THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July 1, 1901. 
was he who was selected to so into the kraal, held 
at Labugama, Ceylon, for the young Princes in 
1886, and shoot the mother oi a young calf, 
which almost spoiled the whole affair by killing 
natives, &c, 
A cow elephant with a young calf, a cow and 
bull elephant together, and a single bull, usually 
a rogue, are always dangerous to sportsmen ; at 
least, I have always found it so. 
— — ^ _ 
CACAO CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
(MAY 1901.) 
In July 1898 the estate returns showed a 
total of 21,260 acres under Cacao ; and in May 
1901 the aggregate, worked out, amounts to 
23,696 acres, or an increase of 2.436 acres. 
But this is apart from native gardens of 50 
acres each and less, of which a special sepa- 
rate list has been compiled, showing a total 
in cultivation of very nearly 9,000 acres. We 
have therefore a grand total under Cacao 
Cultivation in Ceylon, of all ages and condi- 
tions, equal to 32,600 acres. Seeing that our 
heaviest export hitherto has been 12,745 cwt, 
it is quite clear that a large proportion of 
the acreage must be very young or in very 
poor bearing ; for we should hope that when 
all the trees are mature, and the fields and 
gardens properly cultivated, our export 
should reach to 100,000 cwt. This would not 
average much more than 3 cwt an acre, 
which we suppose can be readily harvested 
from every properly planted and cultivated 
plantation. There are, however, enemies to 
reckon with, and successfully overcome ; as 
these may be under the Cryptogamist's direc- 
tions, we do not suppose that the bumper 
crop we refer to^ can be anticipated for five 
or six years to come. 
One thing seems very clear, that Ceylon 
can never be a leading Cacao-grow- 
ing country, — can never attain, for in- 
stance, the position of Trinidad, which is 
officially credited with a yearly crop exceed- 
ing 200,000 cwt. ; and still less that of 
Ecuador, which annually exports 500,000 cwt., 
or nearly one-third of the world's require- 
ments. Ceylon Cacao planters ha.ve, at least, 
the consolation that their product is not 
likely to be overdone in this Island, in the 
sense in which Tea is supposed to be already 
overproduced. What they have to do now 
is to maintain and improve the high repu- 
tation of their product ; to perfect their 
methods of curing ; to apply (in Mr. Carru- 
thers' words) "more sanitary methods of 
cultivation " and gradually to improve their 
varieties of Cacao by selection and other 
means so as to increase the profit from their 
fruit trees.— What the Cacao tree is capable 
of may be judged from the solitary speci- 
men of the Caracas variety growing on 
Keenakelle estate, BaduUa, to which we 
have so often referred in our Handbook. 
Mr. Carruthers has found that the tree is 
about 17 years old, over 22 feet high, with 
a spread of 30 feet ; and for the last five 
years it has given an average of 434 ripe 
pods per annum ; this is at 3,800 feet above 
sea-level. Of course, it would be absurd to 
assume what a plantation could be made to 
do fiom this solitary, well-cared-for tree ; 
but still this experience affords some idea, 
we trust, of what many of our Cacao plan- 
ters may anticipate as their ti'ees, planted 
in good soil, grow older and fully matured. 
— Dumbara, the Matales, Panwila, Kuru- 
negala and (jalagedara, and Monaragala 
are the leading Ceylon Cacao-gi'owing dis- 
tricts, and we do not suppose the Govern- 
ment, if their officers were so instructed and 
tried their best, could sell another 5,000 
acres of Crown land, really well adapted to 
the cultivation of Theobroma cacao — which 
requires not only rich, deep soil but shelter 
from wind and good drainage. 
♦ 
ADVENTURE WITH A LION IN 
CENTRAL AFRICA. 
(To the editor C. A. Times.) 
Lualaba River, 21-1-1901, 
Dear Sir, — I have read with deep interest, 
and I need hardly say with deep sorrow, the 
account of Mr. W R Johnston's death in your 
issue of the 1st December, 1900. He was un« 
doubtedly one of the best sportsmen and shots in 
BOA. 
I narrowly escaped the same fate, this time 
last year, in the Upper Choma Valley, being 
KNOCKED DOWN BY A HUGE MAN-EATING 
LIONESS ♦ 
I had severely wounded tlie previous evening, and 
which I was following up in terrific grass and 
" wait-a-bit " thorn trees. She charged and sprang 
at me almost before I had time to fire, which, 
owing to the grass, I was unable to do till she 
showed up about six yards from me. It was a bit 
— more than a bit— tantalising to hear her roar- 
ing (short, sharp, coughing roars) and crashing 
through the high thick grass, which had been 
badly burned, and therefore would not burn again, 
towards us without being able to tire a shot. As 
she emerged she swerved, and, firing in no end 
of a hurry at the same moment; ray bullet, I 
fancy, went over her. The next instant mj 
rifle was knocked yards away, and I was 
sprawling on my back with the lioness 
on top of me. Luckily, weighing a mere 
nothing, I had gone down like a ninepin 
with the lioness's weight and she therefore partly 
overshot me, only her stomach being oh my face 
and chest. Her foreclaws were busily engaged 
on the exposed hindquarters of one of my boys 
who had taken shelter behind me, and who, 
ostrich-like, had hidden his head in the grass, 
fondly imagining the rest of bis person invisible. 
My two gun-bearers, each with a spare loaded 
double-barrelled express rifle, bolted and surveyed 
the scene from a safe distance, leaving me to see 
it out as best I could. Neither attempted to come 
to my rescue or fire a shot. I escaped without 
a scratch, though a bit bruised and sore about 
the stomach and chest, but ray clothes were 
torn. The details of this little adventure will 
appear in ray .book (if it ever gets as far as being 
published) so I will not encroach on your space 
here. One's 
GUN-BEARERS 
are in 99 cases out of 100 the rankest cowards 
out in an emergency of this sort, and it is as 
well for sportsmen to realize that they have only 
themselves to depend on in a tight corner ; that 
not the slightest reliance is to be placed upon 
their gun-bearers. 
