THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  t,  1896. 
272 
taken  a good  tleal  of  limo-buniing  for  its  own 
building  operations  and  also  for  sale.  The  native 
now  turns  out  excellent  bricks,  wbicli  be  sells  with 
advantage  to  the  European  for  building  juirposes. 
Important  discoveries  of  guano  have  been  made 
on  the  island  and  islets  belonging  to  (heat  Britain 
on  I.ake  Nyasa.” 
Tbe  Commissioner  considers  that  the  general 
condition  of  the  Protectorate  is  now  markedly 
satisfactory.  A.  sense  of  peace  and  security  has 
settled  on  the  natives  which  has  never  before 
been  known.  They  are  leaving  the  chilly  hill- 
country  and  settling  in  the  warm  i)lains  which 
they  love,  feeling  tliat  they  have  now  nothing 
further  to  <lread  from  the  attacks  of  foreign 
slave-raiders,  or  from  the  more  turbulent  among 
themselves.  This  consummation  is  what  the 
British  authorities  have  all  along  striven  to 
bring  alx)ut,  viz.,  the  al)andonment  on  the  part 
of  the  natives  of  the  crags  and  mountain  fast- 
nesses where  they  could  barely  grow  enough 
food  for  their  own  subsistence,  and  their 
placing  of  the  rich,  hot,  unhealthy  plains  under 
cultivation. 
Three  appendice.s  to  the  Beport  are  devoted  to 
the  subjects  of  big  game,  coffee  planting,  and 
missions.  Upon  the  first  subject  the  Commis- 
sioner says  : — 
“ The  best  time  for  sport  in  British  Central 
Africa  is  between  the  months  of  June  and 
December,  and  all  sportsmen  would  do  well  to 
try  the  Elephant  Marsh,  near  Chiromo,  before 
they  venture  farther  inland,  as  it  is  possible  they 
might  make  sufficient  bags  of  game  in  this 
portion  of  the  Kuo  district  without  going  to  the 
further  expense  and  risk  of  penetrating  far  into 
the  interior  of  Africa.  Chiromo  can  be  reached 
direct  by  river  steamer  from  Chinde  in  a few  days, 
and  is  therefore,  within  little  more  than  a month 
olf  England.  No  difficulties  are  at  present  placed 
in  the  way  of  big  game  shooting,  except  as  regards 
elephants,  rhinoceroses,  and  the  almost  extinct 
iraffe,  which  are,  to  a certain  extent,  protected 
y a licence  having  to  be  taken  out  for  killing 
them.  This  licence  lasts  one  year,  and  costs  25/.” 
The  appendix  devoted  to  Missions  gives  the 
history  of  the  Universities  Mis.sion,  and  the  later 
settlements  of  other  Societies,  and  conclndcs  as 
follows  : — 
“No  i>crson  who  desires  to  make  a truthful 
statement  can  deny  the  great  good  elfected  by 
missionary  enterpiise  in  (jential  Africa.  'I’licie 
are  some  missions  and  some  mis.sionaries  out 
here  of  Avho.se  work  nothing  but  praise  can  be 
uttered,  though  mucli  just  criticism  might  be 
Avritten  on  their  mode  of  life,  which,  in  some 
instances,  is  .singularly  and  needle.ssly  a.scetic  and 
uncomfortable.  Asceticism  is  all  very  well  in 
a wholesome  part  of  England,  or  in  an  erpially 
healthy  North  African  desert ; but  any  at- 
tempts to  live  carele.ssly,  uncomfortably,  and 
too  frugally  in  the  exceedingly  unhealhty  cli- 
mate of  central  Africa  must  sooner  or  later  result 
in  the  permanent  disablement  of  the  missionary’s 
health  or  his  death,  and  can  serve  no  useful  or 
Godly  purpose  whatsoever.  The  missionaries  at 
one  station  at  least  eat  bad  food  badly  cooked 
and  the  rude  houses  in  which  they  live  are, 
with  the  exception  of  the  (juarters  assigned  to  the 
ladies,  unfit  even  for  a native’s  occupation,  ft 
is  pathetic  to  see  highly  educated  men  from 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  iiollow-eycd  and  fever- 
.smitten,  crouching  in  little  huts  which  no  native 
chief  would  deign  to  occupy.  They  are  guided 
in  .so  doing  by  a false  principle  that  f he  funds 
of  the  Mission,  w'hich  are  not  large,  should  t)e 
devoteJ  entirely  tu  mis.sion  work,  and  that  little 
or  no  money  should  be  spent  on  ‘comfort.’  I 
whollydisagree  Avith  them.  1 think  thatifEuropcans 
are  expecteil  to  live  in  (Central  Africa,  and  to 
carry  on  an  active  Avork,  Avhether  it  be  educa- 
tional, religious,  commercial,  or  political,  they 
.should  first  of  all  be  comfortably  hou.sed,  ami, 
secondly,  they  should  eat  the  best  of  food,  cooked 
by  the  best  of  cooks.  If  they  Avill  do  this  then 
they  may  just  hope  to  be  .able  to  sjiend  ten  or 
fifteen  ye.ars  of  their  life  in  Central  Africa 
without  .serious  deterioration  of  their  health. 
The  next  criticism  Avhich  I might  offer  on  mission- 
.aiy  life  and  conduct  .almost  ceases  to  have 
any  actuality ; it  would  be  to  remark  that  in 
many  cases  they  have  been  too  apt  to  throw 
themselves  into  politics,  native  .and  external, 
and  to  Avield  the  great  influence  they  possess 
over  the  natives  so  as  to  constitute  themselves 
a poAver  in  the  land,  Avith  a self-assumed  right 
to  interfere  in  all  questions  of  administration. 
This  phase  is,  however,  rapidly  pa.ssing  away, 
.and  was  a not  unnatural  result  of  the  entire 
want  of  Government  Avhich  subsisted  in  British 
Central  Africa  until  its  constitution  .as  a British 
Protectorate.  About  mission  AA'ork  in  other  parts 
of  the  AA'oild  I have  no  direct  knoAvledge,  but 
1 can  s.ay  of  all  mission  Avork  in  British  Central 
Africa  that  it  has  only  to  tell  the  plain  truth 
and  nothing  but  the  truth  to  secure  sympathy 
and  support. — Standard,  Aug.  29. 
JADOO  FIBRE. 
An  esteemed  correspondent  in  England  has  draAvn 
our  attention  to  a new  substance  of  extraordinary 
value  in  which  plants  can  be  grown.  It  is  called 
Jadoo  fibre — jadoo  being  presumably  the  Persian 
word  for  magic — and  is  a patent  by  (iolonel  Halford 
Thompson,  r.a.,  of  Teignmouth,  South  Devon.  The 
foundation  of  the  fibre  is  peat  moss ; Avhich  is  ex- 
ceedingly spongy  and  capable  of  absorbing  into  its 
composition  any  chemicals  with  Avhich  one  may  wish 
to  impregnate  it.  This  peat  moss  is  boiled  with  those 
chemicals  Avhich  are  required  for  plant  food,  and  to 
ensure  their  thorough  amalgamation  and  decomposi- 
tion the  fibre  is  fermented  in  a particular  way  after 
the  boiling  process  is  completed.  When  the  sub- 
stance is  ready  for  use,  it  is  practically  free  from 
any  smell,  and  being  also  quite  clean,  it  has  been 
found  of  great  advantage  in  England  for  such  pots 
as  are  Avanted  to  ho  placed  in  door.s.  In  India, 
Avhere  ferns  and  plants  arc  frequently  employed  in 
fhe  decoration  of  dwelling-rooms,  the  fibre  should 
be  found  of  equal  advantage.  Our  correspon- 
eent  writes  : — “ 1 have  been  over  Colonel 
Thompson’s  place  at  Teignmouth  and  have 
seen  what  astonishing  results  he  has  obtained  with  this 
most  wonderful  material, not  only  with  followers  but  av  th 
sug^arcane,  beetroot,  cucumbers  and  positively  alsoAvitli 
coffee  and  tea  in  his  own  greenhouses,  I cannot 
help  thinking  that  for  coffee  and  tea  nurseries  it 
would  be  a tremendous  success.  Colonel  Thompson 
has  letters  from  the  West  Indies  and  South 
America  which  show  that  in  purely  ‘planting’  pro- 
ducts the  fibre  is  likely  to  give  most  surprising 
results.  It  is  no  quack  manure  but  a substantiiu 
growing  medium.  I have  seen  apple-trees  grown  in 
small  pots  filled  Avilh  it,  and  they  are  simply 
Aveighed  down  with  the  fruit,  some  of  the  apples 
being  monsters.  It  Ico’.cs  quite  uncanny  to  see 
them  on  the  tiny  trees.  Amongst  other  wonders 
Colonel  Thompson  .shows  a magnificent  crop  of  clover 
grown  in  sterile  soil  from  the  Landes  District 
of  Bordeaux  which  has  been  watered  with 
liquid  jadoo,”  In  confirmation  of  our  corro.s- 
pondent’s  remarks  comes  a report  from  the 
Agri-IIorticultural  Society  of  India  on  jadoo 
fibre  as  a propagating  medium,  the  rc.sults  in  its 
C.u'dens  in  Calcutta  having  boon  most  satisfactory ; 
some  plants  which  had  hitherto  defied  all  methods 
of  propagation,  except  on  a hotbed  under  glass, 
