i68 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept,  i,  1892. 
Would  be  perfect  as  labourers  if  we  could  induce 
them  to  live  up  here ; but  this  is  impossible.  Cker- 
mas  are  the  absolute  slaves  of  the  lv|  airs  and  Brah- 
mans of  Malabar.  They  are  a'lowed,  as  a great 
favour,  by  their  masters,  to  work  in  Wynaad  when 
not  required  on  the  rice  fields.  They  receive  no  pay 
except  their  food  and  one  cloth  a year,  and  they 
are  bound  to  leave  the  estates  at  the  least  beck  of 
their  tyrants.  They  are  not  allowed  to  bring  up 
their  women,  who  are  kept  below  as  hostages  for 
ther  return.  Of  course,  the  Oherma  is  only  too  thank, 
ful  for  his  lately  acquired  privilege  of  earning  money, 
to  murmur  against  his  master’s  will,  besides  which 
ocnturies  of  servitude  have  broken  fcrs  spirit  too  much 
for  resistance,  Caste  prejudice  is  probably  more  felt 
in  its  effeots  on  progression  in  Malabar  than  in  any 
other  part  of  India.  The  intense  conservatism  of  the 
ruling  classes  is  not  to  be  overcome  by  a mere  order 
from  Government,  and  nothing  but  the  gradual  influ- 
ence of  education  can  briag  about  anything  like  equa- 
lity amongst  the  castes.  Not  that  absolute  equa- 
lity can  be  possible  or  even  desirable  anywhere.  I 
was  very  much  amused  once  to  hear  an  energetic  de- 
spiser  of  caste  discourse.  “ Rubbish,”  said  he,  “ This 
caste  nonsense  should  be  put  down  with  a stroug 
hand.  Take  a Nair  and  a Oherma  and  rub  them  up 
together,  that’s  what  I should  do  !”  I smiled  to 
myself  aud  thoQghf,  “ I wonder  if  you  were  told  to 
take  the  Duke  of  ('Westminster  and  a Whitechapel 
coster  and  rub  them  up  together,  whether  it  would 
seem  to  you  the  best  thing  to  do.”  But  this  is  a 
matter  for  wiser  judgments  than  mine,  and  moreover, 
is  irrelevant  to  the  subject  which  I have  in  hand.  As 
With  the  Canarese,  so  with  the  Chermas,  demand  would 
increase  supply  : and  it  is  very  probable  that  many 
Ohermas  oould  be  persuaded  to  give  up  a feast,  if  a 
pressing  flush  was  on,  for  they  are  exceedingly  bidable 
folk  when  rightly  managed. 
To  keep  in  Malabar,  I will  next  mention  the  Mop- 
lahs.  These  are  good  workmen,  almost  too  powerful, 
as  a rule,  for  such  quiet  work  as  picking  ; but  for 
pitting,  weeding  and  so  on,  they  do  very  well.  But 
they  prefer  contraot  work,  and,  by  reason  of  their 
independence  and  temper,  are  not  so  easy  to  deal  with 
as  some  of  the  others.  But  I could  not  help  thinking 
during  my  late  travel,  that  working  material  might 
be  raised  in  the  poverty-stricken,  woe-begone  Mopish 
villages  round  about  the  neighbourhood  of  Mallapurum. 
These  are  supposed  to  be  the  rebellious,  trouble-giving 
districts,  and  one  is  struck  by  the  sullen,  hopeless  look  of 
the  men  and  the  worn,  utterly  miserable  appearance  of 
the  women  thereabouts.  Poor  wretches,  they  are  literally 
ground  down  by  the  iron  heel  of  oppression.  Their 
Nair  landlords  wring  the  very  food  from  their  mouths, 
and  it  is  hopeless  for  them  to  attempt  to  rise  above 
their  state  of  degradation  under  the  present  circum- 
stances. But  supposing  these  men  could  be  shown 
the  advantage  of  earning  their  living  as  the  Chermas 
have  done?  ft  is  a mere  suggestion,  of  course,  and 
probably  we  could  get  quite  enough  labour  without 
venturing  on  a perhaps  somewhat  dangerous  experi- 
ment. I am  only  bringing  forward  every  possibility. 
Coimbatore  Tamils.— Tamils  are  already  in  by 
thousands,  and  as  many  more  as  we  would  want  are 
ready  to  come.  They  are  rapidly  taking  the  place  of 
the  lost  Canarese.  And  a great  advantage  connected 
with  this  olass  of  labour  is  that  while  they  can  be  taught 
to  piok  well  and  cheaply,  they  will  come  for  com- 
paratively small  advance.  Advance,  in  the  case  of 
Canarese,  has  become  an  almost  insupportable  burden, 
and  a constant  incentive  to  broken  contracts:  The  pity 
of  the  Tamil  is  his  unutterable  dirtiness.  One  can’t 
help  thinking  that  tea  manipulated  by  the  unsavoury 
Tamil  would  probably,  like  Punch’s  oyster,  “ ’ave  a 
Teher  flavour  than  the  rest.”  But  after  all,  who 
are  we,  to  be  too  particular  ? Think  of  the  mysteries 
of  our  cook  rooms,  and  let  us  not  carp  at  custom.  This 
brings  me  to  our  locals.  . 
Currumbers  and  Moopers  are  much  of  a kind.  They 
will  work  by  fits,  but  they  are  far  too  lordly  and  in- 
dependent to  do  anything  regularly,  and  for  ordinary 
work  picking  at  least,  I should  doubt  their  efficiency. 
But  as  wood-men  they  are  invaluable,  and  we  always 
employ  them  for  all  opening  and  felling.  The  Moopers 
object  to  their  women  working,  in  fact  so  timid  are 
th-se  ladies,  that  if  a European  comes  upon  them 
unawares  th<y  raise  a terrffied  jell  and  scuttle  off  like 
so  many  rabbits  to  their  burrows.  But  many  of  the 
men  are  fine  fellows,  and  I don’t  see  why  on  emer- 
gency they  might  not  be  made  useful. 
The  Punniahs  are  another  slave  tribe.  At  present 
they  are  rapidly  converting  themselves  into  a dangerous 
class.  The  last  taxing  arrangements  have  obliged  num- 
berliss  Moplahs  and  Nair  proprietors  to  throw  up 
tlieir  cultivations.  In  conseqneuce,  the  Pnnniabs  have 
no  work,  and  no  food,  and  have  to  exist  upon  roots 
and  berries  like  tho  veriest  savages.  Naturally  this 
leads  to  robbery,  and  they  are  mere  tools  in  the  hands 
of  unscrupulous  coffee  receivers.  But  they  are  hards- 
workiog  and  teachable,  and  might,  I venture  to  say, 
be  made  exceedingly  useful  for  tea  work.  The  great 
secret  of  it  all  is  good  treatment  and  strict  justice. 
When  coolies  know  that  good  work  means  good 
pay,  and  vice  versa,  and  that  they  will  be 
decently  boused  and  cared  for  in  sickness,  they 
will  come  when  they  are  wanted,  and  I cannot 
think  that  the  labour  question  would  trouble  us  long 
if  it  came  to  be  known  that.  Wynaad  was  once  more 
to  be  extensively  opened  up.  At  any  rate,  no  one 
can  deny  the  fact  that  the  material  is  available  if  we 
only  find  out  the  best  method  of  securing  it. 
It  is  worth  remarking  also  that  the  Wynaad  olimatB 
is  now  very  different  from  what  it  was  in  the  old 
days.  The  real  old  jungle  fever  can  now  only  be 
found  on  the  Mysore  frontier  or  in  Nellumbur.  What 
we  get  at  present  is  a sort  of  low  fever  which  is 
common  to  all  parts  of  India.  The  heavy  tea  work, 
i.e.,  pruning  could  be  finished  by  March,  and  unless 
an  unusual  amount  of  rain  fell,  there  would  be  little 
to  do  during  the  “fever  months”  of  April,  May,  and 
early  June. 
Tamil  coolies  will  generally  come  to  WyDaad, 
especially  for  those  months,  if  a small  inducement, 
such  as  train  fare,  is  offered.  By  giving  the  Ceylon 
rates  of  6 annas  for  men  and  4 for  women  we  conld 
always  get  as  many  people  as  required.  But  I hope 
it  will  be  a long  time  before  prices  are  run  up  to 
that.  Probably  the  best  way  to  encourage  go 'd 
pickers  would  be  to  give  a small  fixed  wage  of  2 
annas  and  so  much  per  lb.  for  good  leaf  brought  in 
say  1 pie  per  lb.  Thus  a woman  who  could  bring  in 
24  lb.  would  get  four  annas.  But  she  would  have 
to  be  a quick  hand  to  earn  it. — Madras  Times. 
4. 
Ginger.growing  in  Jamaica. — The  average  yield 
of  dried  and  oured  ginger,  fit  for  the  market,  in 
Jamaica,  is  from  1,000  to  1,500  lb.  per  acre.  A 
good  crop  may  yield  even  2,000  lb.  As  long  as 
the  ginger,  when  dug  up,  is  kept  from  the  sun,  it 
need  not  be  peeled  for  two  or  three  days.  After 
peeling  for  the  day  the  roots  should  be  put  to 
soak  in  plenty  of  water  over  night ; in  the  morning 
washed,  cleaned,  and  weighed;  then  put  on  mats 
and  turned  over  carefully  at  midday  for  six  or 
eight  days  until  cured.  It  takes  3 lb.  of  green 
giDger  to  make  1 lb.  of  dry  root  .—Chemist  and, 
Druggist,  June  11th. 
Coffee  in  Java.— The  Surabaya  Courant  notes  the 
faot  that  the  growing  soarcity  of  land  fit  for  coffee 
cultivation  in  Java,  has  led  planters  there  to  fix  the 
gaze  upon  the  outlying  parts  of  Netherlands  India. 
Several  of  them  have  left  East  Java  to  try 
pioneering  in  Palembang  where  the  uplands  are 
reported  to  be  adapted  for  this  line  of  cultivation 
in  soil  and  olimate.  Another  recommendation  is 
the  cheapness  of  land  in  that  quarter.  The  same 
journal  has  no  doubt  that  coffee  has  a good 
future  before  it.  The  falling  off  in  the  Govern- 
ment coffee  yield  in  Java  and  the  increasing 
political  troubles  in  Brazil  all  point  to  diminution 
in  the  larg6  crops  of  the  berry  hitherto  turned 
out  in  these  two  countries.— Straits  Times,  Aug.  2. 
