588 
THE TROPICAL AQRIGULTURIST. 
[February r, 1892. 
tages of aluminium for photographic lenses and the 
metal parts of cameras. Being so light it reduces the 
weight of the fittings to nearly one-third. He suggests 
its use in place of wood for the dark slides, and also 
for developing dishes, as it is very little affected hy 
the chemicals employed in photography. Any com- 
pounds that might be formed would not vitiate the 
picture. 
The first scientific account of the great earthquake 
in Japan has been given by Professor John Milne, 
the well-known seismologist, of the "University of 
Tokio. Mr. Milne was awakened at 6-S8 a.m. on 
October '2,Sth last by the oscillations of his house 
which produced a sense of dizziness and nausea. As 
recorded by his bracket seismograph, this continued 
for ten or twelve minutes. On examining these in- 
struments, he found that they were acting very im- 
perfectly, and failing to record the horizontal dis- 
placements, which in this case were accompanied 
by vertical motions. 
Mr. Milne's letter, which has appeared in ?J'afuir, 
and is dated November 7, bears witness to the ad- 
mirable self-command of the Japanese. There was 
no panic among the people of the district, although 
the earthquakes were in progress when he wrote, 
and no helplessness from hysteria or mental pros- 
tration. They hear the " boom " announcing a shock, 
and "run laughing into the middle of the street." 
•' As to what happens with Europeans under like 
circumstances, " says Mr. Milne. " I must leave 
readers to consult history. " Foreign buildings of 
brick and stone have suffered severly ; cotton milss 
have fallen in, and their chimney stacks have broken 
at half their height. Cast iron" columns supporting 
bridges have snapped near their basses : masonry 
piers have been destroyed in a similar manner; 
embankments have been shot away, brick arches 
have collapsed, and railway lines have been twisted 
into snaky folds and vertical waves. In the cuttings 
near the hills, however, the railway tract is un- 
affected. Here and there a Japanese temple or 
castle has escaped destruction, owing, Mr. Milne 
thinks, to the superior quality of the woodwork and 
jointing. The greatest havoc has taken place on 
the Okazaki-Gifu plain, where the opening of cre- 
vasses, the spurting of mud and water, the falling 
in of river banks, and other phenomena, marked 
the violence of the earthquake. 
Kelway's system of signalling by night at sea 
has the merit of simplicity. A board is studded 
with electric incandescent la.mps, and the connec- 
tions to the lamps are so arranged that in order 
to signal a given letter (say N) the lamps form- 
ing a group N are lighted. There is a keyboard 
for sending the currents into the proper lamps, and 
the keys are played like those of a type-writer. 
As most large vessels are now furnished with electric 
lighting plant, the system is in a fair way of being 
taken up and tried. 
The surveys for the proposal railway from Mombasa 
to the lakes of Central Africa will be conniienced 
at once under Captain J. K. Macdonald, u.e., and a 
staff of Indian pioneers (with native servants), lent 
by the Government. The work will be undertaken 
by the British East Africa Company. The surveys 
for the proposed line from the Pungwe River to Massi 
Kesse have already beeir made, The railway will 
start from the Pungwe at a point opposjts Inhambaji? 
and run to lobo on the Kiver Busi, thence across 
the wooded plains between the Pungwe and Busi. 
It will bo the work of the Mozambique Company, 
and the JUitish East Africa Company's line to Fort 
Balisbury will branch from it.—GMic. 
Tub Clove Auctions in Zanzibar.— Further par- 
ticulars have now been reotived of tbo first public 
Bslo o( cloves at Zanzibar. The Auction, as we 
have already annouocfd, took place on November 
21, at y a.m. The cloves offered wore Govcrnmt nt 
pioprrty, having been tendered (is " paymmt in 
kind," in disoharKO of txport duly. Mr. Gnriild 
I'ortal and General Matthews attended the sale, 
pnd before it began Mr. Portal addreaeed the roer. 
chants, briefly pninting out that the sale of 
Government property about to take place, though 
small in itself, vas really most iraportAnt as 
making a new departure in the trading system of 
Zanzibar. It was he hoped, one mora important 
step towards the development of the commerce of 
Zai.z bar Mr. Portal c-xpresped his firm belief in 
the practicability of m .king Zanzibar a great central 
market for Afrioa, and in conclusion stated that in 
a very short lime the Government hoped to remove 
tho few rcmainin..:; restrictions upon trade heri'', 
when he sfiid, all ideas of rivalry or j-alousy bet- 
ween Zarzibar and the coast territory must ceasa 
as the profperi y of one would tend to the pros- 
perity of a 1. The sale was well attended by oil 
European and Indian merchsnt^, and the stock 
ol'fert d was disposed ot at fair prices although 
h'.avy purchases for Bombay, during tho early part 
ol the \reek, somewhat restric'fd the demand. 
Prmba quality realised I'J-Se to 92 40 p?r frf zilch, 
and Zanzibar (new crop) $2 60 The management 
of the sales was in the hands of Mr. Hugh 0. 
Robert=on, the iteceiver of Revenue for the Zmzibar 
Government- The first sale proved a decided suc- 
feES, and it is hoped that the public Buo'ions 
which are to be held fortnightly will prove a 
beneficial cbaage from the plan formerly followed 
by selling tbo cloves privately. — Cliemist and 
DriKjijist, Deo. 18. 
Cinchona Canker and Quinine Factoeies in 
BniTi.sH I^.DI ■,. — Mr. Lawson the Indian Govern- 
ment botanist, is now or was when the last mail 
left in the 'VVj naad district of India engaged upon 
scmo interesting experiments for the cure of canker 
in c'nchona. The q'linine manufactory at Nedi- 
vatim has been a success and there is a rumour 
that a somewhat similar one is to bs establirhed in 
Sou'h "Wynaad on the cooperative system by the 
planters. There should be no difficulty (a corres 
ponJent thinks) in acoomplishing this work and 
the saving to iho planters would be very considerable ; 
the cost of carriage would be reduced to a minimum 
and all the money now paid for baling and 
shipping bark and to agents for analysing and 
selling irtculd be saved — to the tune ot 25 per cent, 
or more. With a quinine manufactory and two or 
three capacious tea' factories established in the 
country the 'Wynaad miy ye'; be rehabilitated and 
something like tho old prosperous days may be 
restored to the planters. — Chemist and Vrwjgist. 
Siam's Food Supply; — Referring to the scarcity of 
rice the Bangkoh Times says :— Burmah has ceased 
to export ; Tonkin is unable to supply anything 
like the quantity she did last year ; Japan neels 
nearly all ehe can harvest in this period ot 
calamity ; the crops in the Philippians ore barely 
sufficient for the sustenance ot the inhabitants, 
despite all the inducements in the shape of bounties 
offered by the Spanish Government; and in 8 am, 
judging from the clficial reports, we shall be lucky 
if this harvest produces one-fourth the average 
yi(;ld. In the Patriew district it is true there has 
'been an excellent crop, but we are assured that 
elsewhere not more that one twentieth of the ex- 
pected crop is to be expected. That being fully 
required for the sustenance of the population here, 
surely the Government will do well to take precau- 
tions against possible scarcity by prohibiting the 
whcl^salo exportation which is going on owing to 
the high p ices now offering in the surrounding 
countries. Last month three hundred and seventy- 
\\vB thousand piculs of rice, valued at rle.^rly 
750, QOO do lars, hft Siam— two-thirds of it for 
Singapore. In the correepondiii ' month oflastyear, 
\vith a moderately bountiful harvest, the export 
wftB only abtjwt ft quartev more, 
