468 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan. t, 1894. 
PLANTING PROSPECTS IN EAST AFRICA: 
THE FUTURE EL DORADO FOR YOUNG 
CEYLON PLANTERS. 
There has been etrong criticism lately od (be 
continued influx of young Englishmen as Tea 
Planting ABBistante— in vulgar parlance "crofpers " 
— into Ceylon, in view of the fact that there is 
not likely to be any prospect before them in the 
ieland after they have qualified aa plentere. This 
is very true, and more esppoially in rTfpecti of 
teaplanting, whatever may bo said of other pro- 
ducts which are now, we are glad to think, 
receiving renewed and increasing attention. But 
are we not apt in extending such critioiBm to 
forpet that Ceylon is the bes; Suhool in the 
world for the luture Tropical Plauter to attend? 
And who dare eay when regard is had to coffee, 
Gaoao, palms, rubber, &o., that the work of tio- 
pical planting is overdone, bo that there is no 
scope for the young man with enterprise and 
energy, who has learned how to maua^e native 
labour and to open a plantation on the moet 
approved principles ? We venture to aver that 
in different parts of (he world there is room 
for a large addition to the lists of plant'rs, 
and we go further and urge that the drawbacks 
fo pioneering and planting work in NorLh 
Borneo, the Straits Settlementf, New Guinea 
and East Africa are not greuter than — if 
so great as— those presented to plantfrs in Ceylon 
forty or even thirty years ago. We would ask 
our " creepers" then to go at their profeES'on 
with a will — to look beyond Ceylon, if need be 
for their future scene of work ; but to cultivate 
habits of hard work and even privation, so far 
as compatible with health, in anticipation of taking 
up the labour and responsibilities of pioneers in 
new planting territories. One further piece of 
advice we would give to newcomers, namely, 
try to learn about coffee and cacao cultivation and 
curing, even more than about tea, wh le in Ceylon, 
From this, it may be deduced that the men who 
should take on " creepers" are, pre-eminently, our 
friends in Uva and Matale : Managers with ap- 
preciable areas of our old staple or of cacao under 
their charge. 
But now to turn to the future Eldorado of young 
planters — men, we mean of the right ttamp who I 
will not be afraid of bard, rough work and per- 
haps oft-repeated disippointment to be^in with, — 
we think it should be found in Imperial British East 
Africa, or Ibea it is called from the initial letters 
by which the territory was first described — provided 
the British Government as it is urged, take a share 
in developing colonization and settlement by the 
cooBtruction of a road, if not railway. There is 
every encouragement to do. so ; for in part of 
the territory to be developed, rubber-yielding trees 
aie said to grow in abundance, while in another 
division coffee is said to be indigenous. Abys- 
sinia has always been spoken of as the habitat 
of coffee and the mountain ranges and country 
we speak of may be said to be a continuation of 
Abyssinian territory. The lower or coast region is 
described as the land for cotton, rubber, oil-seeds 
and sugar, and Persian and Indian immigration 
IB to be promoted to take up these industries. The 
European coffee planters are expected to occupy the 
highlands. The risks attending the employment of 
capital in coffee planiing in Eastern Ibea, even 
now. we are told, are very small. Forestland 
with rich soil is freely available ; the climate is 
suitable ; and above all, suitable labourers are said 
rot to be wanting, of varied temperament :— " men 
like those of the Wat ro on the north bank of 
the Sabaki river and said to be capable field 
hands, while they and the Wskarali and Giri- 
emas are peaceful and agricultural people." We 
need say nothing cu the p int that coffee ie as 
a product DOW at a high premium, that th*ra ia 
j the greatest poeeible encouragement lo cultivate it 
I especially in Britifh territory. German East 
1 .Africa has, however, been first in the race ; or 
I has foUowel closely on the Blantyre plaotationB 
I farther South. Ceylon is represpntfc! by Mr. 
I Cowl.-y in the one and by Mr. Brown in 
j the other. But mce i romiaing than either of 
I these t'-rritcries we should ju-lge ie Eastern Ibea 
! for intu wi<h some capital, a proper training, 
j P'"°'ti and habits of hard work and self denial. 
! We feel sure that men of the type of the 
I Tytlers, Nico's, Martins, Haddens, Kudde, 
I Moirs of the "forties" in Ceylon woold epeedily 
carve a eplendid tropical plantation Colony out rf 
I Eastern loea— bitwoon Mombasa and the country 
4( 0 miles in'and. Here are a few extracts from 
officifil reports : — 
" Singwaia to Arbagowandi.— The road strikes 
inland through forest soil, v^ry rich, heavy, black 
loam. In about half an hour the forest ceaaes, 
and we come u^jon an extensive area of open very 
flat country; the path frreatly overgrown, now p«i<- 
ses through what was originally forest and ia now 
a succession of extensive 'sbanibas' and the 
richest and most fertile country imaginable. Soil 
exceedingly rich and, where no' cultivation exists, 
the country is overgrown with & high rich grass fully 
six to seven feet high. In the month of Septem- 
ber, 1891 Captain Dundas partly explored the lower 
lands of the Ker.ia mountain 'Blo)>es, and he d^B• 
cribes the Wathaka country aa "a beautiful, fertile, 
highland district, a land of nnmerous villages, fine 
pastures, and well-tended plantaiious."' The Mbe 
tribe, not far distant, " possess cattle, sheep and 
goats." Focd was cheap and abundant, the country 
being almost entirely given over to cultivation, for 
which it is better adapted than for cattle-grazing. 
To the south was the great mountain range of 
Mumoni (with the darkly-wooded river flowing 
along its bas-,— the rolling fertile country of Mbf) 
which intersected the country with nuiuerona 
beautifully clear streams, coursing down the val- 
leys between the slopes. The Eikuj'n coantry is 
equally attractive. According to ihe same explorer, 
it is "a densely populated district the \illages 
lying on the slopes of the hills, which were a 
mass c[ luxuriant crops, beautiful trees, and 
sj'fiiUiiug streams flowing souihward." 
Ic )s evident from this there is in British terri- 
tory more than one highland region of special 
fertility only waiting to be developed into pros- 
perous coffee districts. All that is wanted to 
cause an influx of capitalists is a railway or even 
improved road communication. But 400 miles are 
too many for cart transport to cover. Only a 
railway can meet the necessities of the case and once 
it is carried inland for an appreciable distance, we 
may expect land to be freely taken up by in- 
dividual capitaliBts and Syndicates — and to what 
country can these turn, save Ceylon, for the 
trained enterprising pioneer planters with whom 
will rest the development of a ccffee region which 
eventually miy extend to an area that will make 
i' a rival to Brazil itself? In Sjuth America, the 
ooff'ee plant is an introduction : in North-East 
Africa it is in its native home. That the fntare of 
cofl'ee is greatly with East Africa is our firm belief. 
We have written to a refrasentative Ceylou planter 
near ts the region we speak cf, for his account of 
the present condition ef affairs and the prospects, 
and so soon as his answer arrives, we ehall lay 
the same, along with a good deal more information 
from official reports, before our readers. 
