December i, i8go.j THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURtST. 429 
recovery of prices, and the rate is as poor as ever 
The whole thing is simply disgraceful, and I am 
convinced that even Job himself, if he had been 
growing cinchona, or had held any for a rise, 
would long ere this have cursed and died rather 
than go on with it. When the price of the unit 
advances an eighth, there is consternation among the 
manufacturers, and the sellers of bark grow jubilant. 
I suppose it is the most sensitive market in the 
world, and that is why it makes so much fuss 
over BO little. Anyhow an industry whose hopes 
have been bounded for years by about 1^-d on the one 
Bide and l^djin the other, leavcB precious little room 
for a fortune to the growers of the article, or for 
speculation either. 
The Weather is very favourable for tea flushing, 
and the leaf comes on in a cheery way. 
Coolies are plentiful, and are preparing for a 
lavish outlay at the “ Tivali.” The quantity of 
coin drawn from the banks about this time to 
pay wages on the eslates must amount almost 
to a run on them. Ho will be a fortunate man 
who can afford a day to his labourers for holiday- 
making and stand the strain of the absentees 
later on. Few object to the holiday, — it is the 
after effects, and the time it takes some of our 
coolies to work it off. PEPPEECOim. 
THE KUBY MINES OF BURMA. 
As a gem-producing country Ceylon is interested 
in the following not very encouraging notice of the 
Burma ruby mines, evidently by Sir Lepel Griffin 
from the unworthy but perfectly characteristic at- 
tack he makes, in a part we do not quote, on the 
American missionaries and their Karen converts : — ■ 
The country leased to the Ruby Mines Company 
begins in the neighhourhoed of Kyatpyin, but it is of 
great extent some £00 square miles in area, and is uii- 
surveyed or very imperfectly surveyed. It includes the 
whole country in which precious stones are known 
to be found, except one or two outlying mines like 
Saygin on the Irrawaddy not now worked. The ope- 
rations of the company have been delayed by the great 
difficulties of transport and labour and the impossi- 
bility of conveying heavy machinery across mountain 
roads in any but the finest weather. A large amount 
however, has now reached the headquarters, and is 
being put up ; the stream running through the valley 
is being diverted, and mining operations on an ex- 
tended scale are being begun. The labour qaestiou 
however, is one of difficulty. The best labourers ore 
the Mainthas, who come from Chinese territory, and 
who are strong men and desperate gamblers, so much 
so that it any attempt is made to stop their unceas- 
ing gambling out of work hours they threw up thoir 
engagements and leave the place. These men hardly 
arrive in Mogok before January, and in April they 
are anxious to return to their homes to sow their 
fields before the rainy season. The labour procured 
from Mandalay or Lower Burmah is unsatisfactory 
and very expensive. Another difficulty the English 
Company has to face is the jungle fever, which is very 
trying to new comers, but it may bo hoped that with 
better food and better conditions of living, and as the 
einploi/cs become acclimatized, this inconvenience will 
each year be less severely felt. Kyatpyin is tbo ma- 
ebiuory headquarters of the company, its principal 
settlement being 12 miles further on, at Mogok, a 
largo and flourishing town in a wide and beautiful 
valley, through which runs a stream of abundant water. 
The town is picturesque in the extreme, with groups 
of temples and pagodas. The houses, all constructed 
of wood and built on stilts in the fashion of the coun- 
try, are substantial and commodious, and the inhabi- 
tants, all of whom live by the ruby trade, appear to 
be a most flourishing community, the women being 
covered with jewebs, some of groat size and beauty. 
We visited the weekly fair at Mogok, in company with 
Wir Charles Crosthwaite and his staff, and the sight 
was a stiiking and picturesque one, fci' men and women 
from distant villages in the Shan and Chiiiess hills, 
straugo in appearance, especially the Kaohyens flocked 
ill from all directions, and their curiosity and astonish- 
ment at the sight of an Engli.sh lady, who was fol- 
lowed by great crowds through the bazaar, was most 
amu.siDg. Mogok is fast becoming an English settle- 
ment of some importance ; it is the headquarters of 
the district, with a resident magistrate, and of the 
divisional military police, who are mostly Sikhs from 
the Punjab, while tbo offices and numerous wooden 
chalets of the officers of the Ruby Mines Company 
dot the hills surrounding the town. The great allu- 
vial plain through which tho river runs is excavated 
in many places by tho shafts of tho native miners, 
who have been allowed to work for rubies through 
many generations, and that they have found the 
occupation a. profitable one is evident in their ap- 
pearance and manner of living, but their system of 
digging shallow holes from which the water and mud 
is painfully taken out by baskets and buckets is not 
one which would be profitable to a scientifically work- 
ing company, whose method would be more elaborate 
and more in accordance with the principles adopted 
in diamond mining in South Africa. It has not been 
found politic to oust the miners in the alluvial soil 
of the valley from their holdings, although, under the 
native Government, they held these as tenants at will 
for until Upper Burmah is permanently tranquil, it 
is unwise to fake any action which would render 
hostile to the company these whose co-operation might 
be to its advantage. They have consequently been 
allowed to continue mining, paying for each person 
employed a poll-tax of 20 rupees. As about 600 miners 
are engaged in the work this brings in an annual 
revenue, t f about a lakh and a quarter of rupees, 
while a useless embargo on smuggling having been 
removed, the miners more readily bring to tbo com- 
pany’s officers for purchase such of the good rubie.s 
as they find. This plan, which has been experimen- 
tally adopted, will be modified if its results are not 
satisfactory. In tho hills about Mogok and Kyat- 
pyin native miners with much larger rights of occu- 
pancy work open cuttings in the sides of the ravines, 
and it is to this work by hydraulic power lhat the 
company’s operations will be chiefly directed. What 
may be the ultimate result of the company’s labour.s 
it is impossible to pronounce, but much activity is 
now being shown, and, with the arrival of sufficient 
and effective machinery, the real operations ot the 
company, too long delayed, will practically begin. 
Two thousand feet above Mogok, by an exceedingly 
difficult mountain path, is the military station of 
Bernardmyo, some eight miles distant, and ordinarily 
reached by a military road joining the main lino 
above Kyatpyin. It was hoped that the elevation of 
this cantonment above the sea, quite as great as those 
in the Himalayas, would have insured the troops 
against jungle fever; but this was not the case, and 
the great sickness almost caused the abandonment 
of the place. Tho health of the troops stationed there 
has, however, much improved of late, and, like all 
Burmese stations, Ilia peculiar climatic conditions 
require a European resident to bo somewhat acclima- 
tized before he finds them healthy . — Times Weeliy 
Edition. 
It will be observed that the chief difficulties 
specified in the case of the Burma Company — 
scarcity of labour and difficulties of transport — do 
not in the least apply to the gemming country of 
Ceylon. Clearly British capital should have come 
here before it went to Burma. 

Aetificial Musk. — The comparative scarcity of 
musk, and its considerable use in pharmacy 
make the discovery of a substitute of some im- 
portance. Mr. A. Bour has succeeded in preparing 
a substance which, though not identical in com- 
position with natural musk, yet is possessed of 
its peculiar smell. It is formed by nitrating iso- 
butyltoluene with a mixture of the strongest nitric 
acid and fuming sulphuric acid. It is not poisonous, 
and is now being produced on a manufacturing scale 
in Germany.— L(d((stric’ii'. 
