Aug, i, 1894.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
81 
open about 1.000 acres every year as they are able 
to seoure labor gradually. The tract of land is said 
to possess a beautiful liy, and its purshaie for tea 
cultivation is a most important i-.ct, to bd borne 
in mind by those already interested in tel. The 
tract is about the siza of the distriot of Dimbula, 
and it is hoped that at least two-thirds of it may 
soon bo placed under tea. The land l'es some 
distance from the coast, but, when opeued up by 
good road?, will be no worse off in this respect than 
the distriot of Badulla vras a fo^v years ago. 
Altogether the naws is mo?t serious for Ceylon 
planters. 
THE LATEST FROM BRITISH CENTRAL 
AFRICA : 
NUMBER AND AREA OF COFFEE ESTATES' 
We have files of the B. C. Africa Gazette up to 
June 4 h. The issus of May 2Jth contains an 
aooount of the Mlanje District aid gives a gool 
report of the roads now under construction ani 
how a planter has put up a bungalow utilised aa 
a re^thouse. The first coffee estate was opened 
hern, we learn, in 1890. The population is given 
at 18,000. Ws quote as follows:— 
The pries of native produce is fairly low, and the 
following is a fair indication of current rates; ufa § I 
per lb, maize and ' mapira' (in grain) Jd, beaas £d, 
rice id, salt Jl, goats 3i to 4 s, fowls 2d aud sheep 
6 shillings; 
BesideB vegetables and grain, the natives have 
fruit :— 
Suoh as custard apple, (poza), bananas, (sukavi and 
mbingu) "rnasuku," "maulaj," lemons, limes, black- 
berry, (mkanda nkuku) rnbimbi, tenza katole, and 
nkuyu (fig). 
In regard to planting ia the M'.anje district we 
have the following interesting report from Mr. J. M. 
Ball, the Colleotor of the district: — 
Coffee Culture. — Five planters are now actively en- 
gaged in this industry ai.d a few statistics regarding 
the local estates will be found in thy following tablo. 
Total Oulti- Division of Area uooording to 
Acreige vated age of plaats. 
of Estates. area 6 ms. 1 vr. 1| yr. 2J yr. 3 yrs. 
7550 576 176 197 120 70* 13* 
* Ali bearing heavily. 
Most of the plants appear to be in a very heilthy 
state in spite of the reported ravages of grub, bortr, 
the insect world at large, lack of rainfall and strong 
wind. The plantations ou tee hillside prob»bly suffer 
slightly from the violenoo of the wiud, but this is 
being remedied by planning bcl:s of banana and other- 
trees to break its force. 
No definite opinion of Mlanje coffee seems yst to 
have been expressed as the estates are all in a youDg 
stage » i)d no fair samples have been submitted to 
experts. 
One planter is at present busy ereoting all the need- 
ful machinery and hopes to tre.it the crop from several 
aores very 60011. 
The prospects of good crops of coffee this season 
are satisfactory. In ell the different distriots the 
crops sro a^id to be fairly heavy. The question as 
to what proportion there may be of lifjht berry, oan 
never be decided till the crop is picked ; but as far 
as oan be iudged from reports from Mlanje, Zomba, 
Biantyre, Tsholo, &o— the present orop promises to 
be a sound on°. 
In addition to ooffee, some efforts are b-ing made 
to grow fruits, chilis, aud o : hee'!s, about twenty acres 
being devoted to their cultivation. The oilseeds grow 
very well indeed a id promise a good return. A few 
vegetables are also grown but barely autlioo fur home 
consumption. 
In regard to Natural History, we read 
Wo havo rocontly seen the horns of a bushbuot, 
which was netted by nat'ves ou the top of Zomba 
mouutam a year or no ag 1. i'hoy me-iauie 1-J} iuches 
fioai tbo base of the horn to the tip, io a straight 
line (not fo'.lowiug the curve of the horns). The 
largest pair on record aro given by Mr. Selous as 
16j inches. 
Eioov/Uere we find Mr. T. H. Lloyd giving the 
distmcas between points near Fort Anderson 2,180 
feet above sea-level and tha junction of theBlaDtyre 
road. Wa are told that the desire of the Like 
natives to come to the Shire Highlands to work 
on the coffee plantations is steadily spreading— 
and the labour supply is described as " practically 
inexhaustible." 
From the piper of June 4th we take a para- 
graph indicating the terrible destruction of Ele- 
phants : — 
Mr. Ttixeira de Mattos writes to us, from Tete 
s'ating that, at the rate at which elephants of ell' 
'iz.-s a-e at present biing killed off, ia South Central 
Africa,- there is little doubt that in a few years they 
will b-i practically exterminated in those rrgjona 
He states th it from Tete and Zumbo alone tne 
traders innually send out fully 3,000 hunters to the 
couutn s north of the Ztinbezi, who mob the cloph- 
;a-ts and shoot them i_discriminately, regardless 0 f 
iheir age or of the size of their tusks. Our corre- 
spondent is of opinion that the only way of prevec. 
ting (his. »vould be an ugreemtnt between all tie 
Powers having territories or spheres in Africa tl at 
thr.y would prohibit the exportation of all tusks under 
10 10. in weight. He believes that if this were done 
tl>e natives w uld sood cease tha slaughter of small 
elephauts, as tney would thereby be wasting th' re 
powder to no purpose. -He states that a large pro- 
portion of tbe ivory which now come9 to Tete and 
from iho Zambezi regions generally is small and 
worthless. 
Of drawbacks— in the lowcountry, at least, — we have 
the following: — 
Locusts have done much damage in the county 
lying lmmediot.ly behind the Pass to Matapwir 's 
,coumry. Several of the Hesd-men there have asked 
to be allowed to settle on tbe N. W. side of Mlanie 
Doubtless the locusts and consequent scarcity of 
tfood have had som'.thing to do with Mkauda's bavin- 
coma iu to Fort Lister. 0 
A list of 11 Consular Judicial Officers for a3 many 
Iseparaie districts is published, and to show how 
civilisation is advancing, we hive the foliowin > 
announcement: — 0 
! June 1st 1894. R. S. Hunter, BarriaUr-at-Lw h.s 
been autnonaeu to practise as a Barr.ster and 'soli- 
citor in the Consular Courts within the Lo-al Ju i s 
diction known as tko Bruish Sphere north of fcha 
Zimbezi. 
Fin .lly, here is a eonoinct summary of the paper 
in the New Review for July by Mr. Johnston c b 
Commissioner or Governor of the Central Afr'io a 
State ; — 
The native population of the eastern half of Bri', ; sa 
Central Alnca numbers about three rnillious Lmi 
April there were 247 British aud IS other naiionan 
ties, defended by 200 Sikhs and 40 Arab* There 
are now fourteen steam vessels plying u'pou the 
waters of British Central Africa, and ov t r a hundred 
sai'iug boats, barges, and steam launches The ex 
porta and imports iu 1890 were £20,000 a year • tbev 
are now £ 100,000. The revenue of tbe P.otec'torate 
has gone up iro.Q £1,700 to £9,000. The mnsKnarv 
eooieiies have increased from four to seven and 
tbe area under European cultivation from 'l 250 
aores to 7,300. There are three newspapers in 'the 
country aud a literary society at Blautire There 
are, however, no hotels or banks. There are sixtv 
miles of good road between Katuuga and Zombi 
with bn.lges. There ore fonr million coffeo trees 
planted in tbe Shi.o proviuoe all coming from a 
sickly lit lo cotf..o tree which was brouiht out from 
Edinburgh. Cjffee-plantii.g is very profitable, planters 
making as much as a htiuar.d per cent. Living is 
cheap, sp>rt ia ample, the scenery is mngnificvi', Ub nr 
pbjntufui, bjc uUoclimate;ijicoC good. Two- uj-a-hulf 
pel tojiot theEuropeau iuhabnauti die every year 
of malarial fevor. Biackwater fever is especially to be 
