IE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [SEPfEMBER i, 
conclusively that the British North Borneo Company 
have acquired tho whole of the St. Lucia Bay and 
the two rivers Sri Nengars and Sme Syldang. 
These rivers were surveyed from the mouth right up 
to the source which was found to be eighteen 
miles away. They are in point of fact nothing 
more or less than a variety of creeks, with an 
unusual abundance of mangroves that run out for 
a great distance in the waters. It wps discovered 
that this part of Borneo consists of one great df Ita, 
which makes it feasible for a traveller to go from 
South to North, by using creeks only, for a distance 
of over fifteen miles from the coaBt. There is a 
prevailing idea that by the means of these livprs 
the forest products of British North Borneo huvo 
been drained and smuggled out of tho territory, 
across or down the rivers into the land possessed 
by the Dutch. The"Banda" and the '"Battler' 
have removed all the discrepancies that existed 
with regard to the demarcation of the two borders 
and indeed, when a comparison came to be made, 
it was found that the surveys of both parties 
corresponded in nearly every detail. The parallel 
latitude of 4.10 N. has been beaconed ofl with large 
beacons, with the Dutch flag shewing to the 
Southward, and the English flag shewing to the 
Northward, in every direction over the eighteen 
miles as far as these rivers extend. The whole 
place has been completely and satisfaotorly settled 
by observation J and owing to the immense man- 
grove swamps, great difficulty was experienced in 
finding an observatory spot. The country in the 
vicinity seems to be devoid of ftuit but there seemed 
to be any number of pigs and wild boar. The 
people on board the " Itattler " managed to get no 
less than eight pigs in one day which averaged 
when dressed, about 80 lbs each. The entire survey 
was completed in the course of a month, and then the 
ships came to Singapore, — Straits Times, July 15th. 
NEWS 
PLANTING AND MERCANTILE 
FROM WESTERN INDIA. 
(From a Correspondent) 
Crops in Coorg this year promise well, but without 
doubt leaf diseafce is slowly and surely doing its full 
work, although not with the rapidity it did in Ceylon ; 
despite what Messrs. Elliot, Pringle and Hunt 
and others, who you sometimes quote in your 
columns, may say. Mr. F. Noone, late of 
Sabonadi^re's, has joined Messrs. Alston Low & 
Co., and is stationed at Mangdlore in charge of the 
branch there. As a Mr.Chisholm, a large proprietor 
in Coorg, who was aown here the other day, said on 
hearing the firm had engaged him : " You Ceylon 
people are the ' Yankees ' of the East. You gradually 
shove yourselves in, and then jou fill your billets 
with other Ceylon men," Tlie reply no doubt was : 
" The fact is, Ceylon is an unoomtL.on good training 
ground for anyone connected with esLates, and 
the eccentricities and amenities connectod '.vith a 
planting community," 
BAliK AND DEUG EEPOKT. 
(From the Chemist and Druggist. ) 
London, Jul IGth. 
Cinchona.— Tho supply of bark offered aC the fort- 
nightly Bale on TueButiy was less Ihaii ou the laot occa- 
Biou. but the Bales WLie almost as large, as the follow. 
Ing figurea show : — 
Packages Packages 
Ceylon cinchona 45.5 o£ whioli 414 wore sold 
Eas.t Indian cinchona l,2i7 do 1,C04 do 
.7av:i cii/choaa .... 2') du do 
boiilh AlaCriciin 
cinchona .... Iiil do 0 da 
CupK.a bark 110 uo iiu do 
Total 1,981 do 1,5.;; il" 
At, the previous Jes J,(j7y CBeB were gold, eniiiYaleal 
to 371,701 lb ot bark, whereas this week 34;ri,6U lb were 
actually disposed of. There was no feature of spe ial 
interest in th<" sales, fnd although Lidding w^s at uo 
time very aniiTiated, yet priccti wer? ou the whole firm. 
The unit is uot quoteably higher than it was a fort- 
night ago-viz, IJd per Ibfor m&nufaoturiug-bark. Ceylon 
and East Indian barks sold readily, nearly all that 
were nob sold being taken back by the brokers on ac- 
aocourt of the bidding not coming up to their expecta- 
tions, but in most instsnoes there was a t>icit under- 
st 'nding between certain bidders and Ibe brokers. There 
was a large supply of cultiva'ed Holivian Calisiya bark 
in firm large quills. Altoge'her there was :i7.03u lb of 
if, mostly in good condition. Ih-- broker stayed scarcely 
30 secouils in the pnlpit over the lot. no hit'her bid 
than e}fl be ng reached, then, with a knowiut* look to 
a bidder, he bought in the 161 pacT«age3 at 8d, Bid- 
ding "for the pile" was somewhat brisker than usual, 
and was g' ing on unintHrruptedly until the sales were 
hilf done, when Mr. Duvid floward goodnaluredly said 
that " the room " must have some understanding as to 
hfiW far that ci.stom should go. It was not alwuya a 
wise course to adopt; at sny rate, they could not make 
a pile of one bale espeola ly a bale so badly damaged 
that it could not stand by itself. The wisdom of these 
remarks was exemplified later when a broker was almost 
accppting a price for "a pile" some bales of which were 
afterwards sold at from |d to lid higher than the price 
offered by the bidder for the lot. 
THE LAEGEST FLOWEE IN THE WORLD. 
In the farthest southeastern island of the Phillip- 
pine group, Mindinao, upon one of its mountains, 
Parag, in the neighbouri ood of the highest peak 
on the island, the volcano, Apo, a par'y of botani- 
cal and eihnographioal explorers found, recently, at 
the height of 2,500 feet above the sea lev^l, a 
colossal flower. The discover. Dr. Alexander Soba- 
denberg, could scarcely believe his eyes when he 
saw, amid the iowgrowing bushes, the immense buds 
of this flower, like gigantic brown cabbage heads 
but he was still more astonished when he found 
a specimen in full bloom, a five-petaled flower 
nearly a yard in diameter — as large as a carriage 
wheel, in fact. This enormous blossom was borne 
on a sort of vine creeping on the ground. The 
native who accompanied Dr. Schadenberg called 
it bolo. 
The party had no scale by which the weight of 
the flower could be ascertained, but they improvised 
a swinging scale, using their boxes and specimens 
as weights. Weighing these when opportunity 
served, it was found that a single flower, weighed 
22 pounds. It was impossible to transport the 
fresh flower, so the travell rs photographed it, and 
dried a number of its leaves by a fire, Dr, Scha- 
denberg then sent the photographs and specimens to 
the Eoyal Botanical Gardens, Breslau, where the 
learned director immediatety recognized it as a 
species of Eafflesia, a plant formerly discovered in 
Sumatra, and named after the English Governor 
Sir Stamford Eafllesia. The new flower was accord- 
ingly natned Eafflesia Schadenbergia. 
Thn live petals of this immense flower are oval 
and creamy white, and grow around a center filled 
with coantless lorg violet hued stamens, thicker and 
louger in the fertile flower than in the infertile. — 
Gardener. 
Desiccated Coconuts. — In reply to your enquiry as 
to tho number of nuts it takes to niake up lOO lb. 
of tbe above, in case nobody I.hs obliged you with 
the actual figures, ^ou can I think reckon on 1000 
niiN yo'lOiog between 300 to 350 lb. of de^-'icof.ted 
coconut accuidiug I o the seasons. It takes lOOO good 
oncn.uts to give 560 lb. of wi'll-drii ri co: ra. But 
nuts before btin„ d '.siccated are sh ived o* the brown 
ont'T coveririg oi the kernel, finl are dritd more 
tLau coiira over is,— Cur., local "E.^aminer." 
