)AN.  2,  1893,] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
48s 
just  wired  from  Calcutta,  bringing  it  up  to  a par 
with  that  in  1891-92,  ebould  be  coutirmerl,  aud 
then  the  whole  movement  will  collapse.  As  to  prices 
agaia  advancing,  there  is  little  likelihood  of  that 
after  the  smart  rebound  that  has  already  taken 
place ; and  the  most  reasonable  deduction  to  make, 
in  view  of  all  the  circumstances  connected  with  the 
article,  is  that  it  will  pursue  a tolerable  even  course, 
being  neither  unduly  buoyed  up  nor  severely  de- 
pressed, but  preserving  a steady  equilibrium  between 
one  extreme  and  the  other,  so  that  few  or  no  risks 
will  be  involved  in  keeping  a fairly  workable  stock 
in  reserve. 
Tea  and  Advertising.— Tea  bids  fair  to  eclipse  scap 
n the  advertisement  market.  The  rivalry  amongst 
the  large  retailers  must  prove  profitable  to  the  news- 
papers. Large  advertisements  setting  forth  the  meri is 
of  tea  sold  by  certain  firms  are  conspicuous  just  now. 
The  profits  on  the  e advertised  teas  must  be  con- 
aideiable,  or  the  expense  could  not  be  borne.  The 
consumer  has  muoh  to  learn  about  lea.  There  appears 
to  be  no  standard  of  excellence  other  than  that 
established  by  the  various  retailers,  many  of  whom 
persuade  the  publio  into  the  opinion  most  in  harmony 
with  their  own  ideas  of  profit. 
Lebong  Tea.— A half-yearly  interim  dividend  of  6s 
per  share  is  announced  by  the  directors. 
The  Adulteration  of  Coffee.— A deputation  from 
the  Feueratiou  of  Grocers'  Association  waited  on 
Sir  W.  Foster,  Secretary  to  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board  at  the  Treasury  Buildings,  yester- 
day, for  the  purpose  of  urging  the  desirability 
of  amending  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act.  Sir  W. 
Fosier,  in  replying,  promised  that  the  repre- 
sentations of  the  deputation  should  be  placed 
before  the  Government  and  reoeive  cardful  considera- 
tion, though  many  of  the  poins  wera  dealt  wuh  in 
the  Bill  of  Dr.  Cameron,  who  had  been  very  success- 
ful in  obtaining  private  legislation.  As  to  the  sale  of 
ooffee  and  chicory,  he  thought,  however,  that  the  provi- 
sion of  Dr.  Cameron's  Bill  would  be  rather  contusing 
to  tbe  publio,  and  be  suggested  that,  instead  of  one 
mixture,  being  labelled  ‘‘  coffee  and  chicory”  and 
another  “ chicory  and  coffee”  to  denote  the  degree  of 
admixture,  the  label  should  state  tbe  proportions, 
whether  half-and-half  or  three-parts  chicory  aud  one 
part  ooffee,  and  so  on.  That  would  be  intelligible  to 
every  oue,  and  would  be  a thing  that  be  was  sure  every 
honest  trader  would  be  desirous  of  complying  with. 
— H.  and  C.  Mail , Nov.  25. 
+ — 
TRAVELS  IN  PERU  AND  THE  UPPER 
VALLEYS  OF  THE  AMAZON. 
By  Arthur  Sinclair, 
Part  III. 
Peruvians  are  not  famous  as  travellers ; as  a rule 
they  know  very  little  of  their  country.  They  have 
their  geographical  society,  forsooth,  and  possess 
maps  more  or  less  inaccurate,  compiled  by  indus- 
trious foreigners,  but  the  richest  portion  of  the  in- 
terior is  practically  a terra  incognita  to  them.  “ Have 
you  ever  been  to  the  interior?”  I asked  a leading 
authority  in  Lima.  “No,  my  dear  sir,”  was  the 
naive  reply;  “I  never  but  once  rode  twenty  miles, 
and  that  only  because  the  Chilians  were  at  my  back.” 
But  the  worst  weakness  of  the  Hispano-Peruvian 
race  is  their  utter  inability  to  tell  truthfully  the 
little  they  do  know.  David  said  in  his  haste  that 
all  men  were  liars,  but  had  he  lived  at  present  in 
Peru,  he  might — -as  the  Scotch  minister  put  it — say 
the  same  very  deliberately.  The  common  people  are 
born  and  bred  to  it,  but  their  lies  are  clumsy, 
palpable  and  comparatively  harmless ; with  the  priests 
and  privileged  classes,  however,  it  becomes  a studied 
art.  “ We  must  dissimulate,”  said  the  chief  priest 
of  the  convent,  and  I will  give  him  the  credit  for 
consistency  in  this,  for  during  the  three  weeks  I 
had  the  opportunity  of  studying  this  great  economist 
of  truth,  i never  once  knew  him  utter  a word  that 
could  be  relied  upon,  aud  yet  we  must  own  to  the 
weakness  of  being  over  and  over  again  misled  by 
arch-deceivers ; forgetful  of  all  warnings,  we  went 
on  trusting  that  by  some  accident  they  might  prove 
truthful  to  us.  Such  were  the  guides  with  which  we 
entered  the  great  Trans-Andean  forest  after  crossing 
the  Pucartambo  river.  We  were  a goodly  company 
to  start  with,  consisting  of  seven  Europeans,  as 
many  cholas  and  a score  of  mules.  The  shade  of 
the  gigantic  trees  seemed  grateful  at  first ; it  was 
like  passing  from  the  hot  blazing  noonday  to  the 
cool  dim  gloaming.  But  the  road  was  a villainous 
rut,  at  a gradient  of  about  one  in  three,  a width 
about  eighteen  inches,  and  knee  deep  in  something  like 
liquid  glue.  Before  we  had  gone  five  miles,  one- 
half  the  cavalcade  had  come  to  grief,  and  it  was 
some  weeks  ere  we  saw  our  pack  mules  again, 
indeed,  I believe  some  of  them  lie  there  still.  We 
soon  found  out  that  the  padres  knew  as  little  about 
the  path  as  we  did  ourselves,  and  the  upshot  was 
we  were  benighted.  Shortly  after  six  o’clock  we 
were  overtaken  in  inky  darkness,  yet  we  plodded 
on,  bespattered  with  mud,  tried,  bitten  and  blistered 
by  various  little  insects.  Whole  boxes  of  matches 
were  burned  in  enabling  us  to  scramble  over  logs 
or  avoid  tbe  deepest  swamps.  At  last,  there  was  a 
slight  opening  in  the  forest,  and  the  ruins  of  an 
old  thatched  shed  was  discovered,  with  one  end  of 
a broken  beam  still  resting  upon  an  upright  post, 
sufficient  to  shelter  us  from  the  Heavy  dews,  it  turned 
out  to  be  the  tomb  of  some  old  inca  chief,  whose 
bones  have  lain  there  for  over  350  years,  and  there, 
on  the  damp  earth  we  lay  down  beside  them,  just 
as  we  were,  our  dinner  consisting  of  a few  sardines, 
which  we  ate,  I shall  not  say  greedily,  for  I left 
tired  and  sulky,  keeping  a suspicious  eye  upon  the 
Jesuit  priests.  We  had  resolved  before  leaving  home 
that  we  would  never  move  on  Sunday,  but  when 
next  day  dawned  we  saw  the  absurdity  of  sitting  in 
that  old  damp  sepulchre  longer  than  we  could  help. 
We  were  told,  by  the  way,  that  the  bones  of 
Athawalpa,  so  treacherously  murdered  by  Pizarro, 
but  in  Peru,  of  course,  every  such  tale  must  be  taken 
cu,m  grano  salts.  A start  was  again  made,  without 
much  regard  to  toilet,  and  on  we  rode  for  a few 
hours  till  the  path  the  government  of  Peru  had 
prepared  for  us  came  abruptly  to  an  end,  and  we 
were  not  sorry.  This  path,  which  we  had  the 
pleasure  of  wading  along  for  some  twenty  miles  at 
a gradient  of  one  in  three  up  and  down,  is  looked 
upon  as  a great  piece  of  engineering  for  a Peruvian, 
and  so  delighted  were  the  authorities  in  Lima  with 
the  achievement,  that  they  actually  bestowed  upon 
the  engineer-in-chief  the  degree  and  title  of  Doctor. 
I have  in  other  countries  travelled  in  tracks  traced 
and  made  by  elephants,  and  had  reason  to  admire 
their  gradients,  and  marvel  at  the  topographical 
knowledge  displayed,  but  anything  so  perfectly  idiotic 
as  this  atrocious  path  I had  never  before  been 
doomed  to  follow  so  far.  It  was  a relief  to  leave 
it,  and  cut  our  own  way  through  the  jungle  or 
follow  occasionally  the  paths  of  the  Chunchos  who 
come  hither  for  salt.  The  Gerro  de  Sal,  or  mountain 
of  salt,  lies  a few  miles  to  the  west,  providentially 
placed  here  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  natives  who 
come  from  many  hundreds  of  miles  around.  The 
supply  is  said  to  be  practically  inexhaustible,  and 
as  to  its  savour  and  purity,  I cau  well  vouch,  having 
for  months  used  it  as  it  was  quarried  out  of  the 
hill.  Soon  after  leaving  the  Peruvians’  path  we  found 
ourselves  upon  an  extensive  Pajonal  or  “Patena,” 
as  we  call  it  in  Ceylon,  where  the  great  forest  abruptly 
and  completely  ceases,  and  we  have  instead  a grassy 
sward,  it  may  be  from  a few  acres  up  to  a few  thousand 
acres.  Here  there  are  about  500  acres,  and  our 
“Scottish  fairies  sever  trod 
A greeuer  nor  a soittr  sod.’- 
But  our  chief  delight  was  in  the  glorious  view. 
I shall  never  forget  that  calm,  bright  Sunday  after- 
noon, when  we  looked  out  for  the  first  time  on  the 
great  interminable  forest  of  the  Upper  Valleys  of 
the  Amazon.  Right  in  front  of  us  as  we  stood  with 
our  face  to  the  east,  were  evergreen  hills  of  various 
altitudes,  all  richly  clad,  and  undulating  down 
towards  the  great  plains  of  Brazil.  We  were  stand- 
ing at  a height  of  4,600  feet,  but  even  in  that  clear 
atmosphere,  could  see  but  a comparatively  short 
distance;  still  it  showed  better  than  any  words  can 
