May  r,  1893.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST, 
723 
fancy  opening  in  our  orthodox  way  400  acres  with 
cacao ! It ’s  possible  in  Ceylon,  but  here  without 
a large  and  well-trained  labour  force  it  would  be 
foolish  to  attempt  it.  No,  I’m  steadily  going  on 
planting  as  weather  permits,  besides  continuing 
to  extend,  and  roading  the  place,  besides  having 
several  buildings  in  hand  and  all  d ne  by  the 
coolies.  I’ ve  been  successful  beyond  anything  I 
thought  it  would  turn  out  to  be  with  the  planting. 
Exceedingly  few  vacancies  and  all  plants  “ all 
ablooming  and  agrowing,”  and  looking  so  healthy. 
All  coffee. 
My  assistant  when  he  does  come  I guess  will  be 
rather  surprised. 
Lots  of  vi=itors  come  up  here.  To  tell  the 
truth  quite  becoming  a nuisance.  One  day,  bota- 
nists looking  out  for  weeds,  another,  a geologist 
“ quite  nuts”  on  brickbats  of  all  sorts.  Then  a 
Government  doctor  fully  impressed  with  the  idea 
that  the  Heathen  Chinee  is  far  more  subject  to 
disease  than  the  generality  of  mankind.  Then 
some  blueblooded  Prince  wanting  the  black 
man’s  medicine —Whisky  or  Brandy,  but  “/Cham- 
agne”  is  better;  or  another  member  of  Royalty  to 
orrow  money.  In  fact  at  times  quite  a series  of 
“Durbars”  here,  so  much  so  that  I am  going  to 
“debar”  them  by  putting  up  a Visitors’  Bungalow, 
where  they  can  contemplate  “ Ceylon  transplanted 
into  Africa”  at  a respectable  distance. 
Ah  ! by  the  way,  never  lend  Royalty  any  money  1 
I did  so  to  a member  of  the  “House  of  Africa,”  rather 
a big  sum  to  lose,  and  it  took  a lot  of  diplomacy  to 
get  it  back.  Knowing  that  silver  was  of  little  value 
I suppose,  this  mighty  hero  of  a hundred  fights  (fits  I 
should  say  after  a bout  of  the  bottle)  tried  on  payment 
in  kind — Indian  corn  and  a sheep,  but  as  it  was  a 
question  of  cash,  I told  him  I wanted  to  see  the  colour 
of  my  money,  in  the  politest  Ki-swahili  of  course,  and 
about  a week  after  I got  back  the  6 rupees.  They  ’re 
a beggarly  lot  some  of  them.  This  man  did  he 
choose  to  exert  his  authority  without  abusing  it,  and 
had  he  more  respect  for  himself,  his  influence  would 
1 e great,  but  I fancy  he  ’ll  lose  it  entirely  one  of  these 
days,  and  he  has  splendid  land  all  round  him,  but 
too  lazy  to  see  it  decently  cultivated.  Just  sufficient 
and  no  more ; should  a famine  occur  he ’d  be  up  in 
“ gum  ” tree,  though  I haven’t  noticed  any  growing 
here.  Such  is  life. 
By-the-bye  I hear  Van  der  Poortea  is  very  much 
disgusted  with  the  aspect  of  affairs  in  the  Congo.  At 
any  rate,  at  the  time  of  writing  to  me  he  was  far 
frim  elated.  I fancy.  Greenwood  must  have  seemed 
a “Paradise  lost”  to  him,  when  he  was  penning  his 
experiences  out  West:  we  say  out  West  here,  it ’s  just 
at  the  other  end  of  the  equator,  passing  through  like 
a “ skewer.”  He  was  great  on  oil  palms  and  had 
recommended  12,000  acres  to  be  planted  up  gradually 
(a  nice  little  billet  that  lasting  at  rate  of  printer's 
devil’s  estimate  of  400  acres  per  annum -30  years), 
and  the  only  place  where  they  could  plant  was 
on  an  island,  about  this  extent,  after  extermina- 
ting the  natives ! ! Guerra  al  cuchillo.  Coffee  and 
pistols  for  two  ! That ’s  the  way  to  do  it.  I can 
fancy  Van  der  Poorten,  leading  his  20  soldiers  (he  was 
going  to  ask  for  20)  on  to  victory,  “ Death  or  Glory 
boys  1”  style,  and  then,  when  they  had  driven  off 
“these  brutes  who  would  not  work  until  slavery  was 
re-established,”  he  would  commence  to  plant  up  the 
12,000  acres  with  the  20  soldiers  I suppose.  A Ceylon 
planter  can  do  anything  ! I really  think  that  Ceylon 
planters  must  belong  to  an  entirely  superior  and 
different  race  of  men  after  this  ! 
Effects  of  Tea- Tasting. — It  is  well  known  that 
the  abuse  of  aloohol,  tobacco,  opium  and  quinine 
seriously  affects  the  sight  but,  generally  speaking 
tea  has  not  been  considered  liable  to  have  suoh 
influence.  Cases  are  on  record,  however,  where 
professional  tea-tasters  have  had  to  seek  treatment 
for  weakness  of  vision,  induced  by  the  prolonged 
practice  of  tea-tasting.— Nilgiri  News. 
ROYAL  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY 
OF  AUSTRALASIA. 
CoFFEE-GBOWING  IN  THE  New  HEBRIDES  : TEMPTING 
Prospects. 
Sir  John  Franklin  as  a “ Midshipman”  : One  of 
“ the  Brave  Deeds  of  Old,” 
We  have  to  acknowledge  with  thanks  from  Mr. 
Maodonald,  f.r.g.s.,  &o.,  the  Secretary,  the  receipt 
of  Vol.  X (issued  March  1893)  of  the  Transactions 
of  the  above  Society — an  interesting  number  with 
a variety  of  papers  more  or  less  referring  to  the 
Australasian  or  South  Pacific  world.  We  have  a 
progress  report  from  the  Antarotio  Committee, 
valuable  notes  on  volcanic  mountains  in  New  Zea- 
land, a progress  report  of  the  Elder  Exploring 
(Australasian)  Expedition,  notes  of  a long-forgotten 
Antarotio  voyage  in  1833.  synopsis  of  a paper 
upon  “The  Astronomical  Theory  of  an  Ice  Age,” 
Baron  Mueller  on  “The  Columbus  Jubilee,"  &a.,— 
showing  the  variety  of  the  subjects  treated.  But 
we  are  more  especially  interested  in  an  in- 
cident related  in  an  aoeount  of  the  Life  and 
Works  of  Sir  John  Franklin  by  the  Secretary,  and 
in  Mr.  Lindt’s  paper  on  the  Resources  and 
Capabilities  of  the  New  Hebrides  particularly  with 
reference  to  coffee-growing. 
Bat  to  turn  to  something  more  immediately 
practical.  Mr.  Lindt’s  paper  on  the  New  Hebrides 
really  deals  with  “a  pioneer  coffee  plantation" 
and  from  the  following  headings  it  will  be  seen 
that  it  is  comprehensive  enough  ; — 
1.  How  to  get  to  New  Hebrides  ; 2.  How  to 
choose  land  ; 3.  How  to  purchase  it  ; 4.  How  to 
settle  on  it  ; 5.  How  to  start  a nursery ; 6.  How  to 
clear  the  land  ; 7.  The  planting  out.  Shelter  trees  ; 
8.  Maiden  crop;  9.  Storehouses,  pulping  plant  and  their 
situation  ; 10.  Pulping,  fermenting,  washing  and 
drying  ; 11.  Pounding,  milling  and  final  drying  for 
market  ; 12.  Topping  and  pruning  the  coffee  bushes; 
13.  How  to  procure  labor;  14.  Rates  of  labor  and  cost 
of  maintenance. 
Of  oourse  no  Ceylon  planters  need  half  the  instrue- 
tion  afforded ; but  the  rest  we  must  plaoe  on 
record  for  reference  in  detail  in  our  Tropical 
Agriculturist,  merely  stating  here  that  the  islands 
referred  to  are  now  within  five  days  of  Sydney  by  a 
regular  monthly  steamer.  The  best  ooffae  land  is 
between  590  and  1,000  feet  above  sea-level  and  is 
eovercd  with  luxuriant  forest;  but  the  larger  trees 
are  left  as  shelter  and  only  the  low  jungle  or  sorub 
cleared.  As  to  purchase  of  land  £50  ossh  will  buy 
outright  from  200  to  500  acres  from  a Chief,  aooording 
to  situation.  Then  as  to  labour,  there  seems  to 
be  no  difficulty  in  getting  men  on  a three  years’ 
engagement  at  £6  wages  per  annum  .’(paid  at  the 
end  of  the  term),  the  passages  to  and  from  their 
homes  (in  other  islands)  in  all  about  £12  a head, 
being  also  paid  by  the  planter.  That  is  a totai 
Goat  of  £10  a year  for  able-bodied  men  ; but  then 
the  oosb  of  “ keep  ” has  to  be  added.  This  Mr. 
Lindt  says  is  however  merely  nominal.  Here  is 
an  extract  : — 
The  cost  of  their  keep  is  merely  nominal  on  es- 
tablished plantations.  Yams,  taro,  bananas,  maize 
and  sweet  potatoes  are  planted.  Breadfruit,  tomaka, 
maniok,  arr  <wroot,  naiap,  papua-apple,  coconuts! 
numapi  and  many  other  native  fruits  grow  wild  iii 
the  jungle.  Wheu  establishing  an  estate,  coconuts 
should  be  planted  by  the  thousand,  as  they  be- 
come a source  of  revenue  in  the  course  of  six  or 
eight  years.  Besides  the  many  uses  coconuts  are  put 
to  while  growing,  the  kernels  of  the  matured  nuts  are 
dried,  either  by  sun  or  artificial  heat,  and  thus  con- 
verted into  the  article  called  copra.  It  takes  about 
seven  thousand  nut3  to  make  one  ton  of  copra,  which  is 
worth  in  the  islands  about  £7  at  the  present  time. 
Bananas,  oranges,  grenadillas,  and  in  fact  all  tropical, 
fruits  grow  to  perfection,  and  will  no  doubt  find  a 
