518 
FOURTH BULLETIN OF 
[1846. 
extended in Bengal within the last five years, and since 1843, in Province Wellesley, 
(in Malacca Straits,) Ceylon, and Madras, particularly the last. In the Province 
Wellesley planters have entered largely into the speculation of sugar growing 
within the last year, from the East India Company having offered great facilities 
in the shape of very cheap lands. They have an abundant supply of Chinese 
laborers at very low rates, who are acquainted with the cultivation and growth of 
sugar in their own country. Their prospects are said to be very good, as the land 
is very rich, and they are near the seacoast; but the country is overrun with ele¬ 
phants, tigers, and other varmints. There are also a few estates in Penang and 
Singapore island. The quality of British Indian sugars is much better than for¬ 
merly, as capitalists have erected large refineries and boiling-houses with all the 
latest improvements. In Bengal and Madras, and some parts of Bombay, they 
purchase the raw sugar or the cane from the cultivators, and grind and manufac¬ 
ture it into the different qualities to suit the English markets. I have no doubt 
that the English in India in a few years will be able to sell their sugars in England 
at four cents a pound with a good profit, as labor is very low and living cheap. The 
estates in Ceylon are only sufficient to supply the demand for that island. 
The cultivation is also much extending in Luconia, under the Spanish Govern¬ 
ment, who are offering facilities to capitalists to grow the cane. Land is sold 
cheap, labor is low, and living very moderate. The only drawback is the want of 
roads and partial insecurity of the Government. Most of the Manilla sugar goes 
to England, New South Wales, and the British possessions in that quarter. Many 
cargoes of the Siam sugar are shipped to Bombay, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea, 
and much of it goes to China. The sugar of Java goes principally to Holland, some 
to England, and a few cargoes to America and New South Wales. That of Cochin 
China and Burmah finds its way to China or Bengal, where it is remanufactured. 
The Mauritius sugars are of very strong quality, and almost entirely consumed by 
the English refiners. The Chinese sugars are principally brought to Canton from 
the islands of Formosa and Honan, and the province of Fukein. The consump¬ 
tion in China is very great, but it may be often bought in Canton for from three 
dollars and a half to seven and a half per hundred. The latter price is for Canton 
refined or rock candy, which is of a strong quality. If the cost of freight were not 
so high it would leave a fair margin of profit for shipping to England and America. 
The sugars of Bourbon are shipped to France. The cultivation of sugar is not at 
present extending in Java, from the most of the lands susceptible of cultivation 
being already under culture, and from the monopolizing selfish policy of the Dutch. 
Tobacco. —This article is of universal consumption in the east, and is grown in 
all the islands, and in China, India, and other countries eastward of the Cape. 
The best quality is grown in Manilla and Persia. The Manilla is sold entirely in 
the shape of cheroots, and it has the complete monopoly of the eastern market 
among Europeans and iheir descendants. The Persian is principally sold among 
the Arabs of Arabia, the Red Sea, Egypt, and Judea. It is of very fine quality. 
An account of the cultivation and preparation may be seen in Porter’s Tropical 
Agriculturist. The tobacco of Trinchinopoly, in Madras, is?also very fair, and is 
much used in the manufacture of cheroots, the consumption of which is large 
among certain classes in the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay and the island of 
Ceylon. The tobacco of Java is not so good in quality, and the consumption prin¬ 
cipally confined to that country and to a small extent in China. The tobacco of 
China is of very inferior quality, very weak, and of unpleasant flavor. Tobacco is 
used throughout the east in combination with the areca nut, betel leaf, and other 
stimulating articles, as a masticatory. They are ten times filthier than tobacco 
chewers. If small shipments of the best American leaf tobacco were made to 
China, at low prices, it might, in the course of a few years, become a considerable 
export to that country. The East Indies at this time offer also a very good open¬ 
ing for the cigars manufactured in our different eastern towns of Spanish tobacco. 
They ought never to be shipped, however, even of the best qualities, at a higher 
price than twelve dollars per thousand. An article between eight and ten dollars 
would, I am convinced, if the quality were fair, always meet with a fair demand 
in India, Ceylon, Mauritius, the Cape, and China. The price of the best Manilla 
cheroots is seldom under eleven dollars per thousand. 
Much of the tobacco of Java goes to Holland in baskets. The Burmese tobacco 
i» of very good quality. 
