Nov. t, 1894.] -THE TROPICA.! 
CEYLON IN 1894. 
[The following summary of the Colony's pro- 
grass up to the present year was intended, 
primarily, as a supplementary paper to be in- 
eluded in the form of an enclosure in copies 
of our volume " CEYLON IN 1893" so as to 
bring its information up to date in certain de- 
partments, It was sent by a London friend to 
Colonies and India and has appeared in large type, 
covering more than two pages of the issue of August 
25th, and also in the European Mail. — Ed. T.A.~\ 
Colombo, 1894. 
The Customs",' Trade and Shipping Returns of 
the Ceylon Government for 1893 have only just 
been published. They show a steady increase in 
the trade of the Colony, which, deducting, specie, 
lias during the past twelve years risen in value 
as follows : — 
Rupees. 
1882 ... ... 78,101,205 
1893 ... ... 139,237,891 
while the gross Customs revenue has risen — 
Rupees. 
1882 ... ... 2,S67,139 
1893 * ... ... 4,498,912 
I 'nfortunately, this branch of our general revenue 
is disfigured by import duties, not only on the 
staple rood of the people, rice, but by taxes on 
raw material such as iron and other metals, to 
the discouragement of local industry. The main 
cause of the increase in our trade and of the 
revival of local prosperity is found in the wonder- 
ful development of a tea-planting industry in 
succession to 1 , and supersession of, that in coffee. 
This also explains, to a great extent, the increase 
in tonnage frequenting our ports, and this has 
now risen to — 
Number of vessels. Total tons. 
1882 ... 6,671 ... 3,212,434 
1893 ... 7,306 ... 6,152,393 
The discrepancy in the "number" of vessels 
is explained by the supersession of sailing ships 
anil the increasing size of the mail steamers, 
for which Colombo is the great calling port in 
the East. 
There can be no doubt that the past year has 
been a fairly prosperous one in Ceylon. In res- 
peel of the two great branches of agriculture re- 
presented in the island — tea cultivation, on the 
pari Mainly of European planters aided by im- 
migranl Tamil coolies, and the coconut palm groves, 
chiefly to < leylonese owners, our export returns tes- 
tify to satisfactory results. The tea-planting indus- 
try has advanced in the past ten years, so that less 
i!i .11 million lb. exported in 1884 stands in con- 
trast to no less than 84,406,064lb. in 1893. This 
is an increase of 13 million lb. in 1892 ; but no 
Biich addition is expected in 1894. Indeed, so far, as 
the tea crop lias been turning out very little more 
than in the corresponding period of 1803. This is 
due to unfavourable weather, especially a spoil of 
rlroughl in the early part of the year, and for the 
luh season ending 30th instant the increase is nol 
likely to exceed 2,000,000 lb. For the whole year 
is!it the total export will probably be between 
88 and tin million lb., of which 77 to 78 millions 
should go t>> the United Kingdom. Looking 
forward, there is no reason to doubt that Ceylon 
is bound to rise to an export of tea in one 
year equalling loo million lb. The only obstacle 
is tin 1 dread of wer-jtr'o&uctitm — of prices falling 
-<> a- to leave no margin of profit — for Ceylon 
planters have had experience of this in respect of 
cinchona bark and sonic other products. The 
4Q 
AGRICULTURIST. 3' 3 
remedy is found in opening up a trade with 
new countries for the consumption of British- 
grown teas, to the supersession of the inferior 
and sometimes "faced" and impure China and 
Japan teas. This has been done to a consider- 
able extent in Australia and on the continent 
of Europe, notably in Russia, and now, follow- 
ing on the efforts put forth at the Chicago Ex^ 
hibition, special attention is being given to the 
United States and Canada by Indian and Ceyloil 
tea planters. 
It is notorious that about the best cup 
of coffee and worst of tea is to be drunk 
in the United States. Nearly all the Japsn 
tea goes to the States, and scarcely a pound of 
it can be considered free from artificial "facing " 
and " colouring." 
If the 90 million lb. of China and Japan teas 
now used in a year in North America could be 
replaced by a corresponding quantity of the 
superior and quite pure teas of India and Ceylon, 
there would be room for a considerable expan- 
sion of the planting enterprise in these countries. 
Objection is sometimes taken to British-grown 
trees as being harsher and stronger in tannin 
than those of China. The Ceylon teas, as a rule, 
stand between those of Assam and China ; but 
it is well known that the percentage of tannin 
all depends on the infusion, and that if our teas 
are only allowed to stand four or five minutes 
before being poured off there is no chance of the 
infusion being otherwise than pleasant, refreshing, 
and beneficial. 
I have thus put tea culivation in the fore- 
front of my paper, because, apart from its great 
importance in Northern India, the present pros- 
perity of Ceylon is undoubtely wrapped up with 
it. One interesting feature of the industry in 
the great extent to which the Singhalese — men, 
women and children — are helping the planter in 
plucking the leaf. This is light work, which 
suits them. In "coffee "days the planters had 
to depend entirely on immigrant coolies ; but 
many thousands of Singhalese work on the tea 
plantations, and earn regular wages. Not 
only so, but a good many of the well-to-do 
Ceylonese have opened tea gardens of their own 
and the mass of the people in the towns and 
along the roadsides have began to drink tea 
in place of coffee. The drinking of tea among 
the people of Northern India has been encouraged 
by the Government in a variety of ways, and there 
can be no doubt that if the millions of India 
and Ceylon were to become tea drinkers, tem- 
perance and health would be greatly promoted, 
and comparative freedom from cholera, dysentery, 
and fever secured. " Nothing more dangerous 
tu drink in India than brandy save water," runs 
the old saying, and it is a very true one. 
If we turn to the palm-growing industry of 
Ceylon, we find a steady extension of cultivation, 
more especially in respect of the coconut. There 
are other useful palms freely grown in certain parts 
of the island, such as the palmyra, the kitul or sugar 
(Oaryota wrens), and the areca; but none is so useful 
or so ubiquitous all round the coast line, and tor 
many miles inland on the western side. Tho 
estimate in Ferguson's " Handbook and Directory" 
is that there must be 50 million coconut palms 
covering about (550,000 acres, in Ceylon, and all 
but about 50,000 acres belong to' the natives 
themselves, who consume the greater part of the 
produce as food, for building, and domestic, 
purposes. Still the export trade from this palm 
is of much importance, coining next t>> that of 
tea in value, Coconut oil is the chief product-* 
