April 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL 
Bidered as near perfection as possible and has 
raised the value of copra in all the markets 
having dealings vvitli the Company. 
Cattle and horses too are bred on the planta- 
tions. Tlie former are used for draught purposes 
and the latter for the use of the Superintendents 
and Overseers to get about the plantations. 
Surplus stock is sold. With 2,000 head of cattle 
it is found impossible to keep down the rank 
growth of grass and weeds. 
Samoa is said to be a very gay place. Too 
gay according to our visitor for honest, hard-work. 
A dinner once a week and picnics on Sundays 
are the rule. On special occasions there are 
other functions. Besides this, the entertainment 
of guests goes on mainly to the detriment of 
the interests of the Company. The employees are 
chiefly German, but other nationalities are not 
overlooked. Mr. Burckhardt thinks he will All the 
next vacancy in his plantations fi-om Ceylon. I 
feel sure if the importation be of the right sort, he 
will lead the way in tropical agriculture.— Co>\ 
THE rOPULARISING OF INDIAN TEAS. 
It is a matter for surprise that, whereas with almost 
every alimeutary [jioduot retailed by grocers, and 
every medicine dealt out by chemists, the greatest 
attention is paid to presenting it to the public in as 
attractive a form as possible, no regard whatever, 
save in a very few exceptional oases, is shown to 
" appearances " in respect to tea. Take -a case for 
illustration, out of many, that of Crosse and Blackwfll. 
Their name is so old, and their reputation ao good, 
that it might well be thought that it was quite 
unnecessary for them, as so very old established a 
firm, to divert from their old u.3ages and syatem, 
merely to please the public. Yet, what is found ? 
Whereas, of old, their goods were put on the market 
in a primitive exterior ugliness, they are noic presented 
in quite an attractive form. 
Let some enterprising syndicate, or firm, pack the 
lower, but good, qualities of teas in small one, two, 
three, etc., ounce packets with similar labels to attract 
the attectiou of the bazar crowd, and great would be 
the sale of the teas offered in the Jjiorfi.s' shops. The 
subject of the sale of teas to the natives in this 
country is too large a one to be entered upon here : 
suffice it to say, that previous failures do not by 
any means betoken that there is no outlet. There 
is a door ajar, and the very force of circumstances 
will compel all connected with, and interested in, 
th« industry, to open wide the same before many 
more years are debited to the past. Eugland and 
America are ensamples of what can be done in the 
way of popularising goods of all classes. Tea merchants 
and traders in this country havo but to follow suit 
with their product to ensure a most remunerative 
trade. The peoples of this country are becoming 
yearly greater and greater tea drinkers. The enter- 
prise to cater for them, in the way it should be done, 
at present wanting. — i /(c Pl'intcr 
Cui/nvATiON OF Chilliks,— Mr. A. C, Simp- 
son has been inipressing on liis ' brother' planters 
in B. C. Africa, the advantage of cultivating chil- 
lies. He writes : — 
I have exported chillies for several years and I be- 
lieve I am the only exporter. This year I have sent 
home l(i bags. I have got up to ITs Gd per cwt. same 
as Japan chillies fetch. I send you sample of chillies 
Beuthorae. which fetched the above price, and were 
considered a first rate chillie, grown in suitable soil 
and well cured. I have 8 acres in bearing. 
In Ceylon we import chillies anion;; " curty stufl's" 
to a considerable extent; but the ligiires are not 
Beparatcly "iven :-• 
1897 
Curiy stuffs .. .. 121,945 cwt. El,5G9,r20 
Vegolablo dried . . . . 83 pkg3. UOGl 
lUw .. Ill „ RM'J 
There can be no vca.ion why the larger (mrt of the 
cuiry stull's slioald not be i>iovided locally. 
AGRICULTURIST. 685 
RAILWAYS AND PLANTING IN BRAZIL. 
(Btj an cx-Ceylon Planter.) 
(To the Editor, Ceylon Observer.) 
Rio de Janeiro, Jan. 14, j899. 
Sir, — I have not time to go into a long description 
of Brazilian Railways : this I have touched on several 
times in former correspondence. What the people of 
Ceylon are interested in at present is the quesiion of 
gauge and the adaptability of narrow lines to hilly 
countries. 
There are 
THREE RAILWAY GAUGES IN BRAZIL. 
Like a great many new countries it began with a wide 
gauge. The first one opened about 40 years ago, on 
the opposite side of the b iy of llio c>.-^ Jauei) o, to join 
on to a macadamisad road which had been made by a 
Company, to cross the Serra de Mar, and go into the 
interior of Minas Geraes, was six feet. This was 
reduced some years ago to a metre gauge to join on to 
a Railway on the ratchel system, on the same gauge 
which goes to Petropolis and beyond, in the State 
of Bio. 
Petropolis is the place cn the top of the Serra de 
Mar, where the well-to-do people of Rio goto reside in 
the hot months. Wealthy businessmen go and come 
every day ; the journey including the time on steamer 
crossing the bay, occupies two and a quarter hours. 
The existing wide gauges ore five feet three inches. 
There is first the Central Government Railway, which 
starts from the city of Rio de Janeiro and goes across 
the Serra de Mar, with ii.s 13 tunnels North-West 
across the Serra de Montequeira into the centre of the 
State of Minas; secondly the Sao Paulo Railway starting 
from Santos, crossing the Serra de Mar by five incline* 
with stationary engines and a wire rope, goes North- 
West through the State of Sao Paulo; tliinUi/, a few 
Government lines in the Northern states of which I 
have not the paiticulars. 
The feeder lines to the two first mentioned are on 
the metre gauge, and were constructed by local Com- 
panies. On the metre gauge there are some 800 milea 
in the Sao Paulo and South of Minas, which go 
through coffee producing districts. The produce and pas- 
sengers, which have to find their way to ihetea port of 
Santos, have to be transhipped on to the wide five feet 
three inches gauge of the S, Paulo Railway Company. 
The metre gauge branches from the Central Railway 
in the States of Rio and Minas, are still more rx- 
tensive. One of them has grown to such importance 
as to find independent ways of its own to reach the 
sea port of Rio de Janeiro. The Leopoldina Railway 
Company, taken over a year ago by a BritiGli Com- 
pany, has nearly a thousand miles on the metre gauge 
and has a terminus on the opposite side of the bay 
from the city of Rio. 
The one I mean to bring to your notice is on the 
two feet six inches — or 76 centimetre — gauge ths 
same as is proposed for the Kelani Valley. 
This is the West of Minas Railway. The Company 
is a national one ; was formed in 1S98 on a concession 
from the State Government of A'inas, to construct and 
work a Railway on the two feet six inches gange from 
Sao del Ri'v, to a point most convenient on the 
Central (.iovernment Railway. The point chosen to 
cmnect with tlie latter was Sitire, a short distance 
f om Barbeoena — the famous sanatarium — jn.st after 
t ie central has crossed the famous Montequeira mount- 
ains. The distance from Rio to Sitire is 364 kilometres 
(about 230 miles). This was opened in 1882, the dis- 
tance being about 120 kilo or nearly 80 miles from 
Sitire to S. Joao del Rey. 
Extensions were afterwards made by the same Com- 
pxny and on tlie .same gauge (2i foot.) 
One of the extensions went South-west to where 
the head waters of the river Parana are navigable. 
These waters enter the ocean at the river Plate, but 
ar.^ not navigable all the way from L.ivrnh — (he 
tt rminuwof the narrow gange line — to tlio river I'lat*. 
Large slrottho.s nf it do not admit of evi n native 
canoes — dug out — being used, but it in many parts in 
navigable for long distances which serve for local 
transport. Another of the extuu>iioni> goes to the head 
