August i, 1890.] 
THE rriDPICAL AQRIOULTURIST, 
n 
conviction that the eventual prospects cf the Oompa’^y 
are esoeedingly good. There is no doubt that rubies 
are being found in large quantities by the native 
noiners who have an hereditary riglit to work under 
certain conditions. 
The reason that rubies of high value and in large 
quantities have not yet been obtained by the Coni" 
puny are two the non-arrival of the inacbiuery 
required to develop the mines, and the wholesale 
smuggling of stones in defiance of the regulations 
under which the Company have the right of purchase 
of all stones found by the native miners. 
Mogok is situated in a mountain region covered 
with dense forests, approached by 65 miles of exceed- 
ingly diflScnlt country, over which a road has only 
been completed for a few months. Even now this 
road is unmetalled and only suitable for fair weather 
tr.afSc. 
It has been almost impossible to convey heavy 
saaobinery to the mines, and scarcely anything at 
the time of my visit had reached there in a complete 
and wf rking condition. This state of thing" is being 
rapidly improved. Large quantities of machinery had 
nrrivrd at Thabetyin, the terminus on the river, and 
at Khabine, midway between the river and Mogok, and 
Were being pushed forward with all spe' d. It is a 
m.atter of regret that the arrival of the machinery 
has been so long delayed, but it has depended on 
physical considerations beyond the Company’s control. 
The second reason for the failure of the Company 
to obtain rubies from the natives was the universal 
and practically unchecked system of smuggling. The 
native miners were bound to produce their stones 
and dispose of them to the Company at a reduction 
of 80 per cent on their declared value. Smuggling 
was however so easy that the effect of this tax, 
which formed one of the rules framed by the 
Government under which the lease was taken by the 
Company, was that miners brought in no valuable stones 
for sale to the Company’s agents; all such were smug- 
gled and sent down country for disposal at Mandalay, 
Kangoon or Calcutta, and it is asserted that 20 lakhs 
of rupees’ worth of rubies are annually disposed of 
in the town of Mandalay alone. These inefiBoient rules, 
which were absolutely inoperative to prevent smuggling, 
and which only caused loss to the Company instead 
of benefit, I have with the full concurrence of the 
Local Government and with the approval of all ofiScers 
acquainted with the situation, abolished, largely in- 
creasing the tax which individual miners pay to the 
Company. The sale of rubies found by the native 
miners is now free, and it is expected that thev will 
bring a large proportion of the best stones to the Com- 
pany’s agents for purchase. 
It is estimated that the tax paid by them, will 
commence at the rate of ElOO.COO per annum, rise to 
R140.000 when the full complement of miners is 
employed, and may hereafter largely increase by 
the general raising of the tax. This system will, 
it is hoped, give the Company au assured and 
increasing income, and also secure to them a large prc- 
pottion of the most valuable stones found. 
Great progress has been made in the erection of 
houses for the staff and officers, and workshops, and the 
machinery is being erected as it arrives in suitable 
places, especially at Kyatpyin, which is the engineering 
head-quarters. The river which runs through the Mogok 
valley has been diverted, in order that the bed may 
bo mined to a greater depth than the native workmen 
were aide to go without pumping machinery. 
The slow progress in development is partly due to 
the malarious character of the climate ; almost the 
whole of tlio staff have suffered from fever, and some 
have resigned in conscaiuence of continual attacks; 
even in March when tho climate seemed (!xcellout, I 
found several of the ( mploycs sniloring. This difficulty 
will dccrenso as tho staff become acclimatised, and as 
better food is proourablo, for which arrangements have 
now 1 Qjii made. The town of Mogok lias about li.OOO 
iuhahitants, cntiroly supported by tlie ruby trade; it 
is a nourishing settlement and tbo great wealth of 
many oflho inhabitants testify to the richness of tho 
industry. INlany of the wives and danghters of the 
miners wear valuable jewellery, and the houses are 
substantial and w< ll-built. The country arouud is how- 
ever most sparsely Uihabitvd and the labour, which 
is expensive, is mostly Umwu from the Chinese frontier, 
and has only hitherto been available for a few months 
in the year. The staff at JMogok are thoroughly sen.sible 
of the necessity of exerting themselves to the utmost 
to obtain favourable results, and there is every reason 
to hope that this will ere long be attained. 
The head of the Local Government, Sir 0. Ci’os- 
thwaite (accompanied by the Pinaucial Commissioner), 
was with me at Mogok during my entire visit. From 
them, as from tho local officials, the utmost assistanoa 
ha.s been received, and the Government are warmly 
interested in the success of the Company’s operations. 
In conclusion, while it would be unfair to look for 
immediate returns from an undertaking to which so 
many unfavourable conditions are attached, I have no 
doubt whatever, that before very h>ng, when our 
machinery is in operation and as the staff become 
acclimatised, satisfactory results will be attained, and 
the anticipations formed respecting this property be 
fully realised. I am convinced that tho rubies are to 
be found in the Company’s concession in large quan- 
tities ; and energy ou the part of the Company’s 
officials in Burma will ensure their being found, when 
approved machinery has been set up and sufficient 
and reasonable time has been allowed for the develop- 
raent of toe property. An early meeting of the share- 
holders will be called, and any further information 
which may be desired will be fully furnished,— Fitmec?’. 
Misnomeks. — The Providence “ .Journal ” calls af- 
tentioii to some curiosities of misnomer. Blacklead 
is not lead at all, but a compound of carbon and a 
small quantity of iron. Brazilian grass never grew in 
Brazil, and is not grass— it is nothing hut strips of 
palm-leaf. Burgundy pitch is not pitch, and does not 
come from Burgundy — the greater part of it is resin 
and palm-oil. Catgut is made from the entrails of 
sheep. Guttle bone is not bone, but a kind of chalk 
once enclosed in the fossil remains of extinct speci- 
mens of cuttle-fish. German silver was not invented in 
Germany, and does not contain a particle of silver. 
Cleopatra’s Needle was not erected by the Egyptian 
queen, nor in her honour. Pompev’s pillar had no 
historical connection with Pompey in any way. Seal- 
ing-wax does not contain a particle of wax, but is com- 
posed of Venice turpentine, shellac, and cinnabar. 
The tube rose is no rose, but a species of polyanth. 
The strawberry is no berry, but only a succulent 
receptacle. Turkish baths did not originate in Turkey, 
and are not baths, but heated chambers. Whalebone 
is not bone, and is said not to possess a single pro- 
perty of bone. — Medical Itecord. 
Anomalies of Poisonous Plants.— The dcuia virosa, 
or Cowbane, is poisonous to oxen but wholesome to 
sheep, goats, and horses, as Lucretius long ago re- 
corded. "White-ants feed with impunity on opium. 
The landcrab feeds upon the maneikeel tree, one of 
the most deadly of trees. The bo.via, or grosbeak, of 
the Bahamas, eats the fruits of the Amyris toxifera, 
or poisonous ash. The berries of the spurgelaurel. 
Daphne laureola, are poisonous to animals, but birds 
eat them freely. The young buds of Kalmia latifolia 
speedily kill cattle if they browse on them, but afford 
abundant food to pheasants in early spring, and 
although the birds do not suffer, porsons who partake 
of such pheasants show alarming symptoms of poison- 
ing. A similar result is observed from bees leeding 
upon other plants of tho same natural Limily as tlie 
Kalmia (IViod.oracecp). In the celebrated retreat of 
the ten thousand, the soldiers of Xenophon suffered 
.severely from eating honey near Trebizoud, collected 
from the Audea rnntim. The darnel, loHum. temv. 
lcntnm{i\\a infcllx lolinm of Virgil, the tares of Scrip- 
ture), injures all animals, yet chickens eat the seeds 
with greediness. Horse," feed with avidity and thrive 
on tlie (lijrostis ariiiiduiacca (Linn.), or reed beutgrass, 
wliich is destructive to goats. Many similar fact.s are 
noted by botanists, and they show the futility of 
defending cruel experiments on animals by appealing 
to the effects of substances on other organisms. What 
is food to one is often iioison to another. — Ibid. 
