July 1, 1901.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
29 
on it a Paetolean stream of gold is flowing into 
the pockets of British shippers, commission agents, 
agriculturists, insurance ageatSj and stockholders of 
the company working it. 
Early Development. 
The story of tiie island — which is situated in 
S. lat. 10(leg-3omin. E long. 105 deg. 42 miu. — 
is romantic and of more than passing interest. 
Its discovery in the commercial sense dates from 
tl\c days of the ' Challenger ' expedition. That 
expedition cost this country £300,000, and there 
have been many who have carped at the expen- 
diture of so large a sum for results which appar- 
ently were of little value in an ordinary utilita- 
rian sense. 
The expedition has, however, been the indirect 
means of adding Christmas Island to the British 
Crown, and in years to come Singapore, and the 
mother country also, are likely to receive from it 
alone much more than thecost of the Expedition, the 
leading scientific member of which was convinced, 
in face of the eminent geographer's report quoted 
above, that there was value scientifically and 
also commercially in the island. His researches 
among the deep-sea deposits in the vicinity of 
the island led him to this conclusion, and,i!i order to 
secure protection in developing it, he pressed the 
Government in 1887 to take over the island, ob- 
taining the assistance of the late Duke of Argyll, 
and Christmas Island was formally annexed by 
the British Government in the following year, a 
lease extending over a hundred years being granted 
to this scientist and Mr Olunies Koss of the Cocos- 
Keeling Island, jointly, at a yearly rental of £150. 
The prospecting of the island covered fully a 
decade, and finally a small private Company, com- 
posed of a tew men eminent in the worlds of 
science, chemistry and engineering, was formed. 
This Company, as if by a magician's touch, has 
transformed what was previously only a haunt of 
bats and rats and a resting-place for sea-birds into 
a basis for the output of one of the most valu- 
able feitilisers known to modern agriculturists. 
Within a single year after the commencement of 
operations, the hidden wealth of the island has be- 
gun to teem from it, and quarters of the world as 
distant as England and Germany and Australia and 
Japan are absorbing it,s manurial treasure and 
calling out for increased supplies. 
Full of Phosphates. 
To return to the island. This up-raised top of a 
submarine mountain, round which seas run down 
almost perpendicularly from its shores to a depth 
of three English miles, is but ten miles long and 
seven broad with an area of 46 to 50 square miles. 
As already indicated, it rises out of waters 
deeper than those which surround any other trop- 
ical island. 
Moreover, from a scientific point of view, it is 
the most interesting island on the face of the earth. 
When the pioneer inhabitant pitched his tent on 
the virgin shoreland of the isle, he could only dis- 
cover two species of bats, two species of rat?, and 
a shrewinouse. These were the, only mammals. 
Down to the very water's edge the surface ot the 
islands is covered with vegetation. Slopes, clad 
with trees, ' tall as Norwegian pines,' through 
which nocliing is visible but glints of the sky, lead to 
a great central plateau, some 800 to 90@ feet above 
the sea level, and the highest peak in the island, 
called Murray Po'nt, is 1,100 feetab!)ve the level 
of the Indian Ocean. The plateau is covered with 
excellent soil, so rich that all tropical fruits and 
plants grow luxuriantly, and a special form of 
sago may yet find its way to the markets of the 
world from Christmas Island. 
The plateau is one long succession of blocks of 
phosphate varying in depth down to 40 feet. At 
present these blocks are picked up from the roots 
of the trees and exported They are white almost 
as snow, and full of pure phosphace of lima to the 
extent of 85 percent. Great difficulties were for 
a time encountered in obtaining an anchorage, 
and as many as ten barges have been lost but 
th ese difficulties have now been overcome in Fly- 
ing Fish Bay, and on shore a line of railway, two 
miles in length, carries the phosphate to the' point 
of embarkation. During last year 30,000 tons of 
phosphate were exported, giving a profit of 73 
per cent on the capital ; within a year, it is con- 
fidently hoped, the output will rise to at least 
100,000 tons. Even then the wealth of phosphate 
will only be tapped, and the supply at a much 
greater rate of output will easily outlast the term 
of the lea.se. —Singapoi'e Free Press, May 7. 
German Publication on Tea Planting * 
—We have to thank Mr. J H Kenton, oiir 
tea commissioner, for a copv of a supplenifint 
to the " Tropenpflanzer " the organ of the 
Colonial Husbandry Committee, forming the 
May number of this periodical. Ifc fs a 
pamphlet of some 80 pages and gives the 
results of very recent research and work 
whether of Mr. Kelway Bamber's or the writer's 
own analytical and chemical work. But it 
also explains very fully the processes of 
planting and tea-making, goes into the soils 
and climate required for profitable planting 
the questions of labour and profits per acre'. 
In fact we can imagine no more complete 
statement of the whole case in a nutshell 
than this brochztre, and one well brought 
up to date. Tke pages upon fermentation 
and the relative values of first, second, third 
fourth and old leaves in the analysis are 
especially interesting'; the writer also goes 
into the effects of light or heavy rolling- 
and of various methods of withering which 
will all well repay a careful study by those 
who can manage the German. 
KuBBBR IN Perak.— Mi. Derry, Superin- 
tendent of Government Plantations, has iust 
published a very encouraging report which 
we shall reproduce in full in the Tropical 
Agriculturtst. Moderately tapping 82 trees 
Para rubber, averaging 14 years in age 
between March 1899 and July 1900, a har- 
vesting of 32711). best quality and 33 'lb. scrap 
rubber was got, and sold in London at 3s lOd 
for the former (pronounced equal to best 
Para), and 2s 6d for the latter. The net 
proceeds were £61 Is 6d which must be pro- 
nounced very handsome. Mr. Derry thinks 
that 200 trees to the acre at 6 or 7 years 
old might be able to give as good a return, 
—say, 2 lb per tree, in place of the 4 lb 
gathered from each M-year old tree. But 
that has yet to be proved. Still the result 
is very encouraging to the planters of Para 
rubber in suitable soil and climate, and the 
margin of profit seems wide enough to cover 
all contingencies.— In theKalutaradistrict, we 
believe, 4 lb. per tree have been got from trees 
10 years old. 
* BeihefteJZam Tropenpflanzer. No, 2. Mai. l<)m 
BGrliB,N,W.Unterd8nLindeH40i. -iwi, 
* 
