462 
tHE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan. 1, 1903. 
Brazil, Para and Amazonasi, have regulations for the 
tlistribution of lands. Both have taken measures to 
protect their natural resources, in order to preserve the 
immense revenues obtained from them. Manaos, the 
capital of the State of Amazooas, a town of 60,000 
inhabitants, alone receives 48,000,000 francs ($9,264,000) 
revenue from the export duty. 
I can affirm vcith certainty that the States of South 
America included vpithin these latitudes ha-ve inex- 
haustible riches, if they continue to protect them. 
Brazil and Peru in particular would alone be able to 
satisfy the consumption of the entire world in rubber. 
The time is not come for the exhaustion of these 
immense treasures. Although we penetrate cow to the 
very sources of the large rivers, only the great arteries 
easily accessible have been explored ; the small 
effluents, which, in my opinion, are even richer in 
rubber, are yet unknown. Yet it must bo acknowledged 
that Brazil is less kuowu in France today than Central 
Africa. The whole world has had its eyes tarned 
toward the Dark Continent. The boundless forests oa 
the other side of the Atlantic contain forests accessible 
to anyone desiring to go there. Marseilles is the port 
plainly indicated to become ihe headquarters of this 
trade and an important market for rubber. 
Why should we not go to Brazil, to Peru, and bring 
gums of the first quality, so neoessary for our new in- 
dustry — motocycles and automobiles ? The English 
and the Germans do this and are making fortunes. I 
know of one German house in Manaos which has 
realised from commissions alone more than $20,000 
profit. There is also an opening for a French line of 
navigation. One English house — Singlehurst Brok- 
lurst, of Liverpool — had, twenty-five years ago, a few 
sailing vessels coasting along the eastern shore of 
South America, which touched at Para. Today, under 
the name of the Red Cross Line, this house has made 
a fortune. Within the year, the Germans of Hamburg 
have successfully established a line touching at Havre; 
the Italians have inaugurated a line from Genoa, 
louching at Marseilles. The French should learn the 
teaaon.—Tiidia Jiubber Trades' Journal, Nov. 10. 
THE TRADE OP CEYLON. 
A MADRAS REVIEW AND CRITICISM. 
A LECTURE PROPOSED. 
The present financial condition of Ceylon is 
attributable to a large extent to the centrical 
position that the island occupies at the southern 
extremity of Hindustan, with China to the East, 
Africa to the West, and Australasia to the South 
of it, but it is mainly due to the world's demand 
for the varied products of its fertile soil. Its 
prosperity depends, therefore, not so much on the 
large revenue that it earns as a port of call and 
coaling station, as on its trade. The success of 
that trade hinged during the latter half of the late 
century on two great staples, not simultaneously, 
but in succession. The first of these was coffee, 
in the production of fine descriptions of which 
Ceylon for some time distanced all competitors 
for the world's favour. For a considerable period, 
therefore, " coffee was king '' in the island, and 
there seemed every prospect of its reign being 
extended for many a decarie. But, at first little 
by little, and ere long by leaps and boujids, 
the production of other lands disturbed the 
status of Ceylon eofl'ee, while diseases of the 
tree itself added t> the downfall ; and then, 
almost with a rush, coffee was deposed from 
its pre eminence in the island. It looked at that 
crisis as though the beautiful island, with its 
unexhausted soil, and its variety of climates, would 
be, for most intents and purposes ruined. Tliere 
was a limit to the world's requirement of cinnamon, 
cocoautit products, cacao, cardamoms, camphor, 
rubber, citronella oil, and other articles that Ce y 
Ion was in a position to grow to a large extent, 
and for a while, therefore, the outlook was grave 
indeed. 
But eventually the prospect brightened, for ib 
was perceived that salvation might be found in 
tea. The tentative efforts to grow tea from both 
China and Indian seed were so successful that 
estate owners and planters, who but recently had 
been almost on the brink of despair, not only pul • 
ed themselves together, but also pulled up the 
coffee bushes, and planted tea instead. 
Here a little, there a little, was the drastic 
experiment tried, andj the more it was tried 
the more did the conviction gain ground that 
tea would yet pay hand over fist." Thus it 
was that energies, numbed by unlooked-for failure 
in one direction, revived ; and that Banks which 
had been compelled by the instinct of self- 
preservation to put the screw on planters in their 
distress, not only relaxed their severity, but gaily 
offered "facilities." So ib came to pass that tea 
was escorted with all honour to the throne vacated 
by coffee, and was 
PROCLAIMED KING. 
As years glided by, tea increased and 
coffee decreased, until in 1900 the export of 
the former reached the great total of 149^ 
million lb, while the export of coffee 
dwindled to 10,777 cwt. In other directions Ceylon 
did well, but it was chiefly owing to tea that the 
Colonial Secretary was able to conclude his Report 
or 1900 with the signififaut paragraph : — " The 
last year of the century was the most prosperosd 
in the history of the Island, and was marken 
by affluence and progress." 
Ceylon is still affluent and progressive, 
but a change has come over its commer- 
cial position which it is easier to deplore 
than to repair ; and one is irre-^istibly reminded 
of the cruel fate of its former fine trade in coffee, 
and therewith of the instalility of human affairs. 
The Colonial Secretary, when reporting last; 
August on the year 1901, stated: — '"Though- 
the past year showed no such pronounced in- 
crease of revenue as the phenomenal year 1900, 
the general prosperity of the Colony is unimpaired." 
This can hardly be the opinion of shareholders 
in Ceylon Tea Companies. For example, on the 
29th ultimo, at the Annual Meeting in London of 
the Associated Tea Estates of Ceylon (Limited^, 
the adoption of the Report was moved by Sir 
Alexander Wilson, the Chairman, and Mr 
Bethune, in seconding the motion, said that " ib 
was evident that little could be done in the way 
of dividends with present level of prices." Tea is 
illustrating the truth of the maxim that one 
can have too much of a good thing. There 
is a limit to all mundane things, and the 
limit has been reached, for the present at 
least, of the capability of markets to absorb teas 
at prices that cover the cost of production. In a 
word, supply has more than overtaken consump- 
tion, and the planter pays the piper. 
It can hardly, therefore, be the case that the 
general prosperity of Ceylon is " unimpaired." It 
would be more consistent with regrettable fact to 
say that it has been not a little impaired by the 
Colony's rlisregard, in common with India, of the 
immutable laws of supply and demand. Ceylon is 
suffdriog from the very defects of its virtue, its 
energy, its enterprise. It cut in bravely for a 
share in a great trade, and by sheer merit it woa 
