230 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  i,  1192. 
that  owned  by  the  Emperor  of  Ceylon.  It  was  a 
span  long,  thick  as  a man's  arm,  without  a flaw, 
and  of  a brilliant  c>  lour.  Experts  now  believe 
this  must  have  been  an  amethyst.  Chinese  history 
reports  that  in  the  14th  century  an  official  was  sent 
to  purchase  an  enormous  carbuncle,  and  it  was  used 
as  a ball  for  the  Emperor’s  cap.  It  was  shown  at 
night,  which  got  it  the  name  of  the  Bed  Palace 
Illuminator.  Some  of  the  most  valuable  of  the 
stones  in  the  Island  are  in  the  Kandy  Buddhist 
Temple.  They  are  held  by  the  priests,  and,  perhaps, 
the  only  time  of  late  years  .hey  were  fully  on 
view  was  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales.  It  is  believed  by  experts  that  as  fine 
stones  can  be  dug  out  as  any  the  natives  have  yet 
obtained. 
“How  deep  have  the  native  miners  gone?'’ 
“ The  greater  part  is  mere  surface  work.  But  on 
some  parts  of  the  hills  they  have  gone  down  40 
and  50  feet.'1 
“ I take  it  that  all  an  English  syndicate  would 
har  e to  do  to  proceed  to  work  would  be  to  secure 
a license  ? ” 
“There  has  been  a change  of  law  inaugurated 
with  regard  to  gem  digging  which  has  been  a great 
deal  complained  of  as  unworkable,  but  it  is  almost 
certain  to  be  modified,  and  the  license  on  easy 
terms  again  introduced.  Attempts  have  often  been 
made  by  individuals  to  find  the  matrix  of  the  gems, 
the  last  being  by  Sir  Samuel  Baker  when  on  a 
hurried  visit,  but  with  no  special  results.  In  Colombo 
there  are  quantities  of  artificial  stones,  poor  gems, 
which  are  sold  by  the  native  jewellers  to  visitors 
and  passengers  on  steamers,  but  the  greater  part  of 
the  valuable  gems  are  taken  to  India,  though  they 
are  never  entered  in  the  Customs'  returns.  They 
are  smuggled  out  of  the  colony  by  many  ingenious 
devices.  A ready  market  is  found  for  them  at  the 
Courts  of  the  Indian  Rajahs.’’ 
“Then,  as  a matter  of  fact,  I he  returns  published 
do  not  give  a true  representation  of  the  quantity 
of  gems  in  the  island  ? ’" 
“ No,  the  returns  are  very  imperfect.  Amongst 
the  Sinhalese  jewellers  there  are  silversmiths  and 
goldsmiths’  castes.  In  the  north  of  the  Island — 
Jaffna — the  Tamils  do  gold  filigree  work,  which  is 
minute  and  highly  finished,  like  the  Maltese,  but  it 
is  generally  worked  with  tortoise  shell  and  pearls. 
The  Sinhalese  of  the  low  country  have  got  into  the 
Portuguese  way  of  working  their  jewellery.  The 
lapidaries  cut  their  precious  stones  after  a very 
primitive  fashion,  and  sometimes  rather  spoil  valu- 
able gems.’’ 
What  about  mica,  Mr.  Ferguson  ? ” 
“Of  late  years  an  industry  has  been  started  in 
exporting  mica  sheets.  Kaolin,  or  pottery  clay  is 
found  in  some  parts  of  the  island,  and  it  is  on 
record  that  600  years  ago  the  Chinese  got  pottery 
clay  from  Ceylon. 
Facts  and  Figuees  about  Ceylon  Plumbago. 
Before  leavins  the  subject  of  mining  in  Ceylon, 
we  find  some  interesting  statements  as  to  the  posi- 
tion occupied  by  plumbago  in  the  commerce  of  the 
island  in  a monograph  by  Mr.  A.  M.  Ferguson  read 
in  1885,  and  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Ceylon 
branch  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society.  It  is  there 
mentioned  that  Thunberg,  the  Scandinavian  natu- 
ralist, who  wrote  in  1777,  was  the  first  to  notice 
plumbago  as  a product  of  Ceylon.  In  modern 
times,  as  our  interview  with  Mr.  John  Ferguson  de- 
monstrates, the  plumbago  interest,  even  in  its  pre- 
sent position,  is  a considerable  one  for  the  island. 
It  has,  of  course,  its  drawbacks,  as  all  mining  and 
other  enterprises  have,  but  the  author  of  the  paper 
on  plumbago  which  we  are  now  dealing  with — pro- 
baibly  the  most  elaborate  and  complete  of  the  kind 
ever  published  on  plumbago,  and  brimful  of  inter- 
esting facts  and  figures  respecting  that  mineral 
generally — coni  ends  that,  “ with  ail  its  drawbacks, 
the  plumbago  enterprise  is  invaluable  to  the  country 
not  only  for  the  revenue  it  yields,  but  for  the  gene- 
rally remunerative  employment  it  has  given  to  many 
thousands  of  the  population  (from  20,000  to  do, 000 
men,  women,  and  children,  probably,  including  cart- 
men  and  carpenters)  especially  since  the  period 
when  the  collapse  of  the  once  great  ccffee  interest 
led  to  so  much  distress  in  the  country.” 
Analysis  of  Ceylon  vein  graphites  has  given  the 
following  results:  — 
Vabiety 
Specific 
Gravity. 
Volatile 
Matter 
Carrox 
Ash 
Col>  rrmar 
2-2671 
per  cent. 
0*158 
per  cmt. 
99-792 
per  cent. 
0*0"  u 
Foliated 
2-2604 
0*108 
99-0'9 
u-213 
Columnar 
22516 
0 900 
98-817 
0*283 
FoFated 
2 2481 
0\0i 
99  284 
0 115 
The  following  figures  represent  the  exports  of 
plumbago  during  certain  years: — 
Yeaii.  Quantity  Exported  V jli  k ("Nominal). 
Cwts.  Its. 
1841  2,582  12.054 
18‘0  33,1-21  18,330 
18130  75,(5130  239,535 
1870  85,218  345  022 
1880  205,738  2,057,385 
1891  400  208  4.002.(580 
These  figures  sufficiently  indicate  the  progressive 
character  of  the  Ceylon  plumbago  mining  industry . 
even  under  present  conditions.  What  it  might  be- 
come with  the  introduction  of  British  capital  and 
modern  systems  of  pumping  and  mining  is  suffici- 
ently evident  to  suggest  that  British  enterprise  might 
do  worse  than  direct  its  attention  to  it,  as  well 
as  to  the  gemtields  and  the  quartz  reefs  in  Ceylon. 
There  is  much  more  that  we  might  add  here  to 
what  we  have  already  said,  hut  the  exigencies  of 
space  compel  us  to  desist.  We  hope,  however  to 
return  to  the  subject  of  Mining  in  Ceylon  on  another 
occasion ; and  for  the  present  we  desire  to  acknow- 
ledge  our  indebtedness  for  an  instructive  interview 
and  for  much  valuable  information  to  Mr.  John 
Ferguson,  whose  zeal  and  enthusiasm  for  the  indus- 
trial welfare  of  Ceylon  may,  we  hope,  be  permitted 
to  continue  unabated  for  many  years  to  come. — Min- 
ing Journal,  June  25th. 
LIBERIAN  COFFEE. 
The  cultivation  of  this  variety  of  coffee  is  apparently 
engaging  the  serious  at’ention  of  planters,  not  only 
in  Southern  India,  but  throughout  the  East,  and  in 
the  space  of  a few  years  “Liberian”  is  likely  to  be- 
come one  of  the  best  ktown  qualities  of  coffae  in 
tbe  London  market.  Considerable  extensions  are  re- 
ported to  have  been  made  in  Java  and  in  the  Straits 
Settlements,  and  North  Borneo  planters  are  opening 
out  estates  with  this  product  In  that  part  of 
the  world,  there  has  lately  been  some  sharp  corn- 
spondence  between  the  advocates  of  Arabics  and  those 
of  Liberian,  and  a gentlemen  writing  from  North 
Borneo  in  favour  of  the  latter  sums  up  the  position  as 
follows: — “The  comparisiou  betweeu  the  uvo  plants 
I should  sum  up  somewhat  as  follows:  Liberian  is  a 
strong,  hardy,  handsome  plant,  growing  rapidly,  and 
doing  its  planter  credit  from  the  first  day  it  throws 
out  new  leaves.  It  blossoms  at  short  intervals 
all  the  year  round,  bears  heavily  and  with  certainty, 
langbs  at  droughts,  rain  and  leaf-disease,  does  most 
of  its  own  weeding,  and  is  a perfectly  satisfactory 
plant  in  every  way,  costing  infinitely  less  to  upkeep, 
and  bearing  much  more  and  sooner  than  C.  Arabian. 
C.  Arabica  is  a finnicky  pernicketty  little  plan*,  requir- 
ing constant  care  and  attention,  bears  sparlingly, 
is  choked  by  weeds  in  no  time  if  ’left  to  itself, 
and  leaves  the  owner  in  constant  fear  that  it  is  goiDg  to 
be  snuffed  ont  by  Hemi’eia  Vastatrix,  green  bug, 
cetonias,  or  something.”  We  must  confess  that  though 
the  writer  is  somewhat  unfairly  hard  cn  Arabica, 
there  is  very  much  truth  in  his  comparison,  when  it  is 
remembered  that  he  refers  more  especially  to  culti- 
vation at  a low  elevation.  We  make  this  further  ex- 
tract from  bis  letter  which  is  of  interest: — “With 
regard  to  Liberian  Coffee  taking  seven  or  eight  years 
to  come  to  maturity,  I roust  retaliate  upon  the  writer 
the  elegant  words  ‘rubbish’  and  ‘absurd’  used 
by  him  towards  Mr.  liidley,  while  as  to  its  requiring 
more  attention  to  weed  aud  keep  clean,  one  of  the 
main  points  about  Liberian  (in  North  Borneo  at  all 
events)  isthatgiven  anything  l.ke  a lairbt.rt,  i- grow* 
