i)EC. 1, 1902.] 
THE TKOPICAL AGRICULTUKIST, 
389 
City, and he gave me very excellent China tea, 
out of beautiful Cliina tea cnps from Russia — 
lie showed me the cases of China tea, and said 
that Afghans always drink green China Tea— 
his trade is not confined to Peshawar, but ex- 
tends beyond the frontier to Cabul and other 
places and on the other side of the frontier. 
" Here is an opening for good green iea and 
Ceylon ought to compete advantageously with 
China." 
« 
A BIG PARA RUBBER CROP. 
According to the United States Consul at Para, 
it is believed that an exceptionally good ciop of 
lubber will be harvested in that province this 
season. The rubber fields of the lower river, and 
especially in the islands, are slowly hut surely 
failing, both in quantity and quality, but the 
decrease is more than made up by the development 
of new fields and the expansion of the old fields 
on the Upper Amazon. While all the more im- 
portant tributaries of the Amazon are supplying 
their full quota of rubber, and even making a 
promising increase, interest, he says, will be 
centred in the now famous Acre territory and in 
South-Eastern Ecuador. In the regions reached 
by the Purus (of which the Acre is a tributary), 
Jurua, Beni, Madre de Dios, Javari, Ucayali, 
Japura and other great efliuents of the Upper 
Amazon, which penetrate Peru, Bolivia and Ecua- 
dor, there are illimitable rubber forests as yet 
unexplored, which will now be gradually developed. 
Many seringueiros, or rubber gatherers, are making 
their way to these regions, and it is reported that 
several syndicates are about to begin operations in 
new fields in Bolivia and Peru. — Home paper. 
— — ■* 
FOR HOUSEKEEPERS. 
"For keeping meat in hot weather.— Boil water 
until it whirls, and put the meat raw into it 
directly it conies from the butcher. Keep it in 
the water for ten minutes only— it can be either 
boiled or roasted afterwards." — Home paper, 
U0ATEMALA AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS. 
According to the report by H M Consul at 
Guatemala for the year 1901, it is stated in the 
Government report issued by the Agricultural 
Bord of Guatemala that considerable progress has 
been made in the acclimatisation and cultivation 
of various new products. To this end there has 
been imported from abroad seed of cotton and 
tobacco, maize from Chalco and Texcoco, Aus- 
tralian oak and other timber, &c. These seeds 
have been distributed amongst the agriculturists 
of the different zones so that experiments might 
be made. The Agricultural Board has had leaf- 
lets drawn up on such products as are new in the 
country, and distributed amongst all agricultural 
classes, so that the most modern and scientific 
rules as to planting, &c., might be observed when 
making experiments. There has been a great 
impulse given to the production of such grains 
nod vegetables as are largely consumed in the 
country, more and more attention being paid 
to the cultivation of maize, beans, potatoes and 
wheat, and reinuneiative prices have been obtained. 
There is no doubt whatever thau there is room 
for many vegetable and dairy farms, especially in 
the high-lying districts and in the neighbourhood 
of the larger towns, and many of the smaller 
proprietors are turning their attention in this 
direction with result pecuniarily satisfactory to 
themselves. Anntoal Series, 2,868. — Board of 
Trade Journal, August 28. 
BIPEDAL LOCOMOTION OF A CEYLONESE 
LIZARD. 
I liave frequently observed with interest the 
erect attitude assumed by the small Agamid lizard 
Olocryptis bivittata, Wiegm., when running 
rapidly, and have long suspected that the short 
front legs were not used at such times. But the 
rapidity with which the animal runs, and the 
nature of the ground which it usually frequent, 
have prevented very close observation. I have, 
however, recently fully satisfied myself that its 
action is truly biperlal. The lizard happens to be 
common in the Botanic Gardens here, and on 
several occasions one of them has crossed a smooth 
sanded road immediately in front of me. I have 
thus been able to see clearly that the anterior 
limbs are carried quite free from the ground, pro- 
gress being effected solely by the long hind limbs. 
It seems possible that the closely allied and 
similarly built lizard Sitana ponticeriana, Cnv. , 
may have the same habit. Does the Indian species 
of Otocryptis (O. beddomii) progress in the same 
fashion ? 
At present the habit has been recorded only of 
one or more Australian lizards, notably the 
"frilled lizard " [Chlamydosaurus kingi), which 
has been very cleverly photographed in the erect 
attitude by Mr. Saville Kent. 
E. Ernkst Gkeen. 
Peradeniya, Ceylon, August. 
—Nature, Sept, 18. 
EFFECT OP FUEL OIL, 
HOW THE SUBSTITUTE FOR COAL HAS 
CHEAPENED FREIGHTS. 
Sir Marcus Samuel has just called the attention 
of the British public to the possibilities of the 
future in connection with the substitution of oil 
for coal as a fuel for steam vessels. The steamer 
" Pectan " of the Shell Transport Company, has 
made a successful trial trip. Mr Melrose, of the 
U.S. Navy Department, predicts the use of oil 
in the near future as fuel for war-vessels. They 
might have gone farther and told of the remark- 
able conditions now existing on the Pacific coast 
ot the United States. There fuel oil has long 
jjassed the experimental stage. Over fifty steamers 
now sail from the port of San Francisco with oil 
for fuel. The steamer Mariposa has just returned 
from Tahiti, a return trip of 7,200 miles, under 
steam generated exclusively by oil. Pressure and 
speed were easily maintained, and she reached 
port one day a head of her schedule. Her fuel 
cost just half as much as coal ; there was no 
expense for painting ship such as is necessary 
when coal is used. Particularly interesting is the 
oi)inion of Lieutenant Winchell, who has reported 
on the voyage for the United States Government, 
as to the character of men that sliould be employed 
in the fire rooms where there is an oil-fuel in- 
stallation. It neither requires physical endurance 
nor previous training with coal tire. The niQ 
