770 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
Both  these  facts  showed  us  again  the  charge  must 
have  been  chemical ; that  it  was  not  a mere  toler- 
ance of  the  body  that  was  produced  physiologi- 
cally. [Here,  a portion  of  the  lecture  left  out. — 
Reporter.] 
Human  life  might  be  saved  in  a considerable  if 
not  a large  proportion.  20,000  deaths  from  snake 
bites  occur  annually  in  India,  but  this  does  not  in- 
clude the  many  thousands  in  the  other  tropical  and 
sub-tropical  regions  of  the  world. 
Here  is  how  one  of  the  London  dailies  reports 
the  lecture  : — 
SN'.yKE-BiTE  AND  S.U'ETY. — At  the  Royal  Institution, 
Professor  T.  R.  Fraser,  f.r.s.,  who  has  been  conduct- 
ing investigations  for  some  time  past  into  the  ques- 
tion of  immunity  from  the  after-effects  of  snake- 
liite,  gave  an  address  on  the  subject.  The  lecturer 
explained  the  laborious  experiments  which  have  been 
conducted  during  the  past  few  years.  lirietly,  it 
was  found  that  if  animals,  such  as  cats,  rabbits, 
guinea-pigs,  and  the  like,  are  inoculated  by  gradu- 
ally increasing  quantities  of  cobra  and  other  deadly 
snake  poisons,  they  ultitnately  acquire  a complete 
immunity.  The  investigators  next  set  to  work  to 
study  the  effects  thus  produced  upon  the  blood- 
serum  of  the  inoc  dated  animals,  an  ultimately  by 
cultivation  in  serum  of  horses  a powerful  “ anti- 
venine  ” was  obtained,  which  gave  most  surprising 
results  when  injected  into  other  animals.  The  effect 
was  to  give  complete  immunity  against  any  fatal 
elfect  from  snake  poison,  If  cobra  venom  were 
previously  mixed  with  the  anti- venine  in  a glass 
and  then  injected  into  an  unprotected  animal,  the 
toxic  effect  of  the  venom  entirely  failed.  But  beyond 
this  it  vvas  found  that  if  swallowed  and  taken  into 
the  stomach  the  anti-vcnine  produced  the  same  effects 
as  if  it  were  injected.  This  pointed  strongly  to  the 
theory  that  its  action  was  not  so  much  physio- 
logical as  chemical.  In  conclusion,  the  lecturer  re- 
marked that  he  had  discovered  in  an  old  number  of 
the  Ijancet  a communication  from  a medical  man 
in  South  Africa  describing  the  practice  of  snake 
venom  swallowing  followed  by  the  Kaffirs,  and  stating 
that  these  natives  appear  to  be  rarely  affected  by 
snake-bites. 
THE  INDIAN  TEA  CROP  ESTIMATE  : 
AN  INCREASE  OF  8,800,000  lb. 
A special  telegram  to  a local  paper  states  : 
—The  Indian  tea  crops  is  estimated  at  14I,'2r)0,000 
lb  being  8,800,000  lb.  over  the  actual  outturn 
of  ’lSOo.  "About  1-28, -200,000  lb  will  be  available 
for  export  to  Great  Britain.  Since  the  estimates 
from  the  various  districts  were  compiled,  severe 
hailstorms  have  occurred  in  Cachar,  and  exces- 
sive drought  in  Darjeeling,  Terai,  and  Dooars, 
which  may  have  an  appreciable  effect  on  the  out- 
turn. The  estimate  for  the  crop  of  1890  should, 
therefore  be  considered  a full  one. 
BRITISH  NORTH  BORNEO  AND  ITS 
RESOURCES. 
INTERVIEW  WITH  MR.  N\ . C.  COM  IE. 
BY  OUR  SI*ECI.\b  COMMI.SSIONEIt. 
When  British  capitalists  take  over  more  than 
qOOOO  square  miles  of  territory  from  an  effe'e 
native  ruler,  and  have  to  be  responsible  tor  the 
"oSl  <rovernment  of  the  country,  they  must  mt 
" immediate  return  on  the  eaiutal  m- 
verred  The  shareholders  of  the  IbitUh  North 
Borneo  Comi.any  have  waited  long  and  wailed 
oitiently,  and  fust  as  their  patience  was  beeoiu- 
m exhausted  a ray  of  ligdit  has  appem-ed  on 
be  cloudy  horizon  winch  has  hungover  e 
for  the  bust  fourteen  years.  It  wa.s  in  IS/ , that 
the  territory  was  granle.l  m i.erpotuity  to  l.arou 
Overbeck,  Mr.  Dent  and  their  fnen.ls,  and  in 
[Mav,  j,  1896. 
conferring  upon  the  British  North  Borneo  Com- 
pany in  1881  a Royal  Charter,  K.arl  Cr.anville, 
in  the  course  of  his  despatch,  remarked  : “ The 
exjierience  of  three  years  shows  th;-t  the  peaceful 
and  intelligent  development  of  the  great  natural 
resources  of  the  country  is  steadily  increasing, 
and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  a .sound 
and  liberale  system  of  administration  will  be 
established  by  the  company,  which  will 
spread  the  benelits  of  civilisation  among  the 
native  population,  and  ojien  up  new  ainl  im- 
portant lields  to  British  trade  and  enterpiise 
and  to  the  commerce  of  all  nations."  Since  that 
date  over  a million  of  money  has  been  sunk  in 
the  attempt  to  develop  this  huge  territory,  and 
the,  paid-up  capital  of  the  llrilish  North  lloi- 
neo  Company  L'.IOibnOU— divided  into  shares 
stands  in  the 'market  today  at  le.ss  than  t‘2bU,UU0 
which  is  under  the  amount  asked  for  by  the 
promoters  of  many  an  undeveloped  Westralian 
mining  enterprise.  When  one  conies  to  think 
about  it,  the  whole  thing  is  in  the  highest  degiee 
absurd.  But  there  are  brighter  times  in  store  for 
the  British  North  Borneo  Company,  which,  by 
the  way,  owes  its  initiation  largely  to  the  enter, 
prise  of  Sir  Alfred  Dent,  who  is  today  one  of 
the  Court  of  Directors 
With  the  object  of  ascertaining  some  inform. 
ation  as  to  the  present  position  and  prospects 
of  this  chartered  company,  1 waited  the  other 
day  upon  Mr.  William  C.  Cowie  who  has  been 
connected  with  the  company  from  its  inception, 
who  is  well  acquinteil  with  the  greater  portion 
of  the  vast  territory,  and  whose  advise  as 
a member  of  the  Board  has  proved  most 
valuable  to  his  colleagues-  He  has  been 
19  years  in  in  the  country.  He  started  the  first 
trading  stations  on  the  east  coast,  and  it  was 
largely  owing  to  his  iniluence  that  the  concession 
was  granted  and  the  territory  peaceably  occu- 
pied. 
The  interview  took  place  in  the  Board  room, 
and  Mr.  Cowie,  in  order  the  more  thoroughly 
to  show  the  huge  extent  of  territory  and  ex- 
plain the  present  develojunents,  had  unrolled  the 
large  map  of  British  North  Borneo,  which  covers 
one  whole  side  of  the  sjiacious  apartment. 
“ I am  very  pleased  to  meet  you,"  he  said,  and 
if  only  City  peojde  knew  more  about  the  na- 
tural resources  of  this  enormous  territory  the 
British  North  Borneo  Company  u ould  be  in  a\  astly 
different  position  to  what  it  is  today.  However, 
1 am  glad  to  s.ay  that  we  are  now  making  head- 
way. As  in  the  Malay  Reninsula,  .so  in  British 
North  Borneo,  the  construction  of  roads,  tele- 
graphs, and  railways  will  i>rove  the  salvation  of 
the  country.  AVe  are  now  engaged  in  making 
•all  three.  We  are  constructing  a telegraph  line 
right  away  from  the  west  coast  to  the  east  coast, 
and  already  over  200  miles  have  been  completed. 
I need  hardly  tell  you  that  a telegraph  line  is  the 
pioneer  of  all  exploration  work,  and  that  a thorough 
line  of  communication  will  mean  the  opening  up  of 
much  valuable  land  in  the  interior." 
I quite  agreed. 
“Now,”  said  Mr.  Cowie,  “I  would  ask  you 
to  follow  me  on  the  map  in  the  observations  I 
wdsh  to  make,  and  your  readers  who  are  desirous 
of  information  regaiding  the  field  which  British 
North  Ilornco  jireseuts  for  the  luolitable  employ- 
ment of  English  capital  will  have  no  difficulty 
in  following  you  if  they  will  also  consult  a map 
of  the  the  territory  of  the  British  North  Borneo 
Company.” 
“ Co  ahead.” 
“AVell,  on  the  left  you  will  note,  on  the  north- 
west coast  of  the  island,  Brunei  Bay.  This  is  a 
