694 
THfe tkOPlCAL AGRICULTURIST. [April 2, 1894: 
of it in nine months. The Government of Perak 
obtains its revenue from the 10 per cent, export 
duty it derives from tin, and in 1875 that revenue 
was 226,000 dollars, whereas in 1893 it had jumped 
to 2,535,000. Tiiere is no export duty on coffee yet, 
though Government reaervea to itself the right to 
exact 2J per cent later on. Another peculiarity 
about tin is that even the most expert miners are 
not able to tell by the nature of the land or tlie 
appearance of the soil, until they have thoroughly 
overhauled it, whether it will turn out a very rich 
tin country or an abs^Jutely barren one. It cannot 
be prospected like gold-land can, and this makes the 
gamble all the greater, and it is that gamble that 
the Chinaman revels in." 
JOHN CHINAMAN. 
" A Chainaman combines all the virtues and all 
the vices of humanity, and the European is at the 
disadvantage of never getting to the bottom of him. 
I have seen them working as carpenters and boot- 
makers in Singapore and Pinang, and I believe, 
outside the miners, the bulK of these artisans work 
18 hours out of tiie 24 hours in a day ; and it 
ia no wonder they are objected to in America and 
Australia. To a traveller like myself, passing through 
the country, it appeared as if the States were 
governed by the Europeans, and that the China- 
man romped in and made all the dollars. In re- 
turn for this kindly British protection, the Chinaman 
heartily despises the ' foreign devils ' and especially 
amused at their honesty." "Tamils don t mine," 
he continued, "they only work on estates or else 
are employed in making roads. ' 
MALAYS AS LABOUEBHS. 
" The Malay is a study in himself. He seems 
to observe with perfect equanimity the Chinaman 
and the Javanese, and the Boyanese, and the Tamil, 
coming into his country and wording and ma'-ing 
money. He does not care to work himself, and his 
idea of perfect happiness S' ems to be to live upon 
the large rivers and spend bis time in fishing. 
He works sometimes, if he feels inclined. He 
assists the Chinaman in finding out suitable tin 
country; and he assists the Kuropeau-iu felling 
jungle; but only when he likes. He looks ujion 
himself as superior to all foreigners in the country, 
Europeans included. His wants are exceedingly 
small, aud he is utterly devoid of ambition, either 
for wealth or position. He is a Mussuknan and 
true fatalist, (io where one will, one is struck with 
the fact that the native is much more on a footing 
of equality with Europeans than he is here. 
Whether that is good or bad it is not for me to 
say. The prevailing language is Malay. Tamils 
speak it well, though Chinaman don't. They adhere 
to their own dialects, and a man from Swatow cannnot 
understand a man from Canton. This is another 
difficulty for the employer of labour. It seems to 
me that, if a planter is to be a success in the 
Straits, after mastering Malay he must make it 
his business to study the characters and natures 
of- the very many different classes of labourers he 
is brought in contact with. He will have to put 
aside all Ceylon preconceived notions as to how 
labour should be worked. Mr, Lutyens was the only 
planter in Pinang who told me he could work 
Chinese labour in quantity, and that he felt con- 
fident he could worn a gaug of 500. Chinamen and 
Javanese work steadily and well at earth work and 
are very useful in opening up new clearings. In- 
deed, some of the planters are of opi. ion that the 
Tamil is not required upon the estate till it comes 
into bearing j but then he becomes essential." 
THE LAND. 
Mr. Forsythe says that, taking it all over, Perak 
is the finest State, and that it contains thousands 
of acres suitable for growing coconuts. The patches 
he saw, when travelling through the State. »nd the 
Bmount of nuts on the trees, beat anything he had 
ever seen before ; but all the coconuts grown (and 
tbe cultivation ia coufined to Pvoviuce Wellesley, 
)«s»p^i MalaccP') 9X^ ueecl foe food ooaaump^ 
tion, he opines, for he saw no bigns of copperab or 
coconut oil. 
GOVEBNMENT BE(iOL»TIONb. 
" I do not think the land regulations in either 
State (Perak or Selaugorj are favourable to the 
planter. By land regulations I mean tin- regulations 
as to the sale and leahiing of laudf. There »re fr.r 
too many provisos and r. strictions, and I think 
much more land would have beeo opened up if 
Government would grant it on easier terma to l>of>a 
planters who are willing to lake up the land 
and plant it and not to hold it, Goverumeut charge 
So cents of a dollar per acre per annum. That 
seems light; but it is not when you see the re- 
strictions and regulations. One quaiter has to be 
planted in such and such a time, faihng which Go- 
vernment cau walk in and take over the unopened 
land. Of course it may not do so, but it legally 
can, and a plauter may not have been able, 
through uuforseen contingencies, to have complied 
with what was demanded of him. I cannot help 
thinking, that in both Slates Government put too 
high a prospectice value on their laud. And it 
must be remembered, too, that timber there ib a 
Government monopoly. A man cannot sell limber 
even from his own land. Undoubtedly it is a tine 
country and grandly timbered ; but Got'ernment is 
too chary of disposing of laud oatright at a nominal 
sum. Still, the value of the land is what you can 
get from it, and planters are not going to ofien up 
the country iu Selangor with such regulations as 
Bre in force at present. There are only about 
1,600 acres planted in Selangor, and about 600 in 
Perak, so far. ' 
BOA 06 AND aiVEEB. 
Perak, Mr. Forsythe added, is splendidlv roaded, 
aud the main trunk-road through the State com- 
pares favourably with our old Kandy road, which 
is about the be.t in Ceylon. The rivers are grand, 
particularly the Klang and Perak Rivers, on which 
there are crowds of small steamers plying up and 
down. Steps are being taken to bring the railway 
facilities right up to those points of the rivere 
where steamers can get deep draught, so as to make 
as many ports as possible, and he regards the 
prospect for the future of the States as very good. 
One other thing may be mentioned, and that is 
that the travellers heard and believe that Arabian 
coffee grows well in the hills on the Psbang side, 
but Pahang is a vast unexplored tract known so 
far only to Mr. Edraunl Watson, who was dovm 
iu Kwala Lumpa an I saw Mr. Forsythe aJid Mr. 
Fort ; and to Mr. Wise, who is away in di tant 
Pekan. — Local " Times." 
^ 
HYBRIDISATION OF THE ACACIA. 
The diflSculty of distinguishing one from another 
the four hundred species of Acacia is often very 
great, as iu many cases the difference is slight. 
After seeing how freely thoy cross-fertilise when 
growing together in the Riviera gardens, I do not 
hesitate to express my opinion that many of them 
are natural hybrids. When growing together in 
variety, as they do here, it is natural that they 
would hybridise one with the other. 
Around the plants that have produced seed, hun- 
dreds of young seedlings spring up in a very short 
time, and amongst these are often to be found some 
which deviate from the parent plant. I have recently 
had the opportunity of noting a very distinct hybr d 
of this kii d. The gardener sowed some seed of 
Acacia cultriformis, which he took direct from the 
plant which was growing beneath another species 
called A. petiolaris. 
Amongst the batch of seedlings several very dis- 
tinct varieties appeared, showing in varied degrees 
the character of the two species. It is also remark- 
able that the seedlings assumed the character of the 
pollen plant m to the foliage, a-id in most instances 
were more or less variegated, as the one species has 
a silvery foliage and the other dark green.— RrvjEBAS 
