June i, 1889. J 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
809 
Finally, for planters dependent on bullock trans- 
port there are few more important matters than the 
healthy condition of the cattle; but in this respect 
they seem to have had a very serious state of 
affairs in Coorg during 1887-8 ; for under the head of 
" Live Stock" we read : — 
Cattle disease of a virulent type has prevailed through- 
out the province with disastrous results. The rinder- 
pest, known locally as the " Dodda Ror/a" (great dis- 
ease) seems to have entered Ooorg at the north eastern 
frontier from Mysore about December 1887, and caused 
great havoc among the large herds in the Ramaswa- 
mikanve Hobli, where cattle hreeding is carried on to a 
considerable extent. It rapidly spread and so fatal 
have been its effects that there is hardly a 'ryot in the 
country who has not suffered heavily by the loss of bis 
cattle. It became necessary later, during the cultivat- 
ing season, to apply and obtain the sanction of the Go- 
vernment of India to a sum of R10,000 being disbursed 
as advances to the rvots for the purchase of cattle. It 
was anticipated that with the first fall of the S. W. 
monsoon rains, the disease would rapidly disappear, but 
such unfortunately has not been the case. 
A serious feature in this epidemic has been the wa"t 
of any effective mpans for coping with it. In nearlv 
all the esses which came under notice, segregation of 
the infected cattle had not been carried out, notwith 
standing that this measure h<id been pressed upon the 
people. They represented, however, that the disease 
spread so rapidly that the herds were all infected and 
separation became useless. The remedies usually tried 
had failed, and indeed, on European estates, a large 
percentage of the infected cattle succumbed. In such 
circumstances the services of an Agricultural Inspector 
would have been of the greatest advantage : hut while 
the same disease was prevailing in the Mysore and 
Madras Districts adjoining, it was hopeless to expect 
that the services of such an officer, if asked for, could 
have been spared- 
The returns for the year under report give the 
mortality among cattle as 7,874, being 2,775 in excess of 
the number returned in the previous year. These 
figures are prohablv below the mark, for there was 
great mortality amongst cart bullocks engaged in the 
carrying trade, and not belonging to people of this 
District. These must have largely escaped enum 
eration. 
MESSKS. J. R. & S. T. HOOD ON NORTE 
BORNEO. 
(To the Editor " British North Borneo Herald." 
Dear Sir. — Thinking it mav interest your readers 
to know whilst giving myself great pleasure to re 
cord, what our impressions are of such an out-of-the^ 
way and so strange a land as North Borneo, I take 
the liberty of writing the same, and should you 
think them worthy of space in your Herald it may 
prove of some interest to your numerous readers 
Having been so many years in Oeylon we felt great 
interest in New Ceylon, the more so that a relation 
of ours owns a large acreage in Sulu, and he having 
constantly asked us to go and make him a report 
upon it, we at last made up our minds to do so. 
We went to Sumatra first in order to see what tobacco 
cultivation really is. "Well, it is useless one telling 
you that, but I may tell vou, if vou have not been 
there, that the hospitality of the planters is un- 
equalled, and I shall never forget the kindness we 
received at their bands. Nothing was to" good, 
no trouble too, great, to be taken on our h half. 
The soil here was really magnificent and would "ow 
anything tropical. The climate appears healthy, 
sickness, is of course, not unknown, but W is by no 
means prevalent. During our stay there it was de- 
liuht f "Uv cool, whilst at night it was actually cold. I 
do not like to siy anvthing of our voyage on the 
" Spaniel." The very idea once more gives me Ic 
mcd de mer '. Ulysses never went through half the 
hardships and discomforts we did, or he would never 
have lived to tell the tale. Another week and we 
hould have succumbed, notwithstanding our planters'g 
constitutions. Oh what horrors the whole thing wa 
made up of ! horror, satis superque ! 
We are at Kndat, with its two or three Europeans, 
its swampy city and its fever, but let us hurry on 
and see what we can for our time is short here. 
Liberian coffee growing at sea level ! Cocoa growing 
at the same elevation '. ! ! mirdbile diatu, nutmegs at 
the same great altitude ! One really begins to wonder 
if the world is not upside down and wonder why we 
Ceylon put everything on the mountain tops ! 
Mr. Christian has an estate here, but we had not 
time to visit him ; glad as we should have been to 
meet a fellow-planter, we had to forego the pleasure. 
Judging from what we saw we should say he would 
do well on his venture, in which we wish bim well. 
After more horrors, we arrived at Silam, and if we 
were charmed with Sumatra and surprized at Kudat, 
Silam made us almost speechless. 
What soil I what cocoa ! ! I had never seen anvthing 
like it. Oh Lanka, Lauka, hide your diminished bead. 
How I weep for you, your day has gone a"d Borneo 
wrests your vaunted glories from you. Oh, Dumbera, 
)h Matale, you to boast of your soil and your cocoa ; 
vnd we, who believed in you, how have we all been 
leceived ! You don't know what soil is. Your cocoa 
isn't cocoa at all. 
For real cocoa, for real soil, you must come to Sil- 
am. Here your cocoa really is " grateful and com- 
forting," real E t >ps's, whilst the soil ;'.s- soil, and "none 
other is genuine." 
The resident here, Mr> Callaghan, an old Oeylon 
planter, gave us that hospitality for which Oeylon men 
are famous; to dispense which Ceylon men are so proud. 
I wonder if it was this great kindness which made us 
see everything in such a roseate light. I think so ! 
This visit carries with it many reminiscences of 
kindness given, of hospitality shown. 
The Arabian Coffee here, at sea level — mind you 
only 4 years old — was as thick in the stem as my 
arm and carrying 10 cwt. of coffee ! ! ! Can you be- 
lieve it? No! I should not, unless I had seen it. and 
it is one of those things at which one says, "Are things 
what they se> m or are visions about ?" 
Then the Liberian Coffee is here too, side by 
wide with its Arabian brother, healthy as healthy 
can be. 
This Coffee you must understand is not growing 
on estates, but is here and there, and everywhereto 
all interests and purposes wild ; perhaps it is wild. I 
don't know ! Leaf disease is an unknown quantity here 
— long may it be so, 
* * * Sandakan strikes one very much at first sight 
as being a bit of Dimbulla, an abandoned bit, with its 
town growing up into jungle, its tumbled down 
buildings, its coffee estate roads with gradi- 
ents of 1 in 8 &c, &c, but it improved on acquaint- 
ance. We met one or two Oeylon men here and 
they made us at home, as only Oeylon men can; 
it seems egotism, but there is something about a Cey- 
lon man that no other man has, but they run us very 
close in Sumatra ! Well, to return to Sandakan. which 
I should be loth to leave without saying a word as to 
its hotel, replete with every comfort, so clean that it 
becomes painful, so neat and natty that you feel in- 
clined to speak in whispers, for fear of disturbing 
something, the boys do everything without a sound, 
all nature is hushed, everything is most chilling, even 
the food is cold ! We were so sorry to leave it, now to 
f et back to those palatial hotels so well described by 
S.U. iv. E. in the Ceylon Observer at Singapore. 
We found the officials in Sandakan extremely polite 
and kind, and thev g"ve us every facility in business 
matters ; doubtless they are very much interested in 
the welfare of the Company, the "leong" of which is 
identical with their own, which depends upon tobacco 
for its future. Should tobacco be a success the Com- 
pnnv will be one, should the fragrant weed refuse to 
grow on Borneau soil, then collapse is inevitable; in 
short, you stand thus " non fumun ex fulgore, sed ex 
fumo dare lucem." Yes ! that is exactly your position. 
We remain, yours faithfully, J. K. & S. T. HOOD, 
