350 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. 1, 1900. 
to get perm iSison to visit Brazil (for whichmis- 
sion his knowledge of the Portuguese lan- 
guage malces him peculiarly fit) to secure seed 
of different kinds of rubber— there is a species 
of castilloa which contributes largely to Brazil 
exports, of which little is kno.vn— and there 
are many other points which a good linguist 
and botanist (very different from an ordin- 
ary planter) could get cleared up. The 
India Office was at first favourable ; but 
the China War breaking oat with its 
call on the Indian Service, Major 
Wyllie was recalled and the trip to the 
West had for the time to be given up. 
We should think, however, with so large 
an investment as 10,000 acres in hand, that 
the Viceroy especially, will see the advantage 
of one so admirably suited as Major 
Wyllie being sent to Brazil and Centi'al 
America, calling at Trinidad, as well as to 
Java, Sumatra and Ceylon to collate all 
useful information up to date and collect 
specimens. Here, in Colombo, Major Wyllie 
was only able to run to Heneratgoda 
Gardens where, however, he obtained some 
interesting specimens of different kinds of 
rubber and other plants to take away with 
him. He much regrets having no time to 
go to Peradeniya. He has been noting 
the " Hancornia " referred to in a recent 
circular from Haiti given in the T.A., and 
he was interested in what we showed him 
of Mr. Godefroy-Lebeuf's experiments in 
Paris. He was able to guess at the correct 
name of the species of " Castilloa " men- 
tioned in the 'ast letter from this gentle- 
man — " Castilloa Tunu " not " bunn " as 
printed the other day. — Altogether Major 
Wyllie reminds us much of Colonel Bed- 
dome of South Indian botanical fame — who 
used so often to visit Ceylon in days gone 
by, in his devotion to public advantage 
and single-minded attention to the special 
department he has made his own. We shall 
watch with interest the progress of the 
Burma enterprise and trust Lord Ourzon 
will see the propriety of sending Major 
Wyllie to all important rubbergrowmg 
countries to enquire, collect and report. 
Such a Mission could not fail to redound 
to the credit— as well as material ad- 
vantage—of the Indian Government which in 
times past did so much to introduce and pro- 
mote cinchona cultivation, and to develope tea 
and other new industries. 
EXPORT OF INDIAPtUBBER FROM 
INDOCHINA. 
: The export of indiarnbber from Indo-Ghina has 
made considerable progress and is raised to 79,158 
kilos for the lirst half of 1900, whilst in 1899 
it was only 51,000 kilos for the whole year. Of 
this Saie;oa sent 9,676 kilos, while Tonquin was 
the larger. exporter with 69,482 kilos. A great part 
of this came really from Laos and Annam and was 
transported to Tonquin. — Tonkin paper, Kn^. 17. 
1,11. 
■ The Seychelles.— We donot oftenhearfrom 
these out-of-the-way, vanilla-growing isles ; 
but on our sixth page today will be found 
some chatty notes from a recent visitor, 
giving interesting first-hand information as to 
" Royalties" banished to the Seychelles; Men- 
of-war ; and the Vanilla Crop. 
CORAL REEFS OF THE INDIAN REGIONS- 
Interim. Report of the Committee, consisting of 
Mr, A Sedgwick (Chairman), Mr. J Graham Kerr, 
Professor J W Judd, Mr. J J Lister and Mr. B F 
Harmer, appointed to investigate the Structure, 
Formation, and Growth of the Coral Reefs of 
the Indian Region. 
The Committee have received the following 
report from Mr. J Stanley Gardiner: — 
The expedition under my charge has been carry- 
ing out work during the last eighteen moaths iu the 
Laccadives, Maldives, and Ceylon. 
During the month of May 1899 I toured through the 
raised coral-reef areas of (Jeylon and round the coast 
In the north of the island these form a succession of 
higher and higher raised reefs down to Damballa, 
broken only by isolated flat-topped peak? of older 
rocks, on the sides of which the successive elevationa 
are sometimes clearly visible in horizontal lines of 
wave action. It is only in the topography of the 
older, often much dolomitised country that the pre- 
vious existence of either barrier or isolated reefs is 
indicated. The greater part is formed of a mixed reef 
sand, and appears before elevation to have borne a 
considerable resemblance to the large mudflats round 
the islands of Viti Levu and Vauua Levu, in the Fiji 
group. 
Round the coast of Ceylon, especially to the south, 
a recent elevation of five to twenty feet was found 
in broad flats by the sea. These are now invariably 
being washed away down to the low tide level, at 
which they persist, to a certain extent, as fringing reefa 
of varying breadth. The greater part of the west and 
south coasts is devoid, however, of any reef-growths, 
the shore being rocky or formed of fine siliceous sand. 
In May 1899 the rocky shore near Bentota was seen to 
be covered with small coral colonies, which were 
evidently a growth of the previous north-east mon- 
soon. In September these had completely disap- 
peared, having been washed away in the south-weot 
monsoon. At Galle, Talpe and Weligama numerous 
recently living colonies of corals, particrlarly of the 
genera Porites and Poeillopora, of four to eight 
months' growth, were founa completely silted up 
with sand and dirt of all sorts. 
A noticeable point about the reefs immediately 
round Ceylou is the comparative absence of leef- 
building noUipores, which are a marked feature of all 
isolated oceanic reefs. In connection with this an 
attempt was made 'to examine the shoals two to six 
miles off the south and south-west coasts of the 
island, which indicate with the soundings the possible 
upgrowth of a barrier reef. The weather, however, 
at that season was so unfavourable that I was unable 
to dredge, land, or anchor on any. 
Subsequent visits to south India and north Ceylon 
indicated cleariy a former land connection between 
the two. The so-called Adam's Bridge and the is- 
lands of Manaar and Eamasserim, which the former 
joins, appeared indubitably to be the remains of a 
formerly elevated limestone flat, which has been 
more or less cut down by the sea to the low-tide 
level. The coast lines, too, of Ramasserim and to 
the north of the Jaffna peninsula were also probably 
at one time continuous. 
The months of June, July, and August 1899 
were spent in Minikoi, an isolated atoll, the moet 
southern of the Laccadive group. Here I was ac- 
companied by Mr. L A Borrodaile, who proposed 
t ; study various points connected with the Crustacea 
and Chsetopoda. Unfortunately Mr. Borrodaile, who 
had been collecting these forms in Ceylon, almost at 
once succumbed to the climate, and after five weeks 
returned to Cr ylon, whence he was at once ordered 
home. Every part of the island was visited : a 
survey was made and numerous cross-sections were 
run. Prom these it was clear that there had been an 
elevation of the original reefs to a height of at least 
twenty-five feet above low-tide level. Numerous 
observations were made on the currents at different 
