760 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1882. 
will be done to remove from God's holy earth not 
only the slave trade but the institution of human 
slavery. 
THE ANDAMAN ISLES AND PLANTING. 
(Written by a Naval Officer for the "Ceylon Observer.") 
Although the Andaman Isles have been the pro- 
perty of the Indian Empire during the whole of the 
present century, it was not till 1859 that an English 
settlement was formed there. About that time, the 
necessity for establishing a Penal Settlement began 
to force itself upon the Indian Government, and it 
was finally decided that the most southern of the 
Andaman Isles should be selected as a place of im- 
prisonment for convicts sentenced to long terms of 
confinement. The islands at present scarcely pay their 
way. This arises from the fact that so very little of the 
convict labour is remunerative in the sense of bringing 
back money to the Exchequer, whilst the outlay of 
money for new machinery, victuals, and salaries of the 
officials is, of course, a considerable item. An 
attempt on a pretty large scale is, however, about to 
be made to establish Government plantations of tea, 
coffee, cinchona, and other plants, for which the islands 
are very suitable, nearly all of them being now grown 
by the convicts in small quantities. Communication 
with the island is by a fortnightly steamer from 
Calcutta. This steamer is guaranteed by the Indian 
vessel is allowed to convey six tons of cargo free for 
the use of the officials and troops in the settlement. 
The aborigines of the Andaman Islands are probably 
the lowest of the human race. It is a somewhat 
peculiar fact that such a race, distinct in itself 
and having no affinity or similitude whatever to any 
of the neighbouring races, Bhould be residing on a 
group of islands in the Bay of Bengal. It is only 
in the immediate neighbourhood of the settlement 
that the Andamanese are even approachable. In the 
northern slands of the group it is not safe to land, 
as they receive inquisitive people with showers of 
poisoned arrows. The Chief Commissioner of the 
Andamans has on several occasions tried to land in 
these other islands, but has had to abandon the 
attempt, the attitude of the people being so threatening. 
The Andamanese, men and women, scarcely ever 
attain a greater height than five feet. They wander 
about perfectly naked, and have no houses, simply living 
in the jungle, and their food is the roots of trees and 
fish Like most barbarous natives brought into contact 
with civilization they are dying out rapidly, and - 
threaten to become, before very many more years, 
totally extinct. Diseases contracted from the convicts 
have had a terrible effect on them, thousands having 
died from the diseases thus spread. Some attempts 
have been made to civilize these wretched people, but 
they have not been very successful. A school has 
been established at Port Blair for the education 
of Andamanese children, but the number under 
instruction is very small, and the seeds of barbarism 
seem to have been implanted so deeply in the 
natures of these youngsters that, even after receiviing 
a civilized education, the greatest difficulty is experi- 
enced in preventing them from returning to what is, 
apparently, their natural state. These people are 
wonderfully adroit in the use of the bow and arrow. 
Their arrows arc tipped with a sort of steel hooping ; 
and, as their bows are very large, and the arrow has a 
proportionately great velocity, any one struck by one 
of them in a vital part would have but a poor chance 
of recovery. Attempts have been made times without 
number to conciliate the fierce tribes inhabiting thu 
HO] i bam islands, but without success. Their habits are 
nomadic, and they are no doubt aware that closer ties 
with a civilized power would soon end in its natural I 
result— their extinction. The Nicobar islands, 300 
uiiles to the southward of the Andamans, of which 
they are a dependency, are inhabited by Malays. No 
convicts are at present kept there, but it is in- 
tended at some future date to utilize them as an out- 
let for the criminals of India. The same steamer that 
runs to Port Blair also proceeds to the Nicobars, 
from whence there is a large export trade in coco- 
nuts. There is no doubt that the Andamans, extremely 
fertile as they are, have a great future before them — say 
in fifty years hence when the thousands of con- 
victs who will have passed through tbem by that time 
have settled down on the soil, and cultivated the 
vast tracts of land which are at present covered with 
jungle. The harbour of Port Blair is spacious and well 
protected ; the climate is cool, tempered as it always 
is by the sea breezes which blow continuously all the 
year round, and there are more disagreeable spots on 
the face of the earth for a military man to spend a 
year in than the Andaman settlements. 
COFFEE PROSPECTS. 
(Robert Von Glehn # Sons' Monthly Coffee Circular.) 
January 11th, 1882. 
The stocks of coffee in Europe have increased during the past 
month about 11,000 tons, and prices have still further declined : 
— Middling plantation Ceylon coffee, which we then quoted 77s to 
82s, is now barely worth 72s to 77s ; and good average Santos, 
which was then worth 60 fr. in Havre, is now quoted 50 fr. 
per 50 Ko. It cannot be denied that some failures in Bordeaux, 
of firms but slightly interested in coffee, have contributed largely 
to accentuate the decline in prices. Our opinion is that the 
alarm which appears to be felt as to the financial position in 
Havre is excessively exaggerated, if not entirely unfounded, as, 
owing to the admirable system for advances on produce carried 
out by the Bank of France, no large losses are likely to remain 
long unpaid, and no large quantities of coffee are likely to be 
forced for sale at one time; the future course of the article must 
therefore lie studied on its own merits. 
"We venture to maintain our opinion [as regards Bio] that the 
receipts will be smaller, and may even fall to such a point as will 
revive the lifeless, markets of Europe and America. 
Now one of the most important questions in forming an opinion 
as to the future course of prices, is, what can the shipmenls 
from Bio during these same six months of the present year 
amount to? We have seen above that the eminent Bio firm, 
from whom we have so often quoted, estimates the available 
quantity of coffee for the seven months from 1st December 1881, 
to 30th June 1882, at 2,063,400 bags, and deducting what we 
now know to have been shipped .in December, viz., 320,000 bags, we 
get as available; according, to this authority, for the six months, 
from 1st January to 30th June 1882, 1,713,400 bags, or more 
than 300,000 bags less than were shipped during the same 
period last year. 
For reasons stated above, we, however, think the deficiency 
will be greater, and it is possible that Bio shipments to Europe 
alone, which, during the last six months, have been nearly 
100,000 bags less than in the same period of .1880, may, during 
the next six months, fall below those of the same period of 1881 
by 300,000 bags. 
Scarcely less important in forming our opinion of the future 
course of the market is the question : — " What quantity of coffee 
can Santos send us during the next six months ? " 
The Santos crop of 1881-82 is variously estimated from 1,500,000 
to 1,800,000 bags, but taking it at the average of these two figures, 
viz., 1,650,000 bags, ami deducting the shipments of the first six 
months of the season, viz., 758,000 bags, we find available, for the 
six months from 1st Jaunary to 30th June, 1882, 892,000 bags. 
It looks, therefore, at present as if the shipments from Santos 
during the next six months were likely to be largely in excess of 
those during the same period of last year. 
If the present Santos crop does not, however, much exceed 
1,500,000 bags, which is the estimate of our own Santos corre- 
spondents, and if the Santos planters bold back rather more coffee 
than usual, the quantity that will be shipped to Europe during the 
next six months may after all not be so large. 
It must, however, be remembered that Messrs. Bradshaw and 
other eminent authorities estimate the 1882-83 or following crop 
at 2,000,000 bags. Santos coffee is not likely, therefore, to be less 
plentiful for some time to come than it is now, and we doubt 
the wisdom of paying a premium for future and distant delivery 
of this kind of coffee, as is at present being done in the Havre 
market. 
From the smaller coffee producing countries there is no feature 
of importance. The native Malabar crop is said to be large, but 
is held back by Hie natives, who are not likely to take present 
value until forced to do so. The Manila crop is said to be small 
and early. The visible supply of Java coffee to Holland is the 
sain.' as last year, viz. 79li,0U0 bags, against 795,000 bags on 1st 
January laat^ear. 
