3^4 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. i, 1&94. 
I had also begun to build 
A SMALL BUNGALOW 
with solid stone walls. Many of the old planters had 
lived in very small and wretchedly built houses ; the 
Peria Durai of the next estate, told me he had 
lived in a shed for years no better than a stable. 
Fretz and myself 
SAW FEW BTUANGE FACES 
in the K'oya estate in those days ; there was no road 
through the property. It was encircled by might; 
hills, a curiously shut-in estate it was, sheltered 
entirely from strong blasts of wind, had a superior 
soil, and by the lay of the land, on a \n> gentle 
slope towards the oya, the place was uatnrallj drained, 
and this was most important, for ver\ few estates 
had any artificial drains, in those early daj - 01 
coffee planting. I well remember that one day the 
Superintendent of the Elephant Plain- estate came 
over, with 
MB. I , 
the first of that name. He was then Superintendent 
of one of the Rajawella estates; at one time he had 
been a lost sheep, but good " R. B. T." captured 
him, took him to his home, now he looked happy 
and' well and was respected by all who knew turn. 
He was making arrangements to return to the 
old country. Soon after lie took passage in Colombo 
by ship and was never more heard of ; the ves- 
sel he sailed in having foundered off the Mauritius 
coast in a mighty typhoon-storm and leaving not a 
wreck behind. Now and again the 
8UrEItINTF.NDF.KT OF THE BAMUEltF.LLA ESTATE 
gave me a friendly call, and right glad I was to 
see him and gain a few words of advice from 
him but I could fully depend on it. and he loved 
to do a man a good turn. He is still a planter, 
and an able one too, and I think has resided in 
rainy districts for almost half-a-centurv : 
On the toD fields of Bamberella lived 
A GENUINE SON OF OULD OIBELANn, 
formerly a soldier in one of her Majesty's Pcpt 
Regiments now Binfia Durai, of upper B'Ella. 
The shanty he lived in was a very small one. you 
had to search for it, with a thatched roof ; his 
blooming and happy looking spouse was of the prim- 
rose variety reared on the top of a hill near 
Galle She was mistresnly and kept the check-roll 
for her husband who was called O'Hara and gave 
out rice to the coolies, also she was his magnet, the 
very light of his eyes and O'Hara followed feminine 
influences, but, alas ! all men are frail at heart, and 
all of a sudden O. H. took it into his head that 
he must have a trip to Kandy and back, and having 
obtained leave of his irate dame walked in— only 
a walk of some 25 miles, which was an easy feat 
to the Irishman, and having met with comrades 
in Kandy— old soldiers like himself, he became fired 
with a martial spirit, and imagined, he had re- 
enlisted in Her Majesty's Horse Guards, that he 
must needs have a fiery charger to ride home on,— 
it was an evil hour for the Xinna Du.ax when he 
became a bold Hussar, nevertheless he rode 
all unarmed and he rode all alone and all 
the way out safely till he reached the K oya estate. 
There he had a friendly chat with the German Fretz 
I believe — I was not there at the time— took a stirrup 
glass and left for the upper fields of Bamberella 
Estate. As rain had been falling fast the stream 
was up but what cared our bold Hussar: He would 
ford the swift stream, where ford there was none, 
in nlunged the gallant steed, but alas, rider and 
stead "were swept down the current of roaring waters 
at a fearlul rate. 
o'haba 
onlv escaped by clinging to a rock, in middle waters, 
but the new purchase, his gallant grey was never 
more seen alive again though I believe the saddle 
and bridle were recovered Poor O Hara! the 
last time I heard of him he had joined the Police 
Force in Colombo, and died some years ago, a 
member of the Service, 
PROGRESS IN BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA. 
We »re in receipt of flits of the British Central 
African Oaielte up to August 2 it, It is now, 
apparr ntly, publitbe I ooee a month. The number 
(or July bos a long arcjunl of tbe Nyass.- 
Tanganyika ro d, lonnt-cting ihe two lake', and 
further back than iLe existing pl» tirg aettlf ineut. 
We quot- a* follows : — 
Coffee has been ■ I peri men ted with on the plateau. 
A an all patch grown at the t hereuje miuion station 
(n ar Mwinewanda^ was beating aell ; but wi « n thai 
ta iou was abai d ned. the trees were choked with 
jangle growth a d ha e doubtless now all diaaupeared. 
C flee grown in these di»lric« would probably find a 
market, for moderate qu ntiti s, at Tanganyika, ae 
all the Arabs purchase it, and the bur.p an missions 
and stations m ll e Tanganyika Regions would 
c nsumea rertaiu quantity. ¥o< export, coffee crown 
a< any distance from th«- shores of Nyaae would be 
hamper d by big lr»nspo t rates. lu the high 
country behind Karong*, 'here is magnificent c flee 
Uud : the great, r part of which is wit in German 
Territory The journey from Nya a to Tanganyika i„ 
now a trifle : a pleasaut trip, a most without any of 
the customary t oubles generally connected with travel 
in Adica. It has i eun made in te > days. The 
frican Lakes Trading o. are tbe local " Cook. " a . <l 
if a traveller wisbe , he can baud ov r his persou 
an \ ha loads, aud be " doue for"' at sj mucli 
a ton. 
I here is a good d al of disius ion ab ut the best 
route for tbe propo <d railway ; but it is u eltsi 
until a ForV' y is madf.only w« read : — 
A Syndi ate in Knglmid have txpr a*e4 their 
willingness to construct a railway fro n « liirocno 
through the Suiie tii hlands, ou certain condi- 
tion*. 
t is interesting tj read about th - new township of 
Blantyr ■ aid also Buoti signs if progtets as tie 
following : — 
A meeting of the Shire Highlands Literary As- 
sociation was held in the Court H use. Blautyre, on 
Wednesday evening, the 4th inst , when a paper 
was r a i by Mr. Mc. Master on " Burma and its people, 
tiefore an ■ after the annexation in 1886" At tbe 
conclusion of the lecture a number of Dew members 
were i lected, and others proposed. The next meeting 
will take place ou Wednesday, th 2Uh inst., when there 
will ' e a musical evening un ler tbe direction of Mr. 
Keiller. 
Here sre lively par-tgraphe : — 
On the 4 th inst. a leopard got into tbe goat -house 
at tbe Resi : ency Zoniba, and killed 15 goita. It 
also sttacki d a donkey wHch was in the tame 
house, bat only slightly injured it. The leopard 
was found to be in the goat-lioose in the ear y 
m rniug, and was shot. 
Two beauti ul tuer cats (njuzi) recently arrived 
at Zomba from Tanganyika, sent to H. M. ( om- 
missioner by Mr. Purves : tliey are fine healthy 
young specimens, an 1 ha e not suffered from their 
long journey. 
Mr. L. Monteith Fother n^hara as Manager of "The 
African Lakes Corporation, LV at Mac a'a is 
pre; sred to do banking or agency business, advance 
c n coffee and othn r prtduce. He; e ifi an awk *tud 
txpeiieDcein Autust: — 
A wo den barge containing 98 bags of coff e ai d 
20 bags nf strophanthus was lately sunk, ou its way 
do*n the Shire river from Ch kwawa to Chiromo. 
This lot of coffee was from Buchanan Brot! ers' 
plautat on at Mich in and was a splendid sample which 
had been cured with great rare. 
'lh' M i e ll^biaids Shooting Clob is all alive 
and Mr. T. H Llovd is one of tbe Committer. In a 
iepnrt on S.-E. Mlanji, we read :— 
Game is plentiful such as pigs, bushbuck, kudu, 
mbalap , sable antelope, hnrtsbeeste, &c. 
F n»lly, Mr. Jobu Buchanan, c m g., one of the first 
p ooeete, has been making i xp< riments with arti- 
fi ial manure— £ulpha;e of ammonia, potash, &c— » 
