2l6 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1881 
coast of India, as well as the Island of Ceylon 
(Taprobane), were included in the region whence gold 
of Ophir, with apes and peacocks, was brought. The 
fact remains that the names for apes and peacocks 
are not Hebrew words, butthe Tamil names by which 
monkeys and peacocks are still called in Southern India. 
More interesting to a large class of . your readers 
than the discussion regarding Ophir is the now ascer- 
tained existence of a wide extent of rich auriferous 
quartz in Wynaad and Mysore. The danger is that 
the accounts received may lead to a "rush" of 
miners from Australia to the Indian gold-fields. I 
feel it a duty, therefore, to a country where I have 
experienced so much kindness, to utter a word of 
warning. Devalah, the scene of the successful ex- 
periments now reported, is exceedingly insalubrious 
for a considerable portion of each year. The district 
lies at the base of the great Nilgiri (Blue Mountain) 
range, at an elevation of 2,500 ft. above sea level, 
while the plateau in which the neighbouring sana- 
torium of Ootacamund is situated is 7,000 ft. altitude, 
with peaks rising, as in the case of Dodabetta, to 
considerably over 8,000 ft. As is the case with all 
places so situated in India, and even in Ceylon, 
Devalah is haunted by malarious fever — the " jungle 
fever" of the tropics, from which the northern regions of 
even this favoured land of Australia are not exempt. 
What the deadly " terai" of the Eastern Himalayas 
is to the delightful hill region of Darjeeling, which 
looks down on the rich but pestiferous plain below, that 
Devalah, with most of the Wynaad, is to the Nilgiri (Neil- 
gherry) mountain ranges, in which the fine eanatari.i of 
Coonoor (6,000ft. elevation) and Ootacamund (7,000ft.) 
are situated. Bracing climate and pestiferous are 
separated by only a few miles of distance. Superior 
elevation is an important factor in the difference, 
but there are other conditions. The soil at the bases 
of the Indian ranges consisting of the debris of the 
mountains, washed down during thousands of years, 
and of humus resulting from decayed vegetation, is 
rich, but gives out pestiferous gases when stirred. 
The rainfall, too, is very heavy, but badly distributed, 
the great bulk of 200 in. or more falling in four 
months out of the twelve, the remaining eight being 
generally distinguished for but seldom broken drought. 
That condition alone (of rainfall) involves insalubrity, 
and the greater salubrity of the mountain region of 
Ceylon is due to the more equal distribution of the 
monsoon rains. Of course there is the qualifying 
circumstance that in the Wynaad, a healthy and 
health-restoring region is close to the fever region, and 
could be rendered easily accessible by a winding railway 
(I have strong objections to the ladder-railway, Rhigi 
pattern, by which it is proposed to connect Ootaca- 
mund with the "low country"). It is possible that 
rich quartz, brought to the surface during the healthy 
period of the year, might pay the expense of trans- 
port up to a healthy altitude, there to be crushed. 
In that case the digging, mainly by natives (who, 
though they suffer, do not suffer so much as Europeans 
from fever), might go on all the year round, the crush- 
ing and other operations being conducted above the 
fever region by Europeans. This is a crude idea of 
mine, and may probably be pronounced impractic- 
able. If European miners seek employment in the 
Wynaad, they must take the risks of the position, 
looking at the qualifying fact that a sanatorium is close 
at hand. It is rijrht to add, however, that some consti- 
tutions, once affected by a full dose of the fever poison, 
are never able to throw it off, even by the generally 
potent aid of quinine, and "sending the patient into 
purer air." Some of the Mysore districts are healthier 
than those of Malabar, but it must be understood 
that besides the ordinary influences of a hob climate 
in enervating Europeans and rendering them uufit 
for manual labour, the dangers of malarious fever 
and the consequences which follow are present and 
formidable. It is possible, to doubt, that the auri- 
ferous reefs may be followed up to the healthy alti- 
tudes, but the vast proportion of the reefs are in the 
sub-ranges— low, hot, and generally feverish. 
Gold prospecting is now going actively forward in 
Ceylon, and with good hopes of success. Gold in 
minute particles is abundant in some of our rivers, 
and the natural conclusion is that deep digging to- 
wards the sources of those rivers may reveal quartz 
rich in gold. A little more than a quarter of a century 
ago we had our "rush" in the Indian Island. A 
couple of diggers from Australia reported gold in the 
Maha Oya, a stream turbid and unhealthy from the 
sea almost up to its source. Persons flocked to the 
scene and found gold dust, but no nuggets, and in a 
few weeks all were dispersed by fever, The Australians, 
subsequently, trieddigging up in our sanatarium (Nuwara 
Eliya, 6,200ft. altitude), and Sir Samuel Biker, who 
was resident there at the time, has in his books on 
Ceylon strongly expressed the opinion that if means 
had beeu provided to sink shafts to a proper depth, 
success would have been the result. The question 
will soon be o set at rest, and I trust Ceylon will soon 
take rank amongst the gold-yielding countries of 
the world. Any amount of '.' black" labour is avail- 
able in Southern India and Ceylon, and what I wish 
to impress on the mining class here is that neithei 
India nor Ceylon is " a good working man's country." 
The true function of the white man in the tropics 
(and I do not except the tropical region of Australia) 
is t<i act as a director of Asiatic labour ; he to find 
and exercise brain power, they to supply the bone 
and sinew. Eor a certain number of intelligent, edu- 
cated European miners suitable employment will, no 
doubt, offer in connexion with the Ind an gold mines. 
But a "rush" to India of labouring miners is greatly 
to be deprecated, because sure to be disastrous, from 
the insanitary conditions I have felt it my duty to 
describe. — Yours, &c, A. M. Fergusoh, 
June 10. Editor Ceylon Observer. 
Ceylon Teas. — Messrs. Greig and Murray sold 
this day (says the Melbourne Age of 11th May), at their 
rooms, under instructions from Messrs. James Henty 
& Co., 274 half-chests. Ceylon tea, up Is 41d per 
lb. in bond ; on other accounts 263 half-chests Foo 
Chow tea at 9d to Is 6£d per lb. in bond; 250 
boxes candles, 8|d to 9|d ; 168 bags rice, £9 5s to 
£13 per ton in bond, all faults ; Mauritius sugar up to 
£34 15s for grey crystals. Under instructions from Mr. 
A. M. Ferguson, Commissioner for Ceylon, Ceylon teas, 
at from Is 3^d to 6s per lb, ; 25 barrels plantation 
coffee, at Is 2Jd to Is 6d per lb. ; cinnamon, Is 5d to Is 
8d; rope 34s; oil, 38s. On other accounts, coffee Is 4Jd. 
The Java Coffee Cp.op. — Batavia, 21st May. — 
Messrs. J. Peet & Co. write: — Coffee, Java : A Samarang 
crop of 2500 piculs, held back by the planter in ex- 
pectation of an improving market, was sold by tender 
and realised for — Demerara kind, fair, f. 40.40 ; good, 
f. 27.30 to f. 38.05; inferior, f. 33.60; ordinary pre- 
pared, f. 34.05 to f. 35.50. The Demerara kind way 
very much discolored. Advices since received by 
telegram state a further decline in the European 
markets, and above prices may now be considered very 
full ones. The Government Java crop of coffee for 
the current year is estimated at 815,300 piculs, equal to 
49,500 tons, and it is expected that it will fully reach 
this figure. The private crop for 1881 will probably 
come to about 17,000 to 1S,000 tons. One hundred 
thousand piculs of Government Java coffee will be 
offered by public auction in Batavia. Coffee, Padang: 
Some estimate the June sale at 30,000 piculs, or in an 
case at fully 26,000. On the 7th inst. there were in 
store 11,495 piculs, with 9 per cent, fancy qualities. — 
Melbourne Age, [Total 1,340,000 cwt, or nearly twice 
the coming Ceylon crop. — Ed.] 
