ii6 
THE TROPICAL AQRiCULTURIST. 
[August i, 1891 
bnodlcB, ran past us fjllowfd by tlie others al 
frightened and panic~f tcickeii. Tbousauds of euemitoS 
had attacked the rear of our party unc had oveiihrown 
kU thoee who did not take to Hight. We did not try 
to rally the coolies ; it would have been useless. 
Followed by some of the most courageous iuclu- 
ding a Javanese mandor we returned to the rear and 
met Bakhuis. Ho had heard shotB and turning round 
gaw Van Baalten staggering out of the jungle 
and after going a few paces he placed his hand to his 
head and fell down. Van Alphtn had seen Balihuis 
fire, at some figures that suddenly came out of the wood 
and then disappeared agaiii in the thicket. llifl« fire 
was no use here. It waa a case for cn\m reflection 
and parley with tha enemy if poesible. 'What, could 
we, a handful of Europeans, do against such numerous 
enemies on ground known to be completely hostile. 
Do not shoot, was my order. These were the mcst 
painful momenta of the jouraey and they will always 
remain in my recollfcliun. The moment has come to 
express a word of sincere thanks to my fellow travellers. 
My time has been so much occupied that I have not 
been able to do so before. Then I leirntd to know 
them, not only ns men inspired by a holy love for 
science but as men who in the hour cf danger can be 
implicitly trusted. Whilst we stood there we decided 
on the one hand not under any consideration to take 
to flight and on the other to sell our lives as dtatly 
as possible. More shots were fired and the Javanofe 
mandor by my side fell mortally wounded. We found 
Van Raalteu with a bullet in his head a^ d klewang 
wounds on his body, lifeless on the path. The Malays 
had disappeared. All along the track gooiis that the 
coolies had carried were strewn about. A poition of 
the baggage had fallen into the hands of the robbers. 
Robbery, the Malay ideal, was the object of the attack. 
By degrees the coolies were persuaded to take up 
their loads, and we placed Van Rualten in a simple 
grave near where he was murdered. The expeni- 
tion between Logei Bambu and Ljnggam met n num- 
ber of natural obstacles. The hmd between Kampar 
and Kwantan is not as was supposed series of 
swamps but just hilly and with Cdmparativply little 
water. The formation of the land bttweeu Siak and 
Kampar differs little from that between Kwantan and 
Kampar only that it is more swampy in the neighbour, 
hood of the Siak river. The way through the Sumatr. n 
woods in high situalions is not difficult. They consist 
principally of upi'ight trees of three feet or more in 
thickness and fifty feet high under which there is a 
thin lean undergrowth of young timber that has not 
had sufficient air and light to make it fluurish pro- 
perly. Hera ten or twelve men armed with knives 
oan easily cut a path for the bearers. Where, how- 
ever, a thick growth of lulang or what is worse extensive 
Bwamps lie in the way then difficulties bi-gin. In the 
swarpps a sort of root tree grows which spreads out a 
network of roots which catch the feet ot the ex- 
hausted traveller as in a trap. Then the experienced 
catch hold of a branch, a creeper which offers support 
and his skin and flesh is torn by the eawshaptd bent, 
cutting thorns which are completely hidden Irom tho 
view by thick leaves and which cause intense pain 
Besides these difficulties there are those from the 
animal world. The wasps in the jungle and lalanff 
fields, when the unwary traveller sots his foot on a 
nest of them, spring up, and he then expeiierices 
the painful consequences of their anger on his face, 
neck, and other bare parts ot body. The hortefly 
sometimes comes in swarms and is very troublesome. 
But the worst of all is the ant. The ant, says the 
proverb, belongs to the east ; and this is true with regard 
to .Sumatra. All varieties of this insect are found in the 
woods, and fields ; from the tiny black one that bites 
and torments the victim whilst be seeks in vain lor him, 
to the gigantic red one. The population in -thi se 
regions do not regularly cultivate the land and they 
are constantly on the move. Poverty rather than 
afButnce is met with, as is usually (he case in thiL)3' 
populated lands. Tho Malay, however, is not discon- 
tented with his lot. We sfiw that the men as »vell 
as the wornon wo met had intidligent friendly facts. 
Tho m«u have a comic upiiearance boeausc they stroke 
upwards ths few email hairs that adoru their upper 
lips into a pointed miniature D oustacbe. Dajs passed 
without the travellers meetii g a single human being. 
Deer and pigs were comparatively scarce in the bush. 
On the other hand there were numerous traces of 
pBchyderme luch as the eiephent acd rbinoo<^ros. 
There were traces of fceara' claws in the trees, so 
that thete animals mu=t be there in comparatively 
large numbers. To find the way in these almost 
limitless unfrequented wcods is mest difiScult especi- 
ally for the Malay who has no compaea. The half 
cutting tbronth branches on their way is a help to 
'hem and these bud out again and in this way serve 
as sign posts for years. At Langcam on the Kam- 
par river on the 17tfa M>%rch the expedition met 
Brrgineer La Porte from Siak On the 31st of that 
menth the whole party arrived at Siak. Ot the coolies 
there were twenty behind on aecount of sickness 
and desertion. The speakt r finished his highly in- 
teresHng reading with the wish that the iron horse 
shou'd speedily break down the barrier which now 
separates the East Uoast from tbe West Coast of 
Sumatra which will bring welfare and civilization to 
the impassable woods and inhospitable lands. 
"HEMILEIA VASTATRIX." 
PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE, 
By WiLilAM PlilNGLE, M. S. C. I., 
LATE AGEICULTUEAL CHIMIST TO MESSBS. MATHESON &C0. 
IN COOECi. 
(Under special arrangement for puhlication in the 
''Ceylon Observer" and ''Tropical Agriculturist ") 
Coffee leaf disease, Hemileia vastatrix, has produced 
sn.cb. dire effects on the coffee of Ceylon and Southern 
India that most of your readers are quite familiar 
with the name, and a brief outline of the life 
history of this deadly parasitic fungus will probably 
prove interesting. Those who wish for fuller infor- 
mation are requested to carefully read Mr. Morris's 
and Mr. Marshall Ward's reports. 
I have carefully gone over the ground traversed 
by the latter gentleman, and can fully corroborate 
his statements. 
When a field of coffee is attacked by the disease, 
the bright glossy green of the leaves is changed to 
a dull yellow, and on examination the under surface 
of the leaves is seen to be covered more or less 
with an orange-colored powder. This powder is 
composed of myriads of spores of the fungus Hemileia 
vattatrrx. One of these uredo spores, sovm on the 
under side of a leaf of a tree, if the conditions of 
light, heat, moisture, and texture of the epidermis 
be suitable, will in ten to twenty hours germinate, 
and penetrate the stoma of the leaf ; if the medium 
on which it is planted prove unsuitable it dies, or 
may remain inert for months. On a coffee leaf 
Arabian species after germination in alaout three to 
five days a mycelium is formed, consisting of 
microscopic tubes. When these have absorbed all 
the food contained in the cell in which they were 
first formed, sucking organs are developed, which 
penetrate the n eighbouiing cell walls, feeding on the 
juices of the plant. As the cells' contents are removed 
and taken up by the fungus, so the mycelium extends, 
pushing its suckers into the surounding tissues ; when 
the cells are emptied a yellowish spot appears, 
generally visible about two to three days after the 
parent spore is planted. 
The rust patch is formed in about two to four 
days after the appearance of the yellow spot as a 
rule when the conditions are favorable. If the 
weather is unfavorable or the medium on which the 
spore was sown unsuitable, the development is greatly 
retarded, and a yellow spot may show on a leaf foj 
two or three weeks before any spores are shed, or 
they may not form at all. 
The rust patch is formed when the spores are 
forced up through the stomata. As the mycelium 
spreads, and increases in size, more spores are 
developed, and the patch of rust gro-ffs larger, radiating 
from a central point. 
