Aug. 1, 1901.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
109 
with a total value of £4,906,000. Of this 5,100 tons 
went to theUuited StHtes, 4 466 to.^s to. the vmt^'d 
Kingdom, 260 tons to France, fifty tons to it'i.V- 
and twelve tons to other European countries. Ihe 
total export of entrefine amounted to 1,124 tons, with 
a value of '£402.000. This was about eqimUy 
divided between the United Kingdom and the United 
States, a small quantitv going to France and 
Italv. The State of Para produced 4,U0O tons ot 
Sernambv, Amazonas 913 tons, Peru forty tons, 
Bolivia 235 tons, making a total of -^,188 tons, valued 
at £901,000. Of this amount the "United States 
received 4,398 tons, the United Kingdom 664 toiis 
France 115 tons, and Italy eleven tons. Uf 
Caucho amounting to 1,092 tons, valued at 
£21(^,000, chiefly nroduoed in the Sw.te of Amazo- 
nas, about one-haff went to the United States and 
Europe.— 7?idio-i?ui&e)- Trades' Journal, May 13. 
THE ALDABRA ISLANDS. 
AN OUTPOST OF EMPIBE : LEASED FROM THE 
SEYCHELLES GOVERNMENT, 
The curious group of islands lying north- 
west of Madagascar, andknown as the Aldabra 
group, have recently changed hands. Ihe 
Government of the Seychelles Islands, of which 
politically Aldabra forms part, has leased the 
group for a term of thirty years to Messrs 
Bates, Bergne&Co., acting forthe Hon. Waiter 
Rothschild, M f., and themselves. Mr Roths- 
child's interest in the islands is probably de- 
rived from their remarkable fauna. Aldabra 
is almost the sole habitat of that antediluvian 
relic, the gigantic land tortoise, and is cer- 
tainly the only spot in the world where that 
reptile flourishes. Some of these tortoises 
might have been seen in the Bombay Dock- 
yard last September on their way to Mr. 
Rothschild's zof. logical gardens at Triiig Park. 
Certain birds and insects, too, are believed to 
be peculiar to these islands. Besides Aldabra 
proper, which consists of a nng of land 
broken by channels and surrounding a lagoon 
about fifty square miles in extent, the group 
includes Cormoledo, an atoll of similar forma- 
tion Astove and Assumption Islands. At the 
west end of the Aldabra lagoon there a hue 
landlocked harbour named after H.M.ti. 
Euphrates, and capable of giving shelter to 
the largest fleet. Owing to the large volume 
of water in the lagoon and the lacJi of 
sufficient outlet the tides are at timeS very 
strong, which is rather a drawback Aldabra 
itself contains little land capable of cultiva- 
tion ; on the other islands, However, there 
are hundreds of acres suitable for coconut 
plantation, and the lagoons and coasts ot the 
whole group swarm with fish and turtle, 
including the hawksbill variety, the source 
of the so-called tortoise-shell. An interest 
attaches to these islands from another point 
cf view. In 1894 the French flag was hoisted 
on Glorioso Island, less than one hundred 
miles south of Astove. Before that date 
Glorioso, with some adjacent islets, had been 
considered British territory and was included 
in the list of the Dependencies of Mauritius. 
Aldabra is now the outpost of the British 
Empire to the west of the Indian Ocean, with 
the Comoro Islands, Glorioso and Madagascar 
stretchiDg in a French semicircle from the 
south west to the south-east. Glorioso was 
lost, it is said, solely from the lack of a British 
flag or from the neglect to hoist it ; it is to 
be hoped that the lessees of AldS^bra will 
take proper precautions against similar 
aggression. — Tunes of India, July 1st. 
TROUT AND GAME IN NEW ZEALAND. 
The Aucklan i Acclimatisation Society is 
doing its best to stock with trout all the 
suitable streams in the district, but their 
efforts are greatly discounted by the devas- 
tations of shags. If, therefore, the country 
settlers desire to profit by the efforts of the 
society, they would do well to further their 
intention by the destruction ot these voraci- 
ous birds. Few people are aware of the havoc 
they make. The number of young fish they 
destroy is almost incredible ; some persons 
put the number they devour as high as 50 per 
cent of those distributed. — Auckland Weekly 
News, June 7. 
Mr. Ernest Grogan, the African explorer, 
has been in communication with the Wel- 
lington Acclimatisation Society, and has in- 
formed it that there are many varieties of 
African game which would adapt themselves 
admirably to a New Zealand environment, 
and indeed thrive vigorously on the 
vast waste spaces of the north. He is 
insistent, however, that any importation of 
the best varieties which are projected must 
immediately be undertaken, because several 
of the species are on the verge of extinction. 
Indeed, he says, the transportation of these 
species to the colonies is the only means to 
prevent thein being entirely lost sight of. 
Mr. Avson, Inspector of Fisheries, is cir- 
cularising the various Acclimatisation Socie- 
ties of the colony, asking them to co operate 
with the Government in securing the impor- 
tation of South African game of different 
varieties, as recommended by Mr. Ernest 
Grogan, — Netv Zealand Mail (Wellington) 
June 6. 
BRAZILIAN "RUBBER" FARMS FOR 
SALE. 
We have before us descriptions of several " rubber 
farms "in the Amazou river couat;ry that are for sale. 
Some of them are offered by the proprietors, and 
others hy banks at Para, which, having made advances 
to the ov/ners of the "farms," have tnken over the 
properties in default of payment. We do not know 
the merit of these particulas opportunities for invest- 
ment, but the fact that they exist suggests several 
points of interest. 
In the first place, the rubber gathering busiuess prob- 
ably is better organized than most of us hitherto 
have supposed. It appears that the 60,000,000 pounds 
or more of rubber annually exported from the Amazon 
is not gathered mainly by half-savages, roaming in 
vast forests, tapping at random such rubber trees as 
they may chance to find. It would require more than 
such haphazard methods to form the basis for the 
business of the ba.iks and mercantile houses of Para 
and Manaos, the hundr. d or more steamers on the 
Am &zon, and the rubber-carrying ships on the Atlantic 
wh ich transport, not infrequently a cargo of rubber 
wo ith $1,000,000 or more. 
On the contrary, each of the " rubber farms " is 
desciibed as ccnsistirg of a definite number of estradas 
(paths, or roads), marked out so as to give reaoy and 
certain access to the paitioular rubber trees lo be 
