684 THE TROtJ»IC)Si/L AtJmCt3LTUR!ST. [March i, 1892. 
The Soil. 
"What ia the nature of the soil ?"— " Of all 
possible kinds. We huva alluvial soil, coral soil, 
voloanio soil, and soil formed by the decomposi- 
tion of vegetable matter ; sandy soil, snrface soil, 
in faot, any sort of soil desired We have granite 
islands and volcanio islands, areas 00 vered with 
dense forests and largo patohea coven d with long 
grass or weeds. The eucalyptus fiourishMo in portions 
of New Guinea, an I hardwood can be fcund in any 
quantity from the Dutch boundary to t) le Louieiada 
group," 
A Portrait of the Papdan, 
How few in Gieat Britain have an y conception 
of what travelling is in a counti-y which has 
never been touched by the toot of a white 
man! Since the island fir-it "rose from the 
dark swelling flood," Nature has had most y 
her own way in New Guinea. The duili y inhabitants 
have lived in a primitive state , tilled their 
gardens, drunk the milk of the coconut, caught 
fish in the streams, and with the spea r and bow and 
arrow hunted for men and bpasts over the wild 
woods and rugged mountains of Papus i. They have 
learned to carve and to dance, and to build castles 
in the air— supported by trees- and. standing in 
their frail canofs, to row with am:azing agility. 
They have no knowledge of the art of writing, 
and their only attempt at drawing, so far as bas 
been discovered, is a representation of a human 
figure, done in colnucs— red clay and charcoal— 
which Sir William found on a palm leaf while 
exploring the Fly Eiver. Their languages, or 
dialects, are closely related, so it is clear that they 
have sprung from the same stock ; they love — 
platonieally, paternally, and fraternally— as no other 
people love ; they believe in some distric<,a that 
when the soul leaves the body it sinks into the 
utter void of nothingness," in other places that it 
takes refuge on a remote island ; an l. a large 
section holds that the spirit takes up its habitation, 
on the tops of mountains. They believe that all 
spirits are bad, but they worship no goda, fear no 
devils, and acknowledge no Creator. They have 
no vehicles, consequently th«y have made no roads ; 
and in trying to pierce this strange, uatracked, 
and piotureeque land the exporienoesof Sir William 
Maegregor, its pioneer and .apostle, are almost as 
adventurous as those of John Hanniag Speke in 
his efforts to discover the source o£ the Nile. 
Travelling in Dark New Guinea. 
The preparations made for travelling are simple 
enoughi "We prepare some tea and sugar, rice, 
and tinned meat, arms and ammunition, a fly and 
moequito net," said Sir William. "Then we 
have carriers and men +0 cut the roads. We walk 
all day ; horses cannot travel, and camels would 
be useless to us. the country is so rocky and pre- 
cipitous. At night time I and my attendant lie m 
our little tent, and the natives sleep under the trees. 
We start again early in the morning. In this way 
we travel from day to day. When one of the party 
gets footsore he is left behind. A stock of medicines 
is always carried, with tonics for the fever-stricken. 
I Sir William is an m.d.] Travelling ia very slow. 
1 have travelled aa little aa a quarter of a mile 
in one day, being very hard at work to that. One 
of the hardest days I have ever ha ! was m doing 
1 700 ft The scrub is sometimes excessively dense, 
and it is often ditlicult to find a passage over t!io 
rocks and precipici K. We have to Ret our baggage 
across rivers. Only one bridge, I think, has bfen 
found in New (iluinea." At present the na- ives do 
not give explorers much trouble, but they put 
signals on the trees as a warning to strangers not 
to' approach their villages. Great difflculty is often 
experienced on new rapid rivers.— Mall (lauUe. 
The British North Borneo Herald in reviewing 
the past year holds that the tobacco industry there 
has fully asserted the fact that the country can 
grow a quality of tobacco equal to, and even 
superior to that of Sumatra, and dwells upon the 
alleged faot that Borneo has beaten Sumatra by 
at least 30 per cent m prices ; and that in 
addition Bnroao tobacco is now being aaxioualy 
enquired for. — Straits imes, 
" All about Coffee" in the Queenslander has 
the following m*roauo ion : — 
That the coffee plant has found a congenial home 
in Queensland has been amply demonstrated in al- 
most all the Northern coast districts, and recently 
in the Buderin Mountain district, where the crops 
promise to be phenomenal. In the North the driest 
season seemed to affect the plant but little, judging 
by the luxuriance of its dark green foliage when that 
of most other plants was yellow, and by the unusually 
heavy crops of cherries produced. 
Uu whioU we hava only to repeat the remark we 
have so fr<-quen ly made : cutl'ee will grow well in 
Queensland, but witaout cheap labour it will not pay. 
Milk of Elephants. — The following ia extracted 
from the Calcutta Gazette of Tuursday, 21st Nov. 
1816:— 
"The following advertisement appeared in a late 
English paper. The schdroe of converting milk into 
pills, ia not the leist carious part of the nostrum. 
The astonishing effect of the Milk of Elephants has 
seriously attracted th» attention of the medical world ; 
by which mercury, that deleterious poison, which has 
swept millions of unhappy wretf-bes to their graves, 
ia totally snperserted and abolished for ever. Mr. 
Campbell, ot the Royal College of Surgeons, No. 29, 
Marlboroueh-street, London, ia appointed to conduct 
this medicine, Tbe poor are cured of the moat 
dangerous diseasei for 5 shillings. The medicine ia 
sold at 11 shilling the ba ttle, or in pills at 2a 9d, 
witli directions, whereby any person may cure him- 
self most effectually, in cases of deblity, &c., &e. 
— To be bad, if ordered from all mediciae Bcllers 
througout the Kingdom. ' 
Padi Cultivation in the Malay Native Statess. 
— The Governor of the Straits Set lements bas 
directed a letter to the Residents of the Native 
States on the subject of the rice-supply of thia 
Colony, which ia published in the Peark Govern- 
ment Gazette for the information of Members of 
the Council of States, District Magistrates anl 
others. It says: — 
While aware that the Kesidonts of the Native States 
have not by any m^ans overlooke>! the importance 
of promoting the cultivation of padi, His Excellency 
is of opinion that the lime has come for renewed 
and perhaps more sustained efforts in the same direc- 
tion : and he will be glad, therefore, if the subject 
fib uld engage the earueafc attention of the Perak State 
Council. 
Before, however, this is done His Excellency desires 
that tbe District Officers be called on io report as to 
available laud and as to the steps necessary to get it 
opened up. 
With the body of information thin obtained, taken 
together with the knowledge and experience of the 
Sultin and other Members of the State Council, His 
Escelleiicy considers that it ought to be practicable 
to improve the existing state of aft'^iirp, and largely 
extend the cultivation of padi thronyh Jut the Peninmlar, 
and I am to say that it the Govtrnojent can iissist 
ia the way of getting good seed padi from places 
outside the Colony the necosa iry steps will readily be 
taken. 
I am to add that the opportunity might be taken 
of considering the question of introducing tbe cultiva- 
tion of some ot those grains, such as dholl and 
ragi, which are in general use among the Indian 
population. — Slngaiwrc Free ress. 
