Jan. I) 1895.I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
479 
been done to the "tea producers" and they will be 
prepared to unite, if necessary, with the tea trade. 
During the month of November, while matters have 
been actually in course of arrangement, 26 tons of 
tea sweepings were shipped to Hamburg, showing 
that even in the face of the discussions that were 
going on, tea was sent away. 
If it is found necessary, through the obstinacy of 
any of he Wharves, it is intended to have some of 
the ordinary tea sweepings, as taken out of the hole 
of a wharf, shown in the city and analysed by a 
public analyst. One of the caffeine-makers who 
received a large parcel of tea from one of tbe wharves 
here states that in the month of November he esti- 
mated that although the tea had been previously 
separated from large pieces of wood and different 
foreign bodies that could be picked out by hand or 
be sifted by a large sieve, he had 38 per cent of 
foreign matter in these tea sweepings. He does not 
complain for a moment, because he buys the tea 
sweepings as they come from the hole : he only gives 
this information with the view of showing that such 
an accumulation of tea and refuse ought never to be 
offered for food : to say nothing of the consequences 
that would accrue to families who might purchase 
the sif tings, as sent from Hamburg and so condemn 
such a splendid food-product as Assam Tea: for it 
must not be lost sight of that many people now 
know that when they buy Indian or Assam Tea, 
they get more relief from that when they are fogged 
and tired, owing to the extra quantity of Caffeine 
it contains, over that from China or Ceylon Tea. 
It may not be known generally that there are 
tens of thousands of women and young girls in the 
country who almost live on tea and bread, and some- 
times they get butter ; and this constantly living on 
such food entirely changes the ordinary course of 
nature in these individuals : so much so, that medi- 
cal men now ask this class of patient if they are in 
the habit of living on this food, for they then diagnose 
their complaints accordingly. (The bowels only act, 
as a rule, once a week, and still the people remain 
in perfect health.) It is admitted on all hands, 
especially by the tea producers, that the action taken 
by the Tea Dealers' Association in London i3 worthy 
of all praise ; and it is fortunate that they have such 
an excellent man for their president. 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA. 
The mail has brought The British Central 
Africa Gazette, dated Zomba, Sept. 26. It con- 
tains an account of North-East Mlanje, a dis- 
trict with a large labour supply, excellent crops 
and peacefully settled ; also of German Nyassaland 
by C. A. Edwards. Of local news we have the 
following : — 
At a meeting held in the Court Room, Blantyre, 
on Saturday, the 25th August, to discuss a tentative 
Constitution drawn up by the Council (pro tern) it 
was decided, That the town shall be known as 
Blantyre. That a Council of seven Europeans shall 
be elected, and that the election shall be by ballot. 
That the following form the Council, Messrs. J. 
Buchanan, D. C. Scott, I. Lamagna, T. H. Lloyd, 
J. Duncan, J. C. de Josselin de Yong, L. M. 
Fotheringham. 
The Cricket Season at Chinde was opened on 
Saturday, 25th July, with a match between H.M. 
Navy and the British Concession, which ended in a 
draw, on account of time. 
The first section of the Central African portion 
of the Trans-Continental Telegraph is now open : — 
From Chikwawa to Blantyre. The Construction 
party are at work again on tho Chikwawa-Teto 
section, the progress of which has been delayed for 
some six months. The line from Salisbury is making 
progress towards Tete, and it is hoped that the two 
parties will meet at the Zambesi before the end of 
the presont year, and so put Blantyre direct 
communication with Cape Town and London Mr. 
Gordon, recently arrived in this country, t take 
charge of tho Telegraph construction work north of 
the Zambezi. The first telegraph message sent 
within British Central Africa was despatched by a 
native boy (from the Likoma Mission), who has had 
three weeks tuition from one of the Sikh Non-Com- 
missioned officers. 
Postcards for use between British Central African 
and the United Kingdom, have been recently issued : 
they are sold at the rate of ten for two shillings. 
Angoni from Mombera's and Ntwaro's country, west 
of Bandawe, have begun to find their way down to tho 
Shire Highlands in search of work : the supply of 
labour thus freshly tapped is a very large one. 
The animals and birds taken to England by Mr. 
Whyte in April last, all arrived in London in good 
condition. They are now safely lodged at tho Zoolo* 
gical Gardens. The black monkey sent home, is found 
to be a new species, also one of the Love-birds from 
the Upper Shire. 
The funds have been subscribed, at home, for a 
preliminary survey of the route to be taken by the 
proposed railway to connect the Lower with the 
Upper ShireT 
Timber (Mlanje cypress) is being sawn in consi- 
derable quantities now, at Fort Lister, of the usual 
sizes used for building purposes. It finds a ready 
sale in Blantyre and elsewhere. 
Dr. Watson reports that the cattle plague has 
almost cleared off the whole of the enormous herds 
of buffalo which used to be found roaming over the 
Itawa plains and swamps, and on the banks of the 
Luapula River. The plague appears to have now 
died out. 
A Public Meeting was held in the Court-house, 
Blantyre, on September 3rd, to consider the questions 
of the procuring of a Medical Officer for the Blantyra 
District, and the establishment of a hospital. 
The Shire Highlands Shooting Club. — Annual 
Cup Competition. The third Annual Cup Competition 
of the above Club took place on Saturday 1st Septem- 
ber, at the Nyambadwe Range. In addition to the 
Cup Competition, there were also a Sharp-Shooting 
Competition and a contest between a Military Team 
consisting of two Officers and four Sikhs, and a World 
Team consisting of six members of the Club. 
« 
RUBBER AND GUMS : 
MEETING OP THE SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY 
HELD AT BURLINGTON HOUSE. 
Dec. 3rd. 
T. Christy, p. l. s., exhibited specimens of different 
sorts of 
RUBBER, 
specially with the view of showing that rubber can 
be extracted by water. In the first instance the 
Landolphia was shown with the root and boughs as 
cut from the living tree, next the stems after they 
had been boiled ; following on, the next stage was 
debris of the "bark and the rubber still hanging on 
to one end of a twig which otherwise was perfectly 
clean and free from any succus ; then there was the 
mass as it fell into the pan with the bark mixed 
with the gum. It was then shown in different stages 
of treatment up to the Landolphia rubber as sent 
into commerce. Another Landolphia was shown from 
the Congo ; this had been wound off direct from the 
tree into a ball, and dried in the course of winding. 
Another interesting exhibit was the Alraadina, which 
took its name from the party who discovered it and 
worked it out in West Africa ; it also goes by the 
name of potato gum. This gum has tho most in- 
teresting properties, and it has been fully explained 
in many of the scientific papers, especially by Mr. 
Lascelles Scott. From experiments conducted over 
a series of 4 years we found that by placing in a 
box open to the sun and rain some of the very best 
Indiarubber and Gutta-percha, -pure and as found in 
commerce by tho best makers, then by placing 
alongside of it the Almadina and also "Almadina 
mixed with Indiarubber and Gutta-percha, it WM 
found that at tho end of the experiment the boat 
rubber had almost disappeared and was quite worth- 
