m 
THE TROPICAL AaRlCULTURIST. 
[Nov. L 1901 
the Andes has to be crossed at seventeen 
thousand feet above the level of the sea before 
the descent into ihe valleys can be eflected. 
Sorata, in Bolivia, is the place at which nearly 
all the roads into the rubber and mining districts 
converge. The traveller will often be delayed 
for several days, all the owners of beasts of 
harden take advantage of the scarcity of the 
means of transport, and extort the highest 
possible freights for their animals. Once work 
Las been started, the cheaper plan is to buy 
mules and horses. All supplies have to be carried 
in, as scarcely anything can be purchased there. 
However, stores are gradually being established 
on the different claims. The descent is very 
dangerous in some places, the incline being 
from thirty to forty-five degrees, and the animals 
•tten slip and are thrown over tlie precipices. 
This part of the road, twenty-three miles in 
length, takes twelve hours, v^hen Pararani is 
reached 4,600 feet above the sea level. From 
Pararaui to Mapiri the road is more practicable, 
and rubber, Peruvian bark, and coffee plantations 
are met. Mapiri is the centre of these regions, 
and from there one strikes off to wherever the 
claims .nay be. At least ninety per cent of the 
travellers "fall sick with malarial fevers, more or 
less intense, although seldom fatal. From Mapiri, 
Guanay is reached in canoes, or rafts, made of 
nine sticks fastened with vines ; three of these 
rafts form what is called a callopo, capable of carry- 
ing one and half tons of cargo. The distance 
is -sixty-two miles, and can be done in one day, 
going down stream, but coming back it ta' es 
three days, current running six miles an hour. 
The Indians can only puU at the rate of one 
and half miles an hour. From Guanay there are 
roads that lead to the placer mines on the rivers 
Tipuani, Coyahuira, Uhallana, etc., in which, 
regions gold is found in abundance, but ma- 
chinery is badly required, especially to dredge 
the rivers. The rubber exported from Mol- 
lendo during the year 1901 was as follows : —To 
the United Kingdom (London) 13,061 kilos, 
(Liverpool) 206,142 kilos; to Germany (Ham- 
burg) 60,707 kilos ; to France (Havre) 3,119 
kilos ; to the United States (San Francisco) 
12,859 kilos, making a total of 295,898 kilos, 
approximate value £58,180. 
Gambia.— The quantity of rubber exported in 
1900 was 125 446 lb. in 1901 146,573 lb. being a 
decrease of £1,254 in value. — India Buhher and 
Gutta Percha Trade Journal, Aug. 4. . 
THE RAILWAY AND COTTON-GROW- 
ING IN THE NORTH OF CEYLON. 
The »Government of Ceylon, writes one 
interested, should give full attention to 
Cotton-growing in the North (see Sir Ed. 
Cotton's speech at Accrington) ; but there 
must be population to provide labour, and 
gins to gin the cotton on the spot. It will 
grow like a weed : not the slightest fear as 
to the growth and suitability of climate. 
'• In this connection, it seems to me that 
Government, whilst constructing Railway 
»nd Irrigation works,- should be taking 
steps now, either to induce tlie nece.ssary 
population to come to the country, or to 
offer facilities to Syndicates or others willing 
to take up tracts of land for cultivation. 
The most lib eral terms should be offerecl 
and it is not a day too soon, to begin ; for, 
it takes a long time to get people outside 
the island to become interested. It won't do 
for Government to wait till the line is 
running before they begin to invite settlers 
to cultivate." 
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AND CEYLON. 
Mr A K Coomaraswamy, b so, f l s, r o s, read 
a "Note on the Scenery of Ceylon," in the Geology 
section on the 16th September. He stated that it 
was probable that Ceylon had been exposed to con- 
tinuous denudation since very early Paleozoic times. 
The foliation of the crystalline rocks had a marked 
influence in determining the directions of the river 
valleys and the general configuration of the country. 
A characteristic feature of the scenery of CeylO'i in 
many parts was its precipitous characfe ; the seem- 
ingly "bedded" granulites formed mural escarp- 
ments and dipped slopes, as if they v?ere a series of 
sedimentary rocks. The above remarks applied only 
to the mountainous districts which occupied the 
south-central part of Ceylon. A low coastal plain 
fringed the island, partly of alluvial and partly of 
raised beach origin ; sea cliffs were absent or very 
unusual, and even any coast exposures of rock were 
not common. In the north a greater area was flat 
and low, and the scenery resembled that of Southern 
India. Isolated hills of gneiss (Dambulla and Sigiri 
rose conspicuously from the plain. 
PARAGUAYAN TEA. 
Yerba Mate in Paraguay. — The British Con- 
sul reports that yerba mate, or Parngnayan tea, 
is largely exported to the various Eepublics of 
South America. A few sample packages have 
been shipped to the United States and to Germany. 
One sample has been forwarded from Consulate 
to a firm in London. A German house here pre- 
pares a refine form of yerba mate suitable for 
drinking like tea. It is packed in parcels of 2 
lb., at a cost of Is 6d. There seems, says the 
Consul, to be little doubt but that yerba mate is 
a great restorative in hot weather or after 
physical exhaustion. — British and Colonial 
Druggist, Sept. 5. 
A VISITOR FROM JAVA. 
Mr. H J H Netscher, a well known pro- 
prietary planter in Java, after visiting the 
tea estates in Northern India — in Assam, i;he 
Dooars, Darjeeling, &c.,— arrived in Ceylon 
where he remained about three weeks 
last month. Mr. Netscher's property is in 
Western Java, and he chiefly cultivates tea 
and cinchona. Cacao he considers to be 
about the most troublesome of tropical 
products to cultivate— the plant, of all others, 
most liable to enemies—at least that is Mr. 
Netscher's experience in Java. This is in 
strange contrast with the Dutch writer's 
experience of cacao in Dutch Guiana, South 
America, where, he said, the trees began to 
crop well at 5 to 6 years, heavily at 9, and 
continued then for a hundred years to give 
regular crops and no trouble. [This Surinam 
news is, however, a little too much like the 
parrot the sailor bought because he was told it 
would speak af t"r 100 years and he wanted to 
hear it !] In Java evidently cacao is not a 
