Nov. t , 1894.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
333 
somewhat from those p'ants previously desoribed. 
The long green sterna ore subject to a bruising, wh eh 
crushes and liberat s thestrunc s. Tbe mucilage which 
binds these together is washed away. There are mai^y 
methods in use for accomplishing thi«, and as before 
stated, inducements «e held out for their improve- 
ment', which no ooub'', will I e done. 
A* we have stattd above, New Z nl-nd flax grows 
in out hill-cMiatry, especia ly on (ho Uva side, 
as freely ad do aloes. With reference to the latter 
— iu which Mauritius does a oomiderable trade 
— it may bis well to quoie the following po r - 
tion of the papers puHisbed the other day in 
the Government Gazette merely premising that 
Fourcroya gigantea is one of the ordinary aloes for 
merly known as the Agave faitida : — 
Answers to queries respecting machines in use at 
Mauritius for extracting fibres from leaves of Fourcroya 
gigantea. 
(1) The maohine in general use in this Colony is a 
drum of 2 ft. in diameter by 1 ft. in width, upon which 
are bolted blades in 2-inoli L stsel, and whioh revolves 
at a great speed, the blades passing close to a guide 
In cast iron (" servante "). The machine is called a 
("gratte") scraper. It is manufactured in the Colony 
by al! engineers' shops, but chiefly by the "Forgers 
et Fonderies de Maurice." 
(2) The weight of the drum is about 4 cwfc., tbe 
cost, inoludinu the driving pulley and bolts (exclusive 
of framework, mascnry, and setting), is about R250 
per " gratte." 
(3) This gratte has been in general use in Mauritius 
for the last six years. 
(4) The roaohioe is worked by steam or by water 
power. 
(5) The registered horse-power to drive one gratte 
is 8 h.p. 
(6) One gratte is served by two men who stand on 
each Bide of the gratte, and >vbo work alternately. 
One of them must be left. handed. One carrier will 
bring iu sufficient leaves from the yard to the gra'te, 
and ano her man will suffice to remove the wet fibre 
produced by two grattes and to carry this fibre to 
the weighing maobines and thenco to the clearing pits. 
(7) Tbe outturn of wet fibre for each maohine per 
hour is on an average, 42J k log., that is taking eight 
hours' work per pay, whioh is as muoh as the men 
can do, the work bring veiy fatiguing. 
(8) The outturn per day of eight houi'3 is per 
machine (grattp) 340 kil. wet supplying on an average 
97 kil. of dry fibre (or 281 per cent of the wet fibre). 
(9) The average cost iu labour, fuel, &c, in clear- 
ing a ton of dry fibre, packing and transporting to the 
place of shipment is R150. 
If to tbe above we add other charges, viz , collect- 
ing leave*, oarting, mill management, interest on 
capital, &c , SDy about R75. 
The total average cost of one ton of fibre ready for 
shipment is R2S?5. A. Vandermeersch, 
Acting Surveyor-General, Manritius 
Feb. I7tb, 1890. 
THE KOLA NUT. 
[We oommend the following extract from " Naval 
and Military Notes, " in the Journal of the United 
Service Institution for August lotb, to the attention 
of our planting readers. — Ed. T.A.~[ 
Tho " Revue du Service de l'lutendance " for June, 
1894, oontain an interesting note, by Dr. Gustsve le 
Bon, on the properties of the kola nut, well worth 
the study of soldisrs and travellers. The nut grows 
a'oDg a belt of Central Africa extending from the 
west coast up to tho head waters ot the Nile, and 
Its extraordinary qualities in conferring endurance 
and practical immunity from thirst have been long 
known to the natives of those parts, but have only 
reoently become known to Europeans. 
Interesting details as to tbe degrees of resistance 
do hardship and power of prolonged lab >ur developed 
by its use will bo found jn the report of tho British 
Consul at Bahia for 1880, from which pr, lo Bon 
quotes the following instanoe : " A sack of sugar 
weighing 200 lb. rejected as too heavy by the young 
Brsz lhn porters, wa3 picked up with ease by an aged 
African accustomed to the use of the nut, aud carried 
by him for 12 miles iu tbe day." Further very re- 
ma kable information is aleo to be obtained in the 
morograph of Professor Hecke', of the School of Medi- 
oinn at Marseilles, on the African kolas, u work of 
400'? p*gis, published in Poris, 1893. Experiments 
made iu Europe hitherto have given divergent, and 
frequently unsatisfactory results, owing mainly to the 
fact that tbe only nuts available comm'ircidUy for the 
purpt se reach us in a dried condition, and the natives, 
tracing on the igaorance of tbe buyers, adulterate 
their consignments with so-called " false" kola nuts, 
which possets no special properties whatever. Another 
cause of difficulty arises from the ignoranoe of Euro- 
pean chemical experts as to the real nature of 
the chemical basis of tho nut. Broadly speaking 
caffeine and theobromine are its essential charaoter 
istics, and the restorative qualities of caffeine being 
well known, it has been assumed that this is the active 
principle of the stuff. Dr. le Bon shows that this is 
not the case. According to h's experiments, neither 
caffeine nor theobromine alone gives the required 
results, a mixture of the two, in the p opurtion 
by we : ght of five of the former to one of the 
ratter, are required for the purpose, and these give 
results at least equM to those of the fresh nut. 
M. Heckel started a Company to maoufauture kola 
biscuits of su P ar and flour, but the Cumpany haa 
since gone into liquidation, and Dr. le Bon states that 
he is not surprised, as these biscuits hid " un gout 
dotcstab'e." Ic app ars that these are the bn^cuits 
usi-d by Messrs. Conway and MacCormio in the Koara- 
koram, and also recommended in the " Travellers' 
Guide," published under the auspices of the Geogra- 
phical Society. 
Dr. le Bon's advice is to import fresh nuts, pro- 
perly selected, direct from the West Coast, and sug- 
gests that no difficulty exists to this proceeding; he 
lias done so himself, and obtained his nuts at a coat 
of 3 francs per kilo,, ui-ing, as sole, precau- 
tion, a packiig of moist leaves. Our own 
experiments have been made with the or- 
dinary dried nut of corameroe, or with tbe 
various alooholic extracts of the nut to be obtained 
from any chemist. Like Dr, le Bon, we have found 
considerable irregularity in the results, but in the 
great majority of cases the nut has thoroughly satis- 
fled our anticipations, haviug enabled us to accom- 
plish marches over mountainous ground, and without 
food or water, which were absolutely beyond oar 
unaided physical capaoity. As it was suggested 
by friends in the A. M.S. that these results were 
merely due to the aid of imagination, prolonged 
experiments were carried oat on horses and 
ponies, and these animals responded to the 
stimulus more markedly than human beings, Aa 
matters now stand, we should prefer the fresh nut if 
available, but in its absence would muoh rather rely 
On the ordinary nuts and preparations to be obtained 
at the Army and Navy Stores, than on any other 
concentrated food preparations with whioh we are 
acquainted, and we have tried most of them. Arrange- 
ments are now be made tor a consignment of these 
nuts, fresh, and selected by experts on the spot, and 
we shall be glad to ufford every aid in our power to 
officers interested in the matter. 
NYASALAND (B. C. AFRICA). 
The London Times of Sept. loth has a long 
aooount of the country now bsing visited by Mr. J. 
H. Carson and also later probably by Mr. E. 
Woodhouae, from which we quote as follows : — ■ 
Tho whole of British Central Africa, with the ex- 
cept'on of ihe land immediaiely adjoining Lake Nyasa, 
the Shire Kiver, and Lake Shirwa, consists of higta- 
land j , or mountainous masses, intersected by rivers 
and w»terconrsts, aud stnddc 1 with villages. The 
highlands are practically undulating plateau*, broken 
by raounJa, hills, and lofty peaks, Most of (his hilly 
