THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Aug. i, 1894. 
PLANTING IN STCLANGOR, STRAITS 
SETTLEMENTS. 
LIBERIAN COFFEE— PEPPER— CO JON UTS 
AND COPRA. 
{Itrom Mr. Treacher's Administration. Report 
for 1893.) 
Coffee. — The feature of the year in agriculture 
has beeu the spread amongst the Malays throughout 
ihc State — chiefly foreigners, Javanese aid native* 
of Sumatra — of the cultivation of Li' erian coffee, 
which may be ascribed to the high prioes of late 
ruling for this product and to the ease with which 
this profitable culture can be carriei on as compared 
with the laborious operations, followel by smaller 
profits, involved in the cultivation of rice. 
In the Klang District the native coffee has ettracted 
the special attention of European planters and has 
settled in the affirmative the question of the suit- 
ability and even the superiority of low, rather swampy 
land for the Liberian variety. In this district, io 
several iustances, natives have cut down their nreca- 
nat trees with the object of planting up wi h coffee. 
Europeans are now making arrangements to buy up 
native coffee ind cure it locally for the market, and this 
will h.ive the effect of giving an additional stimulus 
to this branch of agriculturo in the State. There 
have been several applications by European planters 
tor land at Klang, but until the Government decidei 
on a general scheme of drainage, the cost of which 
would fall direotly or indirectly on the e<tate owners, 
the opening up of the District by Europeans will 
continue, as it now is, to be retarded. Few, I think, 
will dispute the desirability, in a oountry the pros- 
perity of which is at preseot almost cutirdy <".oe to 
the working of alluvial tin deposits, of giving every 
possible encouragement to agriculture, the soundest 
baBis of permanent prosperity and of a oonten ed 
population in all countries, both among the nativa Bud 
foreign sections|of the oommunity. ''That all our eggs 
should not be put in one basket, and that one should 
possets two strings to on^'s bow" are accepted dida. 
With simple rules, fair terms and prompt deainga, 
with application", couple! with a climate especially 
favourable to the tropical planter, there is no reason 
why Selangor should not, on a smaller so vie, emulate 
the agricultural success of Cjylon. Prompt dealing, 
in a wisely liberal spirit, with applications for lai.d is 
au essential condition. 1'here is only one planting 
season, this may be lost while an application is "under 
consideration," and with the season may be lost to 
the State a good planter and permanent settler. 
By the end of the year there were 19 ostates, con- 
fined to the Districts of Kuala Lumpur and Klang, 
owned b/ Europeaus and devoted wholly or partly to 
coffee, aggregating 12,296 aores, of whioh 2,163 aores 
were planted or being planted with L ; herian coffee. 
A " Selangor Planters' Association" has, I am 
glad to say, Deen established, and is the first associa- 
tion of the kind in the Native States; it Lumbers 
some sixteen members, Europeans. I have no donbt 
that the association will prove of use and benefit to 
Government and planters alike. 
In the Kuala Selangor District one Chinaman is 
opening 100 aores aud another 30 aores with Liberian 
coffee. In Ulu Selangor and Ulu Langat f jreign 
Malays are interesting themselves in this cultivation to 
a considerable extent. In the Kuala Lumpur Distriot 
over 600 acres of land held under oustumary tenure by 
Malays are planted or being planted with this product. 
Coffee was exported from the State ti the extent of 
1,908 pikuls, valued at $61,302, as compartd with 1,125 
pikuls or $25,572 in the previous year. 
Pbppee. — At the time when the price of pepper, 
owing to the troubles in Aohin, advanced to higu rates, 
some Europeans engaged in the cultivation of this vine. 
Prioes have of late been very low ; ther<i ui»y be bet er 
prospects in view, but it is perhaps doubtful whether 
this cultivation is not better left to theOhiuese aud 
natives. There is a large pepper and gambit plau- 
tation owned by a Chinese IVwkay at Sepang. The 
export of pepper in 1893 is returned at 8,158 pikuls, 
valued at $74,971, as compared with 5,746 pikuls 
valued at $57,134 in 1892. 
Copha.— Good pricea have stimulate! (he baai- 
lK'88 in this product ; but I do not notice any large 
extension of coroaut plxntirg, coffee now engaging 
the native m : nd. There are no plantations ia the 
hanls of European*, tut 1 consider that Lt wonld 
repay them to turn attention to this cultivation. The 
plantations are mtiuly the property of Malays, the 
manufftctire of an! th <-xp r- trade in copra are 
given up to the more indu trious Chinaman. The 
value of copra exporte'l during the year was $20,986, 
as oomparei with $9,578. 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA. 
MB. H. H. JOHNSTON, III THE " NIW KKVMW." 
Quite 75 per oeut of the natives of the eastern 
half of British Central Africa are the friends and 
supporters of the British administration. Were it 
not so we should not be there. But it is useless to 
disguise the f aot that our presence in the country 
is einiuently distasteful to the Arabs and to certain 
slave raiding and trading tribee, like the Yaog of 
South- E&sleru Nyasaland and the Awemba of .tie 
Nyasa- Tanganyika Plateau. The back of the Yaoa 
resistance nas been broken by the final defeat of 
Makanjira, but thoie ere still a few recalcitrant 
smaller chieftains on our eastern border who may 
seek to renew their raids on our territory, who may 
therefore force us to fight out the struggle to the bit- 
ter end. The Awemba will settle into friendliness 
when the Arabs are gone. As regards the Arabs, 
they must all go — every one— and never be re ad- 
mitted. Some we may bribe to go, others we may 
have to expel by force ; but as long as there is one 
Arab left in South Central Africa, so long will 
there be a centre of the slave trade and a source 
of endless intrigue and stealthy opposition to the 
white man's civilisation. That happy result will, 
however, be accomplished before many years are 
over ; but even then we oannot look to the white 
man and the black man only to accomplish the 
regeneration of Central Afrioa ; we want the yellow 
man gome ehapo or form to fill an intermediate 
funotion between these two extremes- 
In Tropical Afrioa, the white man oannot hope, 
exoept in a few isolated mountain distriots, to 
pormanently colonise and create for himself a new 
home ; his role there, aa in Tropioal Asia, is simply 
to direct, govern, and instruct ; to take the lead in 
the organisation of commerce, and the utilisation 
of the raw materials of a neglected continent. 
The funotion of the black man is to serve, for many 
generat'oas yet, as the main d'xuvre—lhe brute 
force (so to ppeak) — whioh is the necessary comple- 
ment of the direoting will. The European oannot 
undertake outdoor physical labour in the un- 
healthy olimate of Central Africa ; if he attempts 
to dig, plough, hew, or quarry, as his regular 
avocation, he succumbs to the sun heat or to the 
strain on his physical powers. The negro can de 
all these things without harm to himself, but, on 
the oontrary, to his own profit, and with distinct 
gain to his status as a man ; only, left to himself, 
he would do little or nothing. He requires the 
stimulus of contact with a superior race, and, above 
all, he needs teaching, for his own arts and indus- 
tries are elementary and unprogressive. In fact, 
the surface of the greater part of Central Afrioa 
has been, through untold ages, soarcely more 
affected by the presenoe of the negro variety of 
man, than by the baboons and the anthropoid apes. 
Yet it is found that (especially in unhealthy dis- 
tricts) there is much intelligent work to be done 
which cannot be entrusted to the average negro 
who would be too careless, stupid, ignorant, or 
clumsy) and yet where the employment of the 
white man is too costly, both in risk to health and 
life, and in expenditure of money. Consequently 
