THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. i, 1894. 
Altogether, it is evident that a good many rival a 
to Brazil are rapidly being developed both in its own 
neighbourhood of the Far West; io. Africa, West 
and Central ; and in the Far East of Netherlands 
India, the Straits Settlements and North Borneo ; and 
we see no recson why success should > ot atte r d 
the several new efforts we havo noticed, even 
if prioes do cot beep quite eo high as they have 
done of reoent year?. 
COFFEE PLANTING Tn THE AMAZONIAN 
VALLEY, UPPER PERU : 
AN ABERDONIAN REPORTS A PROFIT 
MARGIN OF 200 PER CENT. 
RAPID EXTENSION OF CULTIVATION 
AMONG THE NATIVES. 
["We now give the main portion of Mr. Jaa. Robb's 
letter from Central Peru addressod to Mr. Arthur 
Sinclair, Aberdeen, on which wo wrote the other 
day.— Ed. T.A ] 
What you say re the labour question reads well, 
and I note that you have ascertained that there will 
be no difficulty in contracting Chinese or Indian 
coolies for the Peren£. The difficulty is that the 
Peruvian Government would not admit them into 
the Montana. The attitude of Peru is the great 
difficulty, though at the same time the Perenu valley 
will never be properly developed until we have 
Asiatic labour. 
On account of the number of people now going in 
for coffee-growing, labour is becoming a serious 
question, and it will become more and more so, as 
the colony develops. 
Regarding affairs here I may say they are fairly 
satisfactory, although we have had a rough time. 
Our Italian colonists, or rather those who came out 
with Mr. Mackenzie, have all gone. They proved a 
rotten class of people, and thought they came cut 
to pick up gold instead of working for it like honest 
men, The remaining colonists are now settling down 
to honest labour, aud have every appearance of 
doing well. At one time things looked so shaky that 
I thought the whole scheme was to be a complete 
failure, but a better tone is now prevailing and I 
have great hopes of yet seeing this part of Peru 
develop into a great country. 
Since taking over charge, I have cut down ex- 
penses all around and it was about time somebody 
acted ; for the Corporation was being robbed in every 
department, and was becoming a scandal. 
It has been a difficult job for me to get the colonists 
to settle down to work, aud I had to give them a 
little assistance to get a commencement ; but I 
think we can jog along nicely now as the most of 
them have planted or are planting coffee which is 
giving them more interest in their chacras. 
We have now a good bridge over the Rio Colo- 
rado and an excellent road to La Merced, tut 
communication with Dentville is in no way im- 
proved, and the Pichis road, which you traversed, 
is now in such a deplorable state that mules sink 
iu mud to the belly-bands, and two or three jour- 
neys nearly kill them. 
A colony of good people are establishing them- 
selves along the bank of the Perene, about 8 miles 
below the confluence of the rivers, and all will 
plant a lot of coffee this season. 
The present prices are indeed encouraging and when 
one considers that it only costs about 6 .Soles* to pro- 
duce 100 lb. of cleaned coffee, and it sells locally at 
22 Soles and in Lima at 39 Soles. Freight to Lima 
about 4 Soles per 150 lb. 
This is the country for good Scotchmen with a 
few hundreds. Italians have proved a total failure ; 
French nearly so. Give us north country people 
such as Scotch, English, Irish, Germans, Swedes, f 
&o., of good character and a trifle of means, and 
our success is assured. 
* Depreciiiej Sole" now wonii zs. 
f,With plenty of coolies; no use without. — " Old 
Colonist." 
I may add that I am only in charge of the 
colony for a short period, and at its expiry will 
most probably take up land myself and have done 
with service. I can see my way to do well as a 
coffee grower, and I like the life. 
The Chola labourers cost about 0-70 • per diem with 
food and I find growers can afford to pay that, and 
still do well. My chief grievance id that we cannot 
get them to stay any length of time, for as soon as 
they get a little money they leave us and go on the 
spree until it is finished. If I can manage it I will 
come home for a short spell soon, as I would like 
to induce a number of Aberdeenshire young wen to 
come out and join us in Peru. 
A BIG COFFEE COMPANY WANTED FOR 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA: 
A BLOCK OF 100,000 ACRES OK GOOD LAND 
READY FOR A COMPANY. 
A COUNTRY LIKE UVA. 
[The following is the letter addressed to "O'd 
Colonist," to which we referred in a reoent iseoe 
— En. TA.] 
British Central Africa, 10th Juoe 1894. 
Deab Sir,— Having I.earJ from . that yen 
take id interrst in this eoui.try aud that you might 
help in the Stirling of a Compjny for ooffee colla- 
tion, I tike the liberty of addressing you on the sutjeol 
About a year.go I bought a tr.ct of lai.d comprising 
about 100,000 acr.s from Naruso, th- paramount chief 
of the Ma:liiDjer»8. a few hours' journey from my 
own estate, DunraveD, but on the other side of tbe 
Kuo (which is the boundary between ihe British aod 
Portuguese aphere of influence) and within the latter 
Although the Por:uguese have never governed or 
presumed to govern those people, an attempt wai 
icaoe to conquer them about 10 yoars ago when tbe 
Machn jera* drove them to Quilirnan - with heavy lota 
and would hava destr>;ed the town hid it not been 
for the interference of tie English. 
The chiefs and prop's ar«j o:i the most friendly 
terms with me and preyed me to bor land and open 
a coffee estate in their country, which I did as elated 
above, and H. M. Comm^sio. er auJ Coosul-Geoeral. 
Mr. Id. H. Johnston, after becoming couversant with 
the factp, wrote to say that my purcbasc wag perfectly 
m aocordsnre with the Bruvtels Act a ,d Anglo- 
Portuguese Convention. Subsequently to receipt of 
tbis acknowledgment I weut to work and put down a 
nursery of 6 bushels of coffee estimated to trive 
180,000 plan's fit to put out during the next rainy 
season— December to April— aud have alto built a 
small buugalow and godowus and am felling a small 
clearing. 
My deed of purohase was witnessed by 3 European 
residents, Messrs. Llojd. Bradshaw and Imlab, and 
the interpreter wag Dr. Geo. Robertson of the Mianii 
Mission, and iso nsidered a sound and gocd title. 
Tbe acreage is only estimated at 100 ttOO, but 
no one has been over the boandarks; neither has a 
survey been made. 
Tho coun'ry is well-aatered by numerous streams 
snd is composed of, for the most psrt, well-timbered 
land, mostly forost with stretches of grass to be met 
with bereand there. The elevation is from 2 000 to 
2 500 feet, s'ightly undulating with small hills here 
and there ; the whole is surrounded by larger hil'g 
which comprise the boundaries. The foil on the 
portion-! I visit d i< ( f a deep rich chocolate varfintr to 
black loam, but of course there is poor soil to be 
met with as well. The rnitifall is the came as on mv 
own property from 60 !o SO in. per annum distributed 
over 118 to 130 da-. <_ l,ui*te— horn November to 
April is our wet season, and hot. this averaging about 
80°; from May to October dry aud cool with monthly 
showers for a few days about the fall of each moju • 
it is 60 to 71, but it sometimej goes so low as 64 
during June and July. 
Cents .of a Sole— about Is. 6d. 
