353 
Nov.  2,  1896.]  THE  TROPICAL 
for  the  limiting'  and  forest  life  as  in  America, 
and  ill  Kortli  America  at  least  full  jnstice  lias 
been  done  to  her  wealth.  It  would  require  a 
book  to  recount  all  the  materials  used  hy  the 
Indians.  Oiily  a few  c.xamples  need  here  be  ;^iveii. 
The  Canadian  refreshes  himself  by  chewing  the 
sap  wood  of  the  poplar  called  “ La  sevre  the 
juice  has  a [deaisant  sweetish  taste  like  water- 
melons, and  acts  as  a restorative.  When  snow 
covers  the  prairie  this  is  often  the  only  lood 
for  horses  obtainable  in  the  absence  of  fodder. 
Th  e Wbntuns  of  California  often  fill  their 
stomachs  in  winter  with  the  sweet  bark  of  the 
yellow  ))inc.  On  the  u[iper  Saskatchewan,  when 
hunting  and  fishing  fail,  the  Indian  scrapes  a 
lichen,  (jjU'ophora,  and  boils  it  into  a nutritious 
jelly.  Among  the  Yuma  tribes  the  roots  of  the 
ine.scal  {A<jara  deserti)  are  roasted  and  oaten  for 
the  sake  of  their  flavour.  The  stone-pine 
af'ords  nuts;  the  opunlin  and  another  cactus, 
the  Pifahni/a,  sweet  fruits  ; the  locust-tree  sweet 
pods,  and,  in  its  seed  wlien  crushed,  a nutritious 
meal  ; amolr  (yucca)  edible  fruit  and  tougli  libre; 
palmetto,  in  its  leaf-buds,  a substitute  for  cab- 
bage ; the  young  leaves  of  Arjnoc  amt'ricann, 
when  cooked,  a savoury  dish.  I^eaves  of  certain 
ericnceoi  furnish  tea,  and  the  arbutus  is  mixed 
with  tobacco.  Of  edible  fungi  108  kinds  are 
reckoned  in  North  Carolina  alone.  The  so-called 
“ Indian  bread  ” is  a fungus  attaining  a weight 
ef  .30  lb,  The  tomato  is  everywhere  employed. 
\ aniila  first  attained  importance  through  Euro- 
peans; but  cacao  was  useil  and  valued  in  earlier 
imes.  The  coca  of  Peru  (Erijt/iroxylon  coca) 
was  known  even  into  Central  America  as  nayo) 
each  leaf  was  separately  detached  from  the  stalk 
with  the  thumb-nail,  and  dried  in  earthen  pots 
over  the  fire. 
Imported  plants  have  become  widely  distribirted, 
in  some  degree  even  those  which  white  settlers 
did  not  cultivate.  Thus  bread-fruit  grows  wild 
in  some  of  the  West  Indian  islands,  where  the 
indolent  and  contented  negroes  require  hardly 
anything  further  for  their  sustenance.  Lhe 
cultivation  of  sugar  aud  cotton  in  plantations 
has  hardly  brought  any  advantage  to  the  in- 
dividual Indian,  since  he  lacks  capital  ami  organis- 
ing pow’er ; but  in  Mexico  and  Central  America 
cottee-planting,  which  requires  only  hard  work 
and  the  hoe,  has  had  a more  favourable  effect ; and 
the  same  may  be  said  of  tobacco.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Indian  has  nowdiere  adapted  himself 
to  such  forms  of  cultivation  as  those  of  the  vine 
or  the  olive  ; nor  indeed  have  the  Indians,  even 
when  settled  for  generations,  taken  to  agricul- 
ture in  the  European  style  as  it  is  carried  on  in 
the  temperate  districts  or  North  America,  the 
Tierras  Frias  of  the  Mexican  and  South  Ameri- 
can highlands,  or  on  the  lliver  Plate,  so  readily 
as  to  cattle-breeding,  which  has  turned  them 
and  the  half-breeds  on  the  Llanos  and  Pampas 
into  distinctly  pastoral  nomads,  under  the  name 
of  llcmeros,  and  gcmchos,  and  races  of  horsemen. 
SELANGOR  PLANTERS’  ASSOCIATION. 
We  have  received  a copy  of  the  minutes  of  a. 
general  meeting  held  on  Saturday,  20th  September. 
The  following  resolution  proposed  by  Mr.  Gibson 
and  seconded  by  Mr.  Carf.y  was  carried  unanimously: — 
“That  the  Association  should  again  address  the 
Government  on  the  subject  of  sales  of  land  by  auc- 
tion in  Selangor,  with  a view  to  having  the  State 
put  on  the  same  footing  as  the  rest  of  the  Fede- 
rated States,  where  grants  of  land  are  given  to  suit- 
able applicants.” 
AGRICUl/rURIST. 
The  Chairman  laid  on  the  table  a draft  co^jy  of 
a Bill  entitled  “ An  Oi’dinance  for  the  Protection 
of  Indian  Immigrants,”  which  had  been  sent  to 
him  as  a luembor  of  the  late  Ijabour  Commission, 
by  the  Colonial  Secretary,  and  ho  drew  the  atten- 
tion of  the  meeting  to  various  points  in  the  (Jrdi- 
nauce.  After  some  discussion  it  was  resolved  that 
the  Hon.  Secretary  should  write  to  the  Colonial 
Secretary  asking  if  the  operations  of  the 
Ordinance  is  to  ne  confined  to  the  Colony,  and  l.if 
not  whether  a certain  number  of  copies  could  be 
supplied  to  the  Association,  failing  which  it  was 
agreed  that  they  should  be  printed  in  the  State  aud 
distributed  to  members, 
7.  Head  letter  from  the  British  Pmsident  to  the 
Chairman,  forwarding  a draft  of  the  ‘‘Federal  Pro- 
duce Protection  Enactment,  1.S97,”  and  intimating 
that  the  Government  will  be  glad  to  receive  the  views 
of  the  Selangor  Planters’  Association.  Resolred  that 
the  letter  be  acknowledged  and  the  Government 
thanked  for  forwarding  the  proposed  Enactment, 
which  is  approved  of  by  the  meeting,  aud  that 
printed  copies  bo  sent  to  all  members  with  a view 
to  ascertaining  the  general  ‘opinion  of  the  planting 
community. 
8.  Mr.  Huttenbach  addressed  the  meeting  on  the 
subject  of  Government  inspection  of  oil  engines,  as 
prime  movers,  for  which  a fee  is  charged,  although 
they  are  free  from  ihe  risk  and  danger  attending 
steam  engines.  Resolved  that  the  Hon.  Secretary 
enquire  as  to  what  is  done  in  other  countries  before 
taking  any  further  action  in  the  matter. 
ZANZIBAR  CLOVES. 
There  have  been  signs  lately  of  an  impending  specula- 
tive movement  to  force  up  the  price  of  Zanzibar  cloves. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  month  a Mincing  Lane  firm  of 
brokers,  who  are  currently  reported  to  act  for  a rich 
“ syndicate,”  actuallv  purchased  considerable  quanti- 
ties, although  the  price  did  not  advance  beyond  one 
or  two  points.  It  is  well  known  that  in  the  early  days 
of  the  late  Colonel  North’s  “camphor  syndicate”  the 
speculators  banded  together  under  that  Sobriquet  at- 
tempted to  corner  the  clove-market  along  with  the 
other  departments  of  the  Mincing  Lane  produce-trade 
to  which  they  turned  their  attention.  The  clove 
speculation  w'as  unsuccessful  from  the  beginning — as, 
indeed,  it  could  hardly  help  being,  considering  the 
enormous  supplies  of  the  spice  in  Europe  and  the 
Bast,  It  W'as  quickly  and  quietly  dropped,  but 
it  is  now  said  that  the  recent  tentative  movement 
W'as  engineered  by  some  members  of  the  old  “ syndi- 
cate” resuscitated.  Whatever  truth  there  may  be 
in  this  statement,  a more  inopportune  time  for  an 
upward  movement  in  cloves  could  hardly  be  imagined. 
Sheer  over-production  has  forced  down  the  price  of 
Zanzibar  cloves  to  almost  the  lowest  figure  on  re- 
cord. There  is  no  prospect — barring  a total  failure  of 
the  crop  or  a destruction  of  the  plantations  by  a 
hurricane — that  there  will  be  any  considerable  dimi- 
nution in  the  supply.  The  stock  in  the  London 
public  warehouses  alone  is  about  81,000  bales — equal 
to  one  and  a half  year’s  average  output  in  Zanzibar — 
and  there  is  no  reason  whatever  for  assuming  that 
theie  will  be  a marked  increase  in  the  consumption. 
It  is  rumoured,  indeed,  that  over  one-half  of  this 
enormous  London  stock  has  been  quietly  bought  un 
by  the  syndicate,  but  no  convincing  evidence  is 
brought  forward  to  bear  out  that  as.sertion.  Clove 
oil  (the  chief  article  of  pharmaceutical  interest)  is 
now  lower  in  price  than  it  has  ever  been,  aud  a 
halfpenny  advance  in  cloves  would  almost  certainly 
react  upon  the  oil-market. 
The  chief  reason  which  has  been  brought  forward 
as  a possible  cause  for  a permanent  advance  in  the 
price  of  cloves  is  that,  after  the  recent  events  in 
Zanzibar,  slavery  may  be  abolished  in  the  Sultan- 
ate. As  the  clove-plantations,  which  are  almost 
entirely  owned  by  Alabs  , are  worked  by  slave-labour, 
it  is  thought  that  the  cost  of  production  of  tl.e 
spice  would,  in  that  case,  be  much  increased.  That 
