46 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[July i, 1890. 
the sickly cane becoming healthy. Meanwhile the 
planters set great store by plant cane from abroad, and 
the Governor-General has been empowered to authorise 
its importation in vessels flying foreign flags. 
The sirili or betel leaf, so much in demand among 
natives for chewing purposes, has been found on 
analysis in Europe to contain useful medical proper- 
ties. The leaves produce a kind of oil which yields 
an active principle going by the name of Chavicol. 
Experimenting with the latter in a laboratory at 
Amsterdam has shown that Chavicol is a powerful 
antiseptic against bacteria, and is five times stronger 
than Phenol . — Straits Times, May 28th. 
EEIMAEKS ON THE STATE OF BOTANY 
IN CEYLON, 
WITH EEFEUENCE TO THE KNOWLEDGE OE IT IN APRIL 
184.8, AND AN ATTEMPT AT ARRANGING ITS ELOBA A3 
KNOW’N TO MOON AND RESIDENT BOTANISTS ACCORD- 
ING TO LCCALITT AND ELEVATION, COMMONLY CALLED 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OE A FLORA. 
By Captain Champion, 95ih Eegt.* 
On first arrival in Ceylon our Botanical griffin 
■will feel very fairly puzzled as to what he is to 
regard as new and interesting in the vast mass of 
green jungle stretched before his wondering eyes. 
It may be that he can distinguish a Cccoo Palm 
from a Jack tree at first sight, and if he has com- 
mon intelligence he will shortly become accjuainted 
with the mysteries of eating the various fruits 
served on the dessert table, and perhaps even en- 
quire alter the trees upon which they aro produced, 
in which case I would recommend hig consulting 
his black Appoo, as he may not always be sueeesa- 
ful in elucidating a correct answer from his com- 
panions of the preceding evening. 
However this may be, a great deal is to be said 
respecting Coco-Palms, and Betlenut, Pumplemos 
and Forbidden fruit, the Bread fruit, Indian-rub- 
her tree, the Banyan, Cashew and half a score more, 
and it he has not previously in England been the 
possessor of a little Pitcher plant, hermetically 
sealed and restricted to the last watering of the 
Hot-house gardener for six months to come, this 
pretty plant may be pointed out to him as one of 
the wonders of the Coast :t but here knowledge closes 
her ample store, and if he has not perseverance to 
wade thro’ Bindley, Moon, Wight and Arnott, 
Iloxburgb, and a few other tomes, studded like the 
sands of the seashore with hard names, he will have 
finished his education in six months, and know as 
much of botany as most of his neighbours do. 
Economy and utility are the order of the day. 
Who has been in the interior and seen Sugar 
Plantations, and Coffee Gardens and Coolies clearing, 
until Coolies are scarce, and will not say that Mam- 
mon is hard at work ; there is nothing like English 
labor and industry, and this we will say with three 
cheers whether in Ceylon, or the Park, or on the 
Thames with her forest of masts. 
Ceylon is a moneymaking land, and many come 
out to make money and to live to save, but a few 
aro here for a few years, and care leis for money 
and more for agreeable society, and the many charms 
of the good old land ; these regret to find but little 
of Uic dulce and society at a low ebb for we are all 
in the jungle, and just so many Eobinson Crusoes 
with our man Friday. 
* Who, as Col. Champion, received his death wound, 
while loading his )'cgiiiiotil in a charge during llie siege 
of ISebasl.opol.— Kii, 'I'.A. 
t 'I'Ik! doiriiUj(L of viailoi’s baa b <1 lo (lie extirjiation 
of till- pifelier plant in tlio Colombo Cinnamon Gardens, 
wiiere once it specially abounded. — I'iu. A. 
To the latter it will be no small pleasure to do 
as we have done in England. Histofy, Literature 
and the Arts can agreeably vary the usual routine 
of life, let me also suggest Hortiuolture and her 
twin sister Botany, for its knowledge will enrich 
your grounds and house, with many a pleasing 
object, and pass many a dull hour whilst even the 
monotonous jungle becomes a source of delight. 
(To he continued.) 
SAPPHIEES IN KASHMIR. 
Many persona will remember the discovery of a 
sapphire mine in Kashmir about nine years ago, 
writes a Calcutta contemporary, and the absurdly low 
piiees at which the billmen who first brought the 
gems to Simla were willing to sell Ihe precious stones. 
The Maharaja of Kashmir was not long in placing a 
guard over the mines and raising a profitable re- 
venue from them, and since then the work of collect- 
ing the stones has gone on from year to year. The 
spot whtre the sapphires are found is near the 
village of Soomjam on the Bliutna river. It is a 
small upland valley about 1 000 yards long by 400 
yards broad, and is thirteen marches from Srinagar. 
There are clear indications that in former times glaciers 
covered the whole of this region, but now they only 
de.scend as far as the upper end of the passes leading 
into Eauskar. About a hundred coolies are em. 
ployed in working for sapphires, and the method at 
first employed was merely to dig np the surface of 
the earth and search for stones. At present, how- 
ever, the earth is being washed in a spring close 
at hand, and by this means better resnlts are ob- 
tained. The largest stone found in 1887 weighed about 
six ounces, and was partly of a very brilliant colour. 
In 1888 the largest stone only weighed 104 grains, 
and very few were found weighing more than 50 
trains. These, however, are not to be compared with 
the stones brought down when the mine was first dis- 
covered. There are at present in the treasury at 
Jammu some of the first stones discovered measuring 
five inches in length by three inches in breadth, and 
though none of them are uniformly coloured but are 
shaded off into white at the ends, some fine gems 
might be cut from them. During the working season 
of 1888, that is, from the 17 th July, to the 29th Sept., 
the total quantity of corundum obtiined from the 
mines was 1,630 tolas, of which perhaps one-fourth 
would be commercially valuable, but the average 
weight of the stones was not more than ten grains. The 
beds, in fact, appear to be getting exhausted and 
before long the working may cease to be profitable. 
Besides corundum other minerals interesting 
from a scientific point of view, but not com- 
mercially valuable, are found in the granite of 
this region. Though several attempts have been 
made to discover new localities for sapphires, 
is in the region they have hitherto all proved un- 
suocs.ssful, with one small exception. This was a block 
of granite found near one of the passes into the 
Zinskar which contained some stones of good size but 
poor colour. There was no doubt that this block of 
greni'e which is the only one visible in the locality 
had once formed part of the cliffs surrounding the head 
of the glacier. It was lying at a level of about 15,500 
feet above tlio sea, and probably came from some point 
which was much higher and perhaps inaccessible. 
There are other p'aces in Kashmir where rook crystal, 
iron ore, and other minerals exist, hut none of them 
are worth the trouble of miiiiug. There are also iron- 
works at Snip in the Kashmir Valley. The outcrop 
from which the ore is obtained extends for a distance 
of at least two miles along the lull side, and is 
sufficient to keep the small native furnaces supplied 
for many years to come so long as there is any 
demand for iron, but tiie ore is f.aid to bo of poor 
quality, aud there would be no opening for large blast 
lurmicesoii the English plan. A good deal has been 
said of late regarding the great mineral resources of 
