THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
t)EC.  2,  1895.1 
OUR  MONSOON  AND  “THE  ELEVEN 
YEARS’  CYCLE.” 
Our  readers  will  remember  eerbaiii  iutere.stirif>- 
papers  011  tlie  above  subject  written  by  Professor 
Arc.bibalil  (luring  his  visit  to  Ceylon  early  in  1S93, 
and  some  may  recall  bis  projihecy  for  the  advent 
of  the  Soutli-west  monsoon  of  that  year.  It 
was  not  realized  according  to  the  date  registered 
at  the  Master  Attendant’s  Otlice ; but  Captain 
Donnan,  like  ourselves,  would  be  free  to  admit 
that,  in  fixing  an  exact  date  for  both  the  little 
and  big  monsoons,  a certain  amount  of  arbi- 
trariness or  guesswork  must  inevitably  be  a))plied 
in  view  of  the  means  available  at  our  Port  for 
judgingof  tlieconditions.  So  much  we  readily  grant 
to  Professor  Archibald  who  sends  us  from  uii- 
country  another  interesting  letter  on  the  subject. 
It  is  a pity  notwithstanding  all  that  is  done 
through  the  Surveyor-Ceneral’s  and  Public  Works 
l)ei>artnients,  that  our  Meteorological  Returns 
should  be  so  inferior  evidently  to  those  of  India. 
In  India,  of  course,  there  is  a separate  Meteoro- 
logical Department,  and  a specially  ([ualified 
heail  in  Mr.  Eliot,  giving  all  Ids  time  and 
thought  to  the  subject ; and  it  is  a pity 
we  think,  that  in  respect  both  of  Metec^rology 
and — if  we  may  add — of  Geological  Survey, 
Ceylon  should  not  be  identilied  with  India,  and 
worked  as  one.  In  respect  of  Meteorology,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  observations  and  reports 
which  Mr.  Eliot  would  initiate  in  Ceylon,  could 
not  fail  to  have  a very  important  bearing  on 
the  deductions  which  are  regularly  made  from 
tile  Indian  Meteorological  Observations.  We  could 
not  have  a better  Governor  to  approach  on  such 
a suliject  than  Sir  West  Ridgeway  in  view  of 
his  sjiecial  Indian  experience,  and  we  trust  to 
see  some  improvement  and  assimilation  in  Mete- 
orological werk  attempted  in  Ceylon  during  his 
term  of  Government,  as  also  a Geological  Survey 
commenced  if  not  completed. 

“ THE  CEYLON  HANDP.OOK  AND 
DIRLCTORY  EUR  ISlD-b.” 
[Bj!  f'li  old  R(’-sidcnt.) 
I have  to  thank  you  Sir,  for  an  early  copy  of  the 
big  “ book” — as  I see  you  call  it  in  your  editorial 
noHce  of  its  issue  at  last.  Tliis  is  a nau'ie  often  given, 
witli  a diflerent  meaning,  to  the  Rible,  and  witli- 
out  irreverence  we  may  call  your  Directory  for 
tlie  Ceylon  Rook  of  Books,  or  tlie  Big  Book 
of  Ceylon.  Ijying  before  me  is  alsoacojiy  of  your 
“ Hand  Book”' for  bSOM.  It  is  worth  whileto  stay  for 
a moment  to  compare  the  two.  The  book  for 
1868,  while  being  also  an  8 vo.  is  only  one  inch 
thick,  including  the  covers,  and  weighs  only  1.',  lb. 
with  46U  pages.  \'our  new  Directory  just  issued 
lor  this  year,  has  a thickness  of  aliout  three 
and  half  inches,  and  weighs  d lbs.,  with  over  l,.“>U(i 
pa"-es.  Now,  as  it  would  trouble  anyone  want- 
ing a scrap  of  blank  i>apcr,  for  a note,  01  nie- 
morandum,  to  find  a spare  clear  ' sciuare-incli 
between  the  two  (mvers,  it  follows  that  every 
inch  of  the  .-surfaces  of  nearly  1,60U  ])ages  i.s 
covered  with  ]u*intcd  matter  of  use  ami  \aluc. 
But  to  continue  the  comparison  between  the 
books  of  1868  and  of  ISlld.  These  years 
indicate  a i)eriod  of  8"2  years,  so  that,  in 
order  to  bring  your  Big  Hook  “ uj)-to-dato  ’ 
it  has  grown,  or  increased  in  size  and  contents, 
nearly  four-fold,  and  by  over  1,000  pages,  in  that 
time ; or  at  the  rate  of  30  pages  every  year,  on 
an  average.  But  so3ue  years  have  been  more 
pfoliin;  o?  new  matter  than  others,  and  notably 
i>as  this  been  the  ca.se  with  this  new  volume, 
for  it  ia  by  one  inch  thicker  than  that  of  last 
4^t 
year,  to  go  beyond  the  dimensions  of  which  it 
was  then  thought  almost  imimssible.  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  the  t>resent  Directory  contains 
over  ‘JUO  more  pages  of  matter  than  any  of  its 
l)onderous  predecessors.  How'  such  a little  island- 
country  can  furnish  material  for  so  huge  a Year- 
Book  is  a juizzle,  until  wm  sit  down  to  a care- 
ful and  ))atient  study  of  its  contents.  Naturally, 
as:  we  should  suspect,  it  is  pretty  exhaustive 
of  the  useful  information  about  everything 
Ceylonese  from  its  Inuustuuos  past,  present, 
and  those  ])o.ssible  in  the  future,  to  its 
L.vws,  Tkadk,  iNii.viuTANTS,  Manner.s.  and 
CusTUAls.  Cl.lMATE.s  (and  there  are  many) 
St.\tistic.s  of  all  kinds,  jjarticulars  of  all 
Blacks,  Town.s,  Villages,  Dlstricts,  Puovin- 
cE.s,  Ro.vds,  Railwav.s,  Rivers  a Calendar, 
chokefull  of  useful  information  of  many  kinds  ; all 
useful  Ordinances,  full  Military  and  Naval  notes, 
and  a thousand  and  one  other  details  which  only 
an  exhaustive  Index  can  show  ; and  the  Index 
of  this  Directory  fills  32  pages  of  double  columns. 
The  full  and  com[>letc  Directory  contains  tlie 
names  of  everybody  who  is  anybody,  and  is 
brought  u|)  to  the  (late  of  imblication  by  nearly  a 
dozen  jiages  of  “Errataand  Addenda,”  necessitated 
by  the  nature  of  the  case,  for  .somebody  is  shifting 
his  (quarters,  coming,  going,  or  alas  ! dying  every 
day  of  our  lives.  The  details  of  each  (listrict, 
and  of  every  estate  in  the  island,  are  particularly 
valuable  amt  comjilete,  having  been  corrected  up  to 
the  latest  possible  date,  and  1 see  that  the  old 
anti(|uated  word  “ abandoned,”  op[>osite  valuable 
luoperties  not  yet  brought  under  suitable  culti- 
vation, is  here  for  the  iirst  time  itself  abandoned 
in  favor  of  the  more  appropriate  and  correct  woixl 
“ uucnltivated.”  A yeai'  or  two  ago  before  the 
daps  had  asserted  themselves,  I hajipened  to  be  at 
the  Mount  Lavinia  Hotel  when  a dozen  of  these 
Islanders  called  here  as  passengers  cn  route  to 
Europe.  I noticed  them  well.  They  were  in  Eu- 
ropean clothes,  and  for  the  most  jiart  spoke  English. 
One  of  their  number  sat  pouring  over  good  Mr. 
Link’s  copy  of  your  big  Directory  for  that  year. 
Pretty  dry  reading,  I thought,  foi  tourists,  till 
the  gentleman  jumped  uj),  book  in  hand,  searched 
out  the  manager,  and  declared  . he  “must  have 
one  of  these  books,”  and  ofi'ered  to  buy,  and  did 
buy  and  pay  for  that  co])y  on  the  nail.  Japa- 
nese, we  have  since  learnt  to  know,  are  discri- 
minative and  appreciative,  and  good  imitators, 
so  that  I should  not  be  surjirisedto  hear  that  your 
Directory  has  suggested  one  for  -lapan.  It  will 
take  the  Japs  a good  many  years  to  get  up  such 
a hook  as  this,  but  I suppose  they  will  begin  in 
a small  way  as  you  did  over  thirty  years  ago. 
It  seems  now,  after  nearly  half-a-century,  that  it 
is  scarcely  possible  to  think  of  a single  (question 
to  which  a reference  to  the  index  will  not  direct 
y(m,  amongst  tiie  subjects  crowding  these  1500 
pages,  t(j  an  answer.  The  man  who  does  not 
possess  a opy  of  this  Directory  is  himself  as  a 
stranger  in  the  land. 
I must  not  forget  the  latest  exceedingly  valu- 
able addition  to  this  marvellous  RI6  worth  of 
nece.ssary  knowledge,  viz.,  the  iNIap  of  Ceylon  in 
a pocket  in  the  co\er.  It  was  a happy  as  well 
as  a liberal  thought  to  present  this  along  M'ith 
the  Book  to  subscribers;  and  I al.so  see  as  Iron - 
tisiiiece  the  i)resentment  of  our  new  tlovernor. 
CoFFICE  IN  TUI';  Straits. — Considerable  inter- 
est is  being  shewn  in  cotlee  ) dan  ting  in  the 
Gopeng  division,  as  the  people  are  beginning  to 
appreciate  the  value  of  the  existing  plantations 
around  Gopeng  and  at  the  foreign  settlement  at 
Lcntgval.— Hqjtcinbcr  Uejjuri, 
