Oct. t, 1897.] tHE TROPICAL AGRICULTUKlSf. 233 
tailed sheep are everywhere abundant. European 
sheep have as yet proved a failure, their fleeces 
beiii}' rendered all but valueless by the quanti- 
ties of .seeds and burns which become entangled 
in the wool. 
As to the 
HEALTH OF EUROPEANS 
in British Central Africa, it cannot be said to be 
good. There is little danger to be dreaded from 
the ordinary malarial fever, but unfoj’tunately a 
bad type, called black-water fever, sometimes 
crops up, and a good many valuable lives have 
fallen victims to it. Mr. Whyte, however, be- 
lieves that a great improvement will come 
about when the country is opened up and 
moi’e comfortable houses and surroundings be- 
come available. He remembers well when some 
of the West India islands and Ceylon were 
quite as unhealthy. Now they are in some cases 
being visited as health resorts, so salubrious 
have they become. In Nyasaland, the services 
of a staff of experienced and skilful doctors sent 
out by Sir Harry Johnston are now procurable, 
and Dr. Kerr Cross, formerly of the Livingstonia 
Free Church Mission, and Dr. Grey, of Porto- 
bello, have just sailed to join the Administration. 
The work recently completed by Dr. Cross on 
“ Health in British Central Africa” will form an 
excellent guide for youn» men emigrating. It 
is all important in Nyasaland, as in all tropical 
countries, to know how to live, and a r.ian’s 
health greatly depends upon him.self, whether he 
uses judiciously or abuses his constitution. 
Temperate yet active habits, with a well-balanced, 
cheerful, and equable mind, backed w'lth a good 
thick stratum of common sen.se, are golden pos- 
sessions out in Africa, where many trials and 
worries have to be encountered. Mr. Whyte 
describes with regret how' practically the whole 
trade of the East Coast of Africa from Delagoa 
to the Red Sea has passed out of British bands 
through the enterprise of foreign, and especially 
German competitors. 
Asked his opinion on the 
MISSIONARY QUESTION, 
Mr. White has no hesitation in saying that 
missionaries have been a great power in 
the land in influencing the natives. A great 
deal has been said of missions of late, and it 
is very easy, and so far legitimate, to criticise 
public bodies. Unfortunately, however, mis- 
sions frequently undergo very unjust criticism. 
Of the work done by Dr. Laws and the free 
Church Mission Mr. White speaks in unquali- 
fied terms of praise. It is, he says, perfectly 
astonishing to witness the hold Dr. Laws has 
on the people and the influence he exercises over 
them. 
Mr. Whyte’s last 
EXPLORATORY WORK 
before his present return home was done in the 
Masuka Mountains, on the German boundary to 
the north-west of Jjake Nyasa. Here lie found 
a most interesting race of people. They were 
very shy and suspicious, and although lie sent 
scouts and guides with presents to attract them, 
it was days before he got into touch with them. 
When he at last succeeded in getting the chief 
and some of his headmen to visit the camp and 
in gaining the confidence, of the people, he found 
them a most kind, docile, and tractable race, a 
branch of the Wankondi. The chief and his head- 
man invited Mr. Whyte to come and reside with 
them and be their Chief. They promised to carry 
timber for liim and build a house if lie would 
only settle with them and plant coffee. They 
are extremely cleanly and tidy in their habits, 
and their villages, which were well stocked with 
cattle, sheep, and goats, were patterns of tidi- 
ness, Mr. Whyte was more than surprised to 
find that public latrines, neatly constructe<l and 
screened off from sight, were in universal use 
throughout the villages, a .striking contrast to 
the tribes further south, on whom it is very 
difficult to impress the value ot sanitary measures. 
— A herclceti Free Press. 
TORTOISE-SHELL. 
Mr. Frank S. Smith writes ; — A good deal of the 
world’s supply of tortoise-shell comes from the Solo- 
mon Islands. The term ‘ tortoise-shell ’ is one of 
many inisued terms in common use. The shell is 
not obtained from the tortoise, which is a land 
animal, but from the hawksbill turtle, an inhabitant 
of the sea. All of the turtle family that I have come 
across are shellbacks, but, with the exception of the 
hawksbill, the shell is practically valueless. That of 
the hawksbill turtle is dark brown when on the 
back of the animal, and bears very little resemblance 
to the burnished and beautifully — mottled article 
seen in shops. It is not until the shell is cleaned 
and polished that the dark spots appear. The turtle . 
from which the shell is taken lives in the sea just 
off the Solomon Islands. It varies in size greatly. 
I have seen them weigh iq) to 4 cwt., when it 
required the united strength of four men to over- 
turn one. The female turtle comes up out of the sea 
at nights, especially when it is moonlight, to lay 
her eg s on shore. This is the time, and the only 
time, that the natives are able to catcti turtle. They 
go in groups to the shore W'here experience has 
taught them to expect the turtle, and they wait 
silently in the grass undergrowth till the animal 
appears. Presently a broad dark form is seen moving 
slowly, laboriously, and cautiously from the water’s 
edge up the sandy beach. It stops every now and 
then, and at last finds a spot suitable for depositing 
eggs. The natives at once rush out, get hold of the 
shell, and before the unfortunate wanderer knows 
what is the matter they give one simultaneous heave 
and it is lying helpless on its back. Unless they over- 
turn the turtle they could not prevent it from forcing 
its way back to sea. Blows on the back would injure 
the shell and not incommode the turtle greatly. When 
the animal is on all-fours the head is concealed, and 
it is impossible to get at the legs. Once on its 
back it is powerless. The natives tie the legs firmly 
together, and, after tethering it by a rope, put the 
turtle right side up again. A burning torch of resi- 
nous bark is obtained and passed up and down the 
back till the heat releases the shell. The shell is not 
in one whole piece, but consists of nine parts, which 
overlap like fish scales. The heat loosens the joints, 
and the pieces are then pulled off. If the islanders 
have plenty of food, the turtle is then released, 
when it goes off to sea in a bruised and painful 
condition, and sets to work to grow a new shell. 
But the new shell is of no commercial value, being 
thin and colourless. More often the turtle is killed 
and its eggs abstracted and eaten. It is only at 
spawning time that turtles come to land, and only 
the females come then. The shell is worth up to IT 
15s. per lb. in London, and up to £'.) worth is some- 
times obtained from one turtle. As a small tortoise- 
shell comb costs £1 5s, or thereabouts, it may be 
believed that most of what wc see exposed is imi- 
tation. — IVc^tcni Aug. i. 
Creepers in Southern India— seem to be 
able to manage more economically than in Ceylon 
when we are told— .-see letter in our Tropkal Agri- 
culturist — " while RlOOa month is better than 
“ R75 and R75 than R50, no man need starve or 
“ even stint liimself if he has Raff a month to his 
“ name.” 
