3 
the amount of 25o/o. As the rich soil is of coral origin, one can say thaf in it orchids like 
vanilla would find an ideal medium for their growth. The miniature forests are formed of 
spindly trees growing only a few inches apart which could be most conveniently used as props 
for vanilla. The climate of Aldabra is also drier than that of Mahe, and one knows that per¬ 
manent rains are not so good as w^ell marked wet and dry seasons for vanilla culture as during 
the dry period the vines are rested and more easily matured. Under these conditions a betfer and 
more regular flowering takes place than in wet places like Mahe when one good crop is obtained 
only every four or five years. A proof of the suitability of some parts of Aldabra to the culture 
of vanilla is afforded by the most luxuriant growth and flowering of two orchids (one angraecum 
and one aerides) which reach enormous dimensions on one islet of the western channels noar 
Picard Island. Seeds of these plants have somehow reached the spot in question : (a miniature 
islet on the edge of the rim of land) and the climate, soil and surroundings were so beneficial to 
the plants that they now form cknnps of extraordinary luxuriance reminding one of pine apples 
or aloes grown out of cultivation rather than of the orchids in question which grow singly in 
Mahe and elsewhere. These soil and weather conditions may also render possible the culture 
of fruit trees such as the lime which are handicapped by scale insects in other parts of the 
Archipelago. In spots where coral, lime, humus and phosphates combine to form an exoellen'*^ 
soil it is worth while establishing’ plantations of fruit trees. In these soils papaws .nni coco¬ 
nuts fruit so abundantly owing to the proper combination of the fertilising elements th’'>t the 
clusters of fruits are quite uncommonly large. I have counted 10 papaws in one chiste.. o'' fruits 
and the female flowers of the coconut palms are so abundant that under each tree tl r ground 
is littered with shedded immature nuts. 
These and other points have been fully dealt with in a report submitted to His Excel icy 
the Governor and to the Authorities in England and it is hoped that Aldabra will b‘ put voider 
cultivation when funds will permit. These dependencies should then be regularly visited by a 
vessel wdth auxiliary power once a month. The islands of Mahe, Praslin and La Digue are 
already thickly populated and nothing would relieve more the congested localities than emigra¬ 
tion to islands like Aldabra where the sea resources give an abundance of food beyond the 
means of most of the inhabitants of Mahe. The present lessees themselves would find that it 
would pay in the long run to establish a permanent population. This 'vvould go far to obviate 
the necessity of continually recruiting from Mahe for the working of the guano deposits. 
Since my return from Aldabra I have been eng’aged in laboratory work with hardly any 
time to visit other localities. I however arraiiged to spend 5 days visiting estates in all dis¬ 
tricts of Mahe in connection with the coconut diseases which are increasing to an alarming 
extent. 
At the request of Elis Honour the Administrator, I also gave a lecture in the Council 
chamber at Government House on the methods of tapping and curing rubber. The substance 
of this lecture was printed and distributed to the planters. The evils of rough tapping was 
particularly insisted upon as nodules are formed on trees which are murderously tapped. 
Much time was devoted to the analysis of fermented cane juice (bacca) which owing to the 
excise duties newly set forth is being adulterated with imported brown sugar arid starch sugar 
from cereals and beans. The law on the subject will have to be recast to avoid serious losses 
to the fisc. 
Among laboratory worlds undertaken mention can be made of the following analysis :— 
58 samples of guano and other phosphates 
15 ,, of‘ bacca 
5 „ of castor oil 
1 „ of drinking water. 
Much technical information was also given to planters on subjects-'such as tobacco curing, 
essential oils distillation^ rubber curing, dyeing with" aniline bl^k, etc. 
CHAPTER IV. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
The subjoined'tabulated retuims show, that the rainfhll during 19161 was 30 inches lower 
Than in 1915 when the highest'rainfall was ever i^ecorded at the Botanic Station. A shortage of 
30 inches for the whole year had no detrimental effect on the vegetation because the distribu¬ 
tion was very good. There is nothing to show that there is much difference in the effect of 
rainfall on the crops--when it reaches- 99 ine-hes- and wheri' it exceeds 130 inches. There was 
only one period of drought during- the year, it occurred in August and September. It was of 
too short duration to mterfere seriously with the growth of the cultivated plants but it was 
long enough to cause in some localities'a' set back in'" the flow of latex from rubber trees and 
the dying out of vanilla vines in full bloom. The effect on coconrit palms was not apparent. 
A distinction should ho'Wever- be^made-between rocky, land more-or-less ’sloping and plateaux or 
valleys where the effect of the drought was not experienced at all. Ori the steep hill-sides the 
drought as usual showed its maximum effect. Had however vanilla been planted on as great 
a scale as formerly and not been so much deceased by the Calospora fungus that the short drought 
would have been, as in ancient days, beneficial to the orchid. ^Thfe vines which died out were 
those which were suffering from the fungus disease and also those on which more than 50 pods 
newly pollinated had been left. Such'a heavy crop is fatal to vaaiilla suffering from disease 
and even to healthy vanilla. The drought which began in'August instead of July delayed the 
flowering of vanilla until September and the period of drought'wafe just of the required dura¬ 
tion to induce a heavy flowering which accordingly took'plaCe. Unfortunately the vanilla 
planted in the Coloaiy covers ahurCa'lab'out 10 times HCss than fqrrrierly. I am for this reason 
of opinion that the3rainfall und6r review was j^st the one Which-wate required during the year. 
