ii6 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, 1S91 . 
bnndles, ran past ub followdl by tlio others al 
frightened and panic-etrioken. Tbousaude of enemies 
had attacked the tear of our party and had overthrown 
all those who did not take to flight. We did not try 
to rally the coolies ; it would have been useless. 
Followed by some of the most courageous inclu- ’ 
ding a Javanese mandor wo returned to the rear and 
met liakhuis. Uo had heard shots and turning round 
saw Van Baalten staggering ont of the jungle 
and after going a few pacea ho placed bis hand to his 
head and lell down. Van Alpbtn had seen liakhuis 
lire at some Agates that suddenly came out of the wood 
and then disappeared sgain in the thicket. Itiile lire 
was no use hete. It was a case for calm rcQectiou 
and parley with the enemy if possible. What eould 
we, a haudful of Europeans, do againat such numerous 
enemies on ground known to he completely hostile. 
Do not shoot, was my order. These wore the rnr st 
painful moments of the journey and they will always 
remain in my recolkotion. The moment has come to 
express a word of sincere thanks to my fellow travedevs. 
My time has been ao much ocoupiod that I have not 
been able to do so before. Then I le.irucd to know 
them, not only as men inspired by a holy love for 
science but ns men who in the hour of danger can be 
implicitly ttusted. Whilst we stood there wo decided 
on the one band not under any consideration to take 
to flight and on the other to sell our lives asdtarly 
as possible. More shots wore fired and the Javane.e 
mandor by my sido fell mortally wounded. We found 
Van Raulten with a bullet in bis head a d klewaug 
wounds on his body, lifeless on the path. The Malays 
bad disappeared. All along the track goods that the 
coolies had carried wire strewn about. A portion of 
the baggage had fallen into the hands of the robbers. 
Bobbery, the Malay ideal, was the object of the attack. 
By degrees the ouoliea were persuaoed to take up 
their loads, and we placed Van Ituulteii iii n simple 
grave near where he was murdorod. The expedi- 
tion between Luge! Ksmbiiand Liuggani met a num- 
ber of natural obstaoles. The lend oetweeu Ivampir 
and Kwauiaii is not as was supposed a series ot 
swamps but just hilly and with oomparaliv ly little 
water. The tornialion of the land between Siak and 
Kampar differs iiitle from that between Kwantsuand 
Kampar only that it is more swampy in the neighbour- 
hood of tbeSiak river. Tbewuy ihrough the Sumiitrau 
woods in high situalions is not difficult. They consist 
principally of upright trees of three feet or more in 
thiokuass and fifty feet high under which there is a 
thin lean undergrowth of young timber that has not 
had sulficient air and light to make it 11 urisb pro- 
perly. Here ten or twelve men armed with knives 
can easily cut a path for the bearers. Where, how- 
ever, a thick growth of lalang or wliat is worse extensive 
swamps lie in the way then difiioulties begin, lii the 
swamps a sort of rout tree grows which spreads out a 
network of roots which catch tlie feet of the ex- 
hausted traveller as iii a trap. Then tlie expi rionced 
catch hold of a branch, a creeper which otlV rs support 
and his skin and flesh is torn by the sawsliaped bent, 
cutting thorns which aie completely hidden irom the 
view by thick leaves and which cause intense pain 
Besides these diffleu tics there are those from the 
animal world. The wasps in the junglo and talcing 
fields, when the unwary traveller sets I s foot on a 
neat of them, spring up, and ha then ixpO’iHi ois 
the painful oouaeqnencts of their > nger ou his fa-c, 
neck, and other bore parts of body. The liorsilly 
sometimes oomei in swaimsand is very trouhlssomo. 
But the worst of all is the ant. The aiit, says the 
proverb, belongs lo tbesasi ; and this is true wilhiegnrd 
to Sumatra. All varieties of thia insi ct are tound in the 
woods, and fields; from the tiny black one that bites 
and torments the victim whilst he seeks in vain for him, 
to the gigantic red one. The population in these 
regions do not regularly cultivate the Jaiu and tin y 
are oonstautly ou the move. Poverty rathi r than 
affluence is met with, as is usnally the case in Ihiniy 
populated lauds. The Malay, however, is not discon- 
tented with his lot. We saw that the rnen as ivoll 
as the women wa mot had intelligent friendly faci s. 
The ineu have a comic appearance because iney stioko 
upwards the few email hairs that adortj their upper 
lips into a printed miniature n.ouelacho. Days passed 
without the trave’Ii rs meetii g a single human bnng. 
Deer and pigs were comi aratively scarce in the bush. 
On the other hand thi re were numerous irsocs of 
pi'chjdcrma fucti as the elephant aid rhinoceros. 
There were Iraues of tears’ claws in the trees, so 
that tliese animals must be there in comparatively 
lygo numbers. To find the w..y in these almost 
limitless unfrequented woods is m< st difficult especi- 
ally for the Malay who has no compass. The half 
cutting throui h branches on their way is a h. Ip to 
llieoi aud these bud out again and iiiUiiaway serve 
as sign posts for yenrs. At Langgam ou the Kam- 
par river on the 17th March the exneiiitioii met 
Engineer La I’orte from Siak Ou the 3lst of that 
inonlh the whole party arrived at Siak. Of the coolie's 
thiro were twenty hehliid on account of sickness 
and desertion. Tbo speakir finished his highly in- 
teresting rc.ading with the wish that iho iron horse 
should speedily break down the barrier which now 
separates the East Coast from the West Coast of 
Sumatra which will bring welfare aud civilizatiou to 
the impassable woods aud inhospitable lands. 
“ HEMILEIA VASTATE L\.” 
PEEVENTION IS BETTElt THAN CUBE, 
By WlLllAM I'lUNGI.E, M. K. C. I., 
LATE AOiUCULTUllAL CHEMIST TO MESSHS. MATHESON A CO. 
IN COORG. 
[Under special arrangement for publication in the 
"Ceylon Observer" and "Tropical Agriculturist ’’) 
Coffee leaf disease, Ihniileia vastatnx, has produced 
such dire effects on tlie coffee of Ceylon and Southorii 
India that most of your rcadors are quite familiar 
Witli til;- nanie. and a brief ontlinn ot tlio life 
hiatoiy ol this doadU' parasitic fungus will pruhablv 
prove lutorestmg. Those who wish for fuller intor- 
mation aro requested to carefully road Mr. Morris’s 
aud Mr. Marshall Ward s reports. 
I have carefully gone over the ground traversed 
hy the latter gentleman, and can fully corroborate 
hirt stiUomentH. 
AVhon a held of coffee is attached by the disease, 
the bright glossy green of the leaves is changed to 
a dull yellow, and on oxaniiiiation tlio under surface 
of the loaves is seen to bo covered more or leas 
with an orange-colored powder. This powder is 
composed of myriads of spores of the fungus Htmileia 
mutatru- One of those iiredo spores, sown on tho 
under sido ot a loaf ot a tree, if tho conditions of 
ight. hoat, moisture, and texture of the epidermis 
bo suitable, will m ten to twenty hours gorminato 
and iioiietrate the stoma of tho leaf; if tht medium 
on wtiich It is p antod prove unsuitoble it S, “r 
may remain mert for months. On a coffeo leaf 
Arabian spocios after ge.-n.ination in about tliroo to 
iivo days_ a '“ycelimn m formed, consistiur of 
Si Sr,,,"*’;, rtr'*® *“ 
penetrate tho 11 eighWing cell walls, feeding ou tho 
misliing its suckers into the’ surLndtng tissues* when 
:^h.rKt aK 
parent spore is planted, 
1 two to four 
davB after the appearance of tho ” 
rufo when the couclitious 
weather is unfavorable or tho medium on which tiic 
spore was sown unsuitable, tho development is groat y 
retarded, and a yellow spot may show on a llaf foil 
two or three weeks before any spores are shed, or 
they may not form at all 
Tlio rust patch is formed when the spores are 
forced np through the stomata. As the mycelium 
spreadn, jiiid increanos in size, more spores aro 
, fcom /ceuUul poinu 
yellow spot as a 
aro favorable. If the 
