that came to their mill in the shape of food. 
The forest supplied them with edible roots and fruits. 
Bats, rats, flying fcxea, iguauas, sea snakes, molluscs, 
wild pig, fish, turtle, and, last though not least, the 
larvae of beetles, formed welcome additions to their 
larder. He remembered one morning landing by chance 
at an encampment of theirs under the shade of a gigan-. 
tic forest tree. On one fire was the shell of a turtle 
acting aB its own pot, in which was simmering the 
green fat delicious to more educated palates ; on 
another its flesh was being boiled together with fome 
splendid fish ; on a third a wild pig was being roasted, 
its drippings falling on wild yams, and a jar of honey 
stood close by — all delicacies fit for an alderman's 
table. The penal settlement at Port .Blair, on the 
east coast of South Andaman, was probably the largest 
in the world, the number of convicts detained there 
generally numbering about 12,000. About three-fourths 
of them were under sentence of transportation for 
life, and the remainder for terms of seven years and 
upwards About 65 per cent, were Hindoos, 25 per cent. 
Mithomedans, aud the rest chii fly Buddhists from 
Burma. They came from all parts of India and Burma, 
tlie refuse of 250 millions of people, and in the di- 
versities of castes and nationalities and languages 
among thorn lay a grent safeguard, as it prevented 
any likelihood of combination.— O. Mail, Jan. 18th. 
«. . 
I offee and " Green Bug." — An old planter 
advising a friend who alBO still holds by coffee 
writes :— " I say manure if you can find the money. 
Tho jx-Bt will go. Green bug is not ao muoh to be 
dreaded as HemiUia vast atrip which no longer gives 
me or my coffee any trouble." 
Ceylon Tea in America.— Mr. McCombie 
.Murray goes ahead too much altogether, in his 
proposals, for the purse's of the poor Ceylon plan- 
ters ; and though personally flattered by the part 
he allots to us in his scheme, we feel we must all 
"bide a wee" for an attaok so elaborate and 
costly. 
A Coral or Petrified Tree some 6 to 7 
feet high and over 10 feet in circumference can 
be seen under the care of the clerk at Mount 
Lavinia station. It was brought ashore at Dehiwala ; 
and with its delicate branches and twigs all glazed 
over, and root embedded in coral lime with oyster 
and other shells attached, it is one of the most 
perfect specimens of the kind we have seen. It 
ought to be secured for the Colombo Museum. 
Pepper Cultivation. — We call attention to 
some very useful practical hints given by our 
correspondent " Peppercorn " in his spicy as well as 
instructive contribution in another page. We have a 
couple of letters besides, from other planters, on the 
same subject in type. So far from interfering with 
our Manual, every such bit of information is wel- 
come as an additional item worthy of record in the 
volume. "In the multitude of counsellors there is 
safety," and certainly we want to have the results 
of a diversity of experience. 
The Choomsali Tea Company, Limited, is regis- 
tered with a capital of £20,000 in £5 shares. 
The stated object is to acquire and take over as 
and from January 1st, from the present owners 
the gardens, plantations, factories, lands, and pro- 
perty situate in the district of Gauhati, in the 
province of Assam, and known as Choomsali, 
Mudgooria, Bosisti, and Benderjan tea gardens, 
collectively worked as the Choomsali estate, with 
their dependencies, machinery, implements, utensils, 
live and dead stock, and all other property of 
whatever kind thereunto respectively belonging, 
at the price of £20,000, to be paid to the vendors, 
£13,335 in cash and the balance in paid up 
shares. It is provided that the number of directors 
shall not be less than three nor more than five, 
and the qualification of a director shall be the 
holding in his own right of at least £500 in the 
capital of the company. The remuneration of the 
directors is to be at the rate of £125 per annum, 
and whenever the company declare a dividend 
exceeding 10 per cent the directors are to be entitled 
to an additional £50 for every one per cent beyond 
10 per cent. — London Cor., Times of India. 
Hard and Soft Palm Oil. — The staples of trade 
in the Benin river, in Western Africa, are palm oil 
and palm kernels. From 1872 to 1881 trade was 
stopped in kernels. The stoppage, says the O. P. <& D. 
Rep., was associated with the death of an old king 
of Benin, from which the people were led to believe 
that if they allowed the kernel trade their '■ big men" 
would die. The busy season in the trade is from 
April to July. On the Benin side of the river, that 
is the right bank, soft oil is the staple ; whilst on 
the. left bank, and eastward, hard oil is obtained, 
the difference of manufacture being that one — the 
hard oil — is the result of the cold process as regards 
manufacture, while soft oil is obtained by the boil- 
ing process. Palm oil is packed in casks holding 
from 225 to 240 gallons. Hard oil is not acceptable 
in the German markets ; it has to be sold in Eng- 
land. The soft oil is said to be as good, if not the 
same, as Lagos oil ; yet it rarely commands the same 
price. Kernels are bought by cask measures of half 
a ton each, used for the purpose. Hamburg offers 
no present sale for Benin hard oil ; nor will Benin 
soft oil, although said to be equal to that of Lagos, 
fetch as much as the latter. — Chemist & Druggist, 
Jan. 5th. 
