THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUtliST. [July 1, 1903. 
the men have pointed out, and make money in a 
few year. 
Fruit is veiy plentiful and ridicuclously cheap 
really good pine ipples in great aburidance at one 
penny each ; bananas of every variety ktsown, 
equal to any iii Caniiry oi West Indies, (hree or 
four for a penny ; yams, sweet poiatoes, taro, 
fresh coconuts, and vej^efables or nearly every 
description in iara;e qnautities and equally clieap. 
The natives aie a fine riiee, ;iUt not j^iven _io 
iimeli Work, as tliey do not bt e ilu; ntces-^iiy for it. 
Naiure beinw .so bountiuil and suppiying ail their 
wants in the way of toud with scarcely dckling 
the soil. Indian Coulie labourers have to be 
impoited to work the su;;^ir eitaies, and Polyne- 
sians for more general work, though if the colony 
advances (if it ever does) I tnink there are 
hopes of their "turning to" like (he natives of 
West Africa, who with an extended association 
and more intimate acquaintance with the white 
man, at length desire to imitate him in dress, 
siyie of living, &,, and in time to ape jewellery, 
UHihreyas, walking stifdvs, dress his wives, drink 
wine, smoke cigarettes, and to meet tiiese require- 
nienis he finds he must work. I have long 
Wdtched this transition work itself up during 
my iong resilience among many West Afiicau 
and other races ; to vie with and enuilate each 
other is inimical and male and female, I think, 
of the whole human race. The men have the most 
luxuriant stock of woolly hair I have ever seen, 
and they are in the habit of saturating it with 
and keeping it packed in white lime, which has 
effect of taking ou o the black colour and leaving 
it red; and of which they seem very proud ; it 
leaves it standing up like a large door mat. 
At present comnisice in a direct trade be- 
tween Great Britain and the Islands is of 
small importance excepting in copra, though a 
large trade inter colonially with Australia and 
New Zealand in sugar, and an ever increasing and 
developin trade with the same places in fruit, 
particular;^ y bananas and pineapples. The few 
European^' look well aud soroag, and if nearer 
to Europ , the islands might become a health 
resort, though there is considerable rain fall. So.ae 
small, industries are springing up— as an instance, 
I visited a sawmill, whicu was employed cutting 
woo d for packing cases to ship the fruit away in. 
With capital thrown into the country it may yet 
develop into an agricultural and cattle-raising 
country; the few horses in use at present are 
mostly imported from Australia. The mongoose 
has become very numerous, in fact, a pest, and a 
perfect terror to all those who keep poultry. — 
Liverpool Daily Post, March 18. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
The Tba Served on Liners.— Commeab- 
ing on the spread of the tea-drinking habit 
in India the Englishman (May. 14) goes on 
to say : — " In another quarter too we think 
some attention should be directed to secur- 
ing an improvenieut : on board most of the 
Liners plying from Calcutta the consensus 
of opinion as to the tea served out is re- 
markable. It is vt^ry improbable that the 
quality of tea used is inferior, aud pass- 
engers are inclined to be hyper-critical as to 
the catering generally ; but, allowing for 
this, there can be very little room for doubt 
that on few boats do they know how to 
make a good cup of tea. They manage this 
particular art much better on Pacific Liners 
where you have brought round, three little 
teapots labelled Indian, Ceylon and China. 
FjVery passenger is able to indulge in his or 
her own particular taste in tea. There 
should certainly be some steps taken by the 
Indian Tea Association to see that where 
conipaiison is so likely aud easily drawn, 
the quantity of Indian tea should be of the 
test. " The same remark might be addressed 
to the Plant'.-rs' Association and Chamber 
of Commerce in Ceylon. 
Worth Uokkko.— Our old friend, Mr. Henry 
Vv^iilker — now Commissioner of Lands, British 
North Borneo,— has been reading a very 
interesting paper on " The State of N. 
Borneo" before the Society of Arts with 
the lit Hon. Sir (Jr. T. Goldie, k.c.m g., in 
the Chair, who as well as Mr. K. B. 
Martin, iVJ.P., Chairman of the Company, 
Sir John Jardine, and Admiral Freniantle, 
took part in tile subsequent discussion. Mr. 
Walker had some striking figures to offer : 
a trade rising in 20 years from about 400,000 
to 7 million dollars in value ; and general 
revenue increasing from 80,000 to 820,000 
dollars in same time. The population is 
estimated at about 175,000 chiefly Malays 
but with 50,000 Dusuns (farmers), 13,000 
Chinese and 25tJ Europeans. Tobacco is the 
great staple with coconuts, and coffee, 
indigenous dyes aud rubber— pepper and 
gambler to be begun again. Minerals— gold 
and coal are being exploited. Sir John 
Jardine gave some curious information as 
to the trade of the E. I, Company with 
jSorth Borneo, 150 years back : — 
In the year 1763 the Government of Madras fitted 
out an expedition and took Manila from the 
Spaniards, There they found the Sultan of Zulu 
in one of the dungeons, and having delivered him 
from that iluiigeou. ihe Sultau gave the East India 
Company the concession of which they availed 
them,se)ves. They started a factory in the Island 
of Balarabangan and stopped there for a longtime; 
and in the India Office beautifully d»-awn charts of 
the coast might be seen, made in the year 1763, 
describing the place and the products, and stating 
that cargoes might be got of such things as edible 
birds' nests, bees wax, lacquerwood, dammer, cloves 
pepper, camphor, and cinnamon, while nearer to 
Saudakan there was an export of soft gold. Those 
things were highly valuable products, and if they 
were to be found then it was to be hoped they 
were to be found there still. Mr. John Jesse, the 
chief of the factory, went to Brunei, which he 
called in his letters Borneo Proper, and there 
planted pepper, building up a valuable business, 
as he obtained a monopoly of that article from 
the Sultan of Brunei. In 1775 we moved the 
factory to Labuan which, however, we abandoned 
in 1803. Con)ing nearer to our own time, Sir 
Stamford Rnffle.s had made the very striking state- 
ment that in those days there was an export of 
gold dust from Montrado on the western coast of 
Borneo of about half a million sterling a year, and 
it was said in the record of the trading that there 
were no less than 32,000 Chinamen .situated at the 
place who sent to their wives and families in China 
somewhere about £163,000 a year in the shape of 
fine gold. Those were important facts, and almost 
made one look with a rosier view on the position 
of the company. 
