THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [May 2, 1892. 
samples in a box near by I find lhat each capsule con- 
tains about forty seedB. The leaves are heart-shaped 
and pointed, and the blossoms, which my specimen 
does not show, are large and of a peach-blossom 
colour, and grow in loose clnaters at the ends of the 
branchea. The shrub, for such the anotto tree reolly is, 
rarely exceeds cifiht ( r ton feet in height. The tree 
18 very pretty when the capsules are ripe, the vivid 
i-ed colour of the clusters of pods or oapsnles con- 
trasting very beautifully with the rich, dark green 
leaves. The colonr of my preserved specimens baB 
ohangcd somewhat, beiDg now nearer a chocolate 
brown. The seeds are pathered from the pods, put 
un in bags and exported in large quantities from 
Jamaioii. In some cases the natives obtain the anotto 
pure by rubbing off the pulpy pellicle which covers 
the seed. In this case the pulp is pressed into square 
cakes and wrapped in the leaves of the tree itself. 
While at St. Ann's Bf>y, my host, Mr. A, D. Jacobs, 
took me out and showed me, piled up near the water's 
edge, several cords of logs each about eight inches in 
thickness and about four feet lonp. "That," said Mr. 
Jacobs, " is quaspia wood." This tree, known in the 
West Indies as Picraena, quassia being the name given 
to it by the Slaroous, grows almost everywhere in 
Jamaica principally quite near the coast, so cuttii.K it 
and transporting it to points of shipment are com- 
paratively easy. It is a very lofty tree, and very beau- 
tiful as well. This is the species from which the 
quassia cups and quasia chip?, bo well known to us, 
are obtained. Growing up at a higher altitude, and 
at some distance from the coast, I found another species 
of quassia. This one ia known to botanists as Simaruha. 
It is a shrub ten or fifteen feet high, and bears beauti- 
ful bright red flowers. This viood is very bitter and 
very much stronger than the other ; and being scarcer, 
at a greater distance from the coast, and superior as 
a drug, it has a greater commercial value. — Pharma- 
ceutical Journal, March 19. 
^ ^ 
TAMIL COOLIE LABOUR. 
TO THE EDlTOIi OP THE " STRAITS TIMES." 
Sir, — As a probable employer of a very large force 
of Tamil or Kting labour over here in tbe near future, 
I trust you will allow me space to recoad a protest 
against the action of the Madras Government in placing, 
as it does, every impediment in the way of planters 
importing free Tamil labour into the Stratis and in 
saddling thi't Colony with a burden, in the shape of tbe 
exciting Indian Immigration Ordinance, the undoubted 
working of which crippl^s extetided agricultural opera- 
tions here. The whole question is one which I am 
aware has been thoroughly threshed out aiid dealt 
with by far abler pens then mine, ao, without attempt- 
ing to criticise the Ordinance at any length, I shall 
merely endeavour, by a statement of what I mjself 
have seen of its working, demonstrate bow nearly 
akin to "Ctnal slavery is the couditian of the unfor- 
tunate Tamil crolie who is despatched over here nnder 
the wing of the over-patemal Madras Government 
88 compared to that of his "free" brother. It is my 
firm belief if this wonderfully rich Peninsula is 
to become one of the first if not the very first only 
coffee producing countries of the world, it can only 
be with the assiatBnce and cheorfnl co-operation of 
the Tamil coulie. Ensily conteudeH, capable of getting 
through an enormona itmountnf honest work, quiet, 
and amenab'e to discipline and, abnvp, all a con- 
firmed stttltr* I doubt very much if there 
is a better all-round npricnltural labourer in 
the world than tie Tamil coolie. But this little 
word must be spelt with a big P, he ia gifted 
with a viry teen and iiice appreciation of Jvstice. 
You may be Lard on him but if jou are at the same 
time (sir, he will even take it in good p.irt when, 
having been unwittii'gly unjust to him, you make 
* Surely, this is only partially true ? More have 
settled in Mauritius than ia desirable ; and a good 
many arc settling in Trinidad, lint in places so near 
homo as Ocylou and the Straits, only a Hmall propor- 
tion setUe ?— lip 'J', A. 
reparation; but he will do nothing for you if yoa 
are consistently unjust, and this I unhesitatingly 
assert a man is bound to be if, amongst his coolies 
are any Statute Immigrants, or, in other words, natives 
of India brought over under the protection of Govern- 
ment. 
For an adult male the minimum rate of wages in 
the case of an indentured coolie is fixed by the I I. 
Ordinace at 14 cents a day for the 1st year »nd 16 
cents frr 2nd year ; for a woman 10 cents and 12 
cents. Free labourers or cjolies who have come over 
independent of Government and of contracts made by 
the Indian Immigration Agent, are paid on estates up 
to 25 cents a day for men and women up to 20 cents. 
Coni-equeently, the ridiculous anomaly of a coolie work- 
ing alougsideof another man in no way his superior as 
a worker, Ort little more than half the other's' ''^ ^ 
matter of everyday occurrence. Can anything be more 
unjust than this? and I ask would any labourer in the 
world work under conditions such as these ; and more 
than this, if the unfortunate wretch refuses to work, 
he can be sentenced at the instance of hia employer 
to 3 months imprisonment, because he contracted, be- 
fore he ever came to the country, when he was little 
more than a savage with the vaguest ideas of what was 
before him, to work for at least 3 years on about half 
what he could have got, without binding himself down 
in any way, had be been only a little wiser and cot 
quite BO wild when be was first caught ! The natural 
question which any one reading the above will ask is 
" why then not pay the statute Immigrant the 
same wages as the free labourer and so equalise 
matters T' Because the contract in the case of 
the former is entered into through the Imigra- 
tiou Agent, before the planter sees the coolie with 
whom bo is contracting, and before he can judge of 
his capabilities as a worker, and also because the 
large majority of Statute Immigrants are not only 
worth 25 centa^ but also are worth absolutely noth- 
ing at all. As an instance of this, a somewhat ex- 
treme instance I will allow I know of a case when a 
woman with no less than 3 children and no husband 
or breadwinniLg friend, was sent over under a 3 
yeara agreenaent (D a daily wage of 10 cents, out of 
which ahe had not only to keep herself and her 
children, but payoff her debt as well ; the ^e^ult was 
she very Eoon realized that she had undertaken to do 
what was quite impossible, collapsed altogether, and 
was eventually shipped back to India at ihe espeuse 
of the estate the Manager writing off the whole of 
what, he had cost him as " Loss by Coast Advances." 
Now, if the Immigration Agent had explained fully to 
her thie nature ot the contract upon which she was 
entering, a-^he is supposed to do, he must have known 
she was quite unfit to carry out her engagement and 
should not have allowed her ta come over here; if 
he did not do so why did he not. He is paid to do 
this amongst other things, and cannot be exonerated 
from blame whichever way 5 0U look at it. 
Now as a set off Bc;aiDat his meagre wages, the 
Statute Immigrant is entitled to sufljcient house ac- 
commodation, good water, proper sanitary arrangements 
aavances of food at wholesale market prices, hospital 
accommodation, medical attendance and medicines 
when he requires them ; but here again he is no 
better off than his " free" brother, who gets all of 
these things, too, except hospital accommodation, 
and when be is ill enough to require this, he 
is sent to the Public Hospital. Now look at the 
other side of the picture; a planter, were he allowed 
to recruit his own labour, would send a reliable agent 
to India who would be responsible for the money with 
which he would bo entrusted as coast advances and 
also for the physique of his recruits, each of whom on 
arrival here would be debited with his share of the 
coat of bringing the gang over &c. Paid 25 cts. a 
day, he would if he were a good man, save from 
SI to $.5 a month, very soon liquidate his debt, and 
then bo in a position to remit money to the "coast" 
in suras calculated to tempt all his friends to follow 
his example. But planters can't do this as the sum 
of money entrnated to the agent might often be a 
large one, and as the latter runs considerable ciik 
