October i, 1891.] 
THIE TROPIOAt AQRIOULTURIST. 
369 
HOOD however, ran wild, and did muoh havoc 
among the pigeons and small birds. Mr. Ross 
has since -obtained a remarkable breed of fox- 
terriers which are more successful. These dogs go 
out in batches of twenty-five, every day, and the 
rat mortality is steadily on the increase. As in 
Chrismas Island, the large slate-coloured pigeon 
is abundant, A number of deer were seen, and 
jungle fowl are beautiful and not exceedingly 
difficult to get at. Fish are very plentiful and 
on a lake in the North Keeling Island, Mr, 
Robs has a breed of sea salmon or salmon trout 
which afford excellent sport for fishermen. A 
large green fish of heavy weight is plentiful. 
During the visit, the people on the " Rattler" caught 
two of these fish, one weighing 88 pounds and 
the other 50. For table purpose, it is said this 
figh cannot be surpassed. Altogether, to the natu- 
ralist or sportsman, the Cooos would well repay 
a visit. Shells in great variety and of great 
beauty are plentiful everywhere ; specimens have 
been brought back in the "Rattler," ranging in size 
from large shells of the oyster tribe which two 
or three sailors can barely carry, to tiny sheila 
of which a thimble would hold a dozen. The 
inhabitants have a wonderful collection of boats, 
and some of Mr, Ross's Una built boats would 
compete for speed with anything of their class 
anywhere. The islands have passed through one 
or two strange experiences of late years. Some 
seven years ago, when a volcano, 700 miles off, 
in the Straits of Sunda, was in eruption, the 
air became so full of scoriaceous matter that al- 
most total darkness prevailed for forty hours 
literally as in Egypt of old this was a " dark- 
ness that could be felt." It cs^n in fact be picked 
up by handfuis still in some parts of the island. 
Again some years ago a terrible typhoon struck 
the islands and destroyed almost everything, So 
violent was it that, in Mr, Ross's own house, 
there was not a single piece of furniture unbroken 
by this storm that crushed in doors and windows 
as if they were the flimsiest of obstructione. The 
only currency in the island is the notes signed 
by Mr, Ross, ranging in value from five rupees 
downward. Tlfese are used as cash for all kinds 
of trade and other insular transactions, and, when 
a man is leaving the islands, Mr. Eoss gives 
him a cheque for any notes he may possess. The 
coral growth of these islands is sufficiently rapid 
to upest. Admiralty survey doings continually, Mr. 
Boss estimates that above a certain depth the 
polyps build at the rate of nine inches a year. 
In course of time, this coral growth will join 
the islands into one. The officers of the "Rattler" 
have made new surveys during this voyage, so that at 
present, the soundings are known well enough. The 
anchorage at the Cooos is excellent.— Straits Times, 
1st. September. 
A JAPANESE OPINION ON TEA. 
A Japanese merohaut whose views are reproduced 
in the Jiyu, delivers the following opinion about Ihe 
ftiture_ of the export trade in tea and silk :— " The 
rooBt important staple ofi export in, Japan is silk, and 
after it, oome tea, coal, and rice- The futare of the 
triido iu ailk and tea is not bright. * * * As for 
tea, whioh stands next to eilk on the list, there is a 
demand for it in America and Russia; but in its case 
aluo the outlook is not goo i. Looking at the, figures 
of the ( xport trade during the past six years, we find 
that m 1885 the v»lue of the tea sent abroad aggre- 
gated 6,851,120 uen; in 188(3 it rose, to 7.720,320 (/ftj j 
in 1S87, it fell to 6,603,341 ; la, 1888, to 6,120,000 
1/an ; ill 188'J, to G,15t>,Q00 yen, and iu 1890 to 6,320,000 
yen. This deoliuiog, or. ett best, stationary, oouditiou 
IB due to varioua oau89B, th^ oWef oi \yhi«lj appeaf b 
to be gradnal development of tea cultivation in Ohina, 
India, and Ceylon, tea, of whioh places ia ousting ours 
in Western markets. The export of Indian tea in 
1887 amounted to 80,800,000 lb., in the followiog year 
it rose to 89,783,000 lb., and in 1889 the retnrus ehowed 
92,590,000 lb. Russia, again, to which Japan lias turued 
of late for a market, is beginning to grow qunnti- 
tiea of tea on her own account, so that that the piospect 
for importers beoomes less and less encouraging, Ou 
the whole, I conclude that for Japanese sericiiUuriats 
and tea-men alise the out-look ia far from favourable. 
— China Mail, 
LONDON TEA LETTER. 
As regards (he prices obtained for small single boxes 
of Fancy Tea, it seems hardly fair to those who have 
obtained good prices for real, commercial, breaks, to 
place the former in the " Honour List," thus caueing 
the more profitable Commercial Lines, to take a lower 
position on the " Honour List " than their real merit 
entitles them to. As any cMta sahib in hia first 
season on Tea, could, if he were allowed to play the 
fool, turn out a amall box of these Fancy Teas, the 
"Honour List," will, for the abovd reasons, the Season, 
take presedence of the " Fancy List," the latter being 
quoted, rather for the " fun of the thing " than for 
any more weighty reason 
HONODE war. 
Goomtee » . 
Darjeeling Oo. 
Jokai Co. (Bokel) 
Goomtee 
Jokai Co. (Panitola) 
Lebang 
Jokai Co, (Pauitola) 
. . 20 hf-chts Bro. Pek. ..2 6t 
.. 48 chests Pekoe 
„ 12 do Or. iPek. 
. , 24 ht-chts Or. Pek. 
22 chests. Bro. Or Pek. .2 
.,30 do do 
..17 do Or. Pek. 
FANCY LIST. 
Bramley (Ceylon) 
Box, Gold Tea 
Court Lodge (Ceylon) 
BeanmoQut do 
Eintyre do 
Do. do 
Gopalpore (Kangara) 
S. Leys (Ceylon) 
Drayton do 
* Refused. 
—Indian FlanUrs' Gazette, Sept. 11, 
Tip 
2 Boxes, bilver Tips 
1 Box, „ 
1 „ Gold Tip 
1 ,, Silver Tip 
1 „ Gold Pek. 
1 .. Gold Fly Peak' 
B. 
d. 
.2 
6i 
.2 
6 
.2 
4i 
.2 
3i 
,2 
3i 
'.•i 
34 
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7 
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6 
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5 
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3 
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2 
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1 
.6 
0 
.6 
6* 
.6 
0 
.5 
3* 
.5 
0* 
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0* 
.3 
9 
.3 
0* 
Plants Seeing, — It is odd to think of-plants as seeing, 
but Mrs. Robert King describes an experience in India 
that she regards as confirniiug her hu,sband'8 theory that 
creeping plants have some faculty akin to sight. Mr King 
was seated with one foot against a pillar, when a 
kind of convolvulus growing near was isteu to turu 
towards his leg, which was then kept uioii^iilcbd 
until, at the end of an hour, the tendrils had laid 
themselves over it. He then went to brtaklast, and 
on returning found that the plant had turued away 
iu disgust. A pole was procured and placed against 
the pillar about a foot from the nearest sprays of 
convolrulus, and in ten minutes they had begun to 
curve toward it, and in a few hours the tendrils had 
twisted quite around it. The pole was ou the side 
away from the light, aud the obserwis tiud it 
dithcult to account lor the phenomtnou except by 
assuming that the plant could see the pole. — MMura, 
Cultivator, 
[It more likely felt by some subtle influence the 
existence of au objeot suitable for its support. 
— Eb. T, A.\ 
