CO882-(2-3) — Page 531

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference:

TC.O. 882

3

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Bail

Boil suitable for plantations.

Available for agar, tebarco, tapioca, &c.

Capital required by planters.

Labour,

Terms on which land

can be obtained.

Applications for land.

Forests.

Different kinds of timber.

Agriculture.

Cultivation of rice.

The Malay plough.

Transplanting.

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inland, where the mountain ranges rise to an altitude of some 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, and run in an almost unbroken line in a north-westerly direction with detached hills at intervals at their base; while a smaller range runs parallel with them.

27. These mountains are principally composed of granitic rock. Between the coast and the lower range the land is divided into two strips, that at the base being of a rich alluvial soil, covered with dense forest, while that bordering the coast is marshy.

28. The eastern slopes of these hills are admirably adapted for the growth of chin- chona, vanilla, coffee, tea, nutmegs, and cloves.

The soil is well suited for all these productions; the proper situation for each varying according to the altitude required.

29. The plains are available for plantations of sugar, tobacco, tapioca, &c., &c., and there is no doubt that were British enterprise and energy brought to bear for the proper cultivation of the land, great success would rapidly attend any effort that might be made

to this end.

30. No large sum would be required for opening and working a plantation in Larut. A capital of from 10,000 dollars to 15,000 dollars, that is 2,000l. to 3,0001. sterling, would be ample.

acre.

The expense of clearing jungle is at an average rate of 6 dollars (that is about 25s.) an 31. Malay coolies can always be obtained at 25 cents, viz., about 1s. a day, and out of this they provide for themselves; huts must, however, be erected for them. A hut costing 25 dollars (that is 51.) would accomodate fifty labourers. Javanese Malays are the best workmen for clearing jungle and felling trees; and, indeed, for all agricultural labour. 32. Land can be obtained on very favourable conditions by application to the Sultan of Perak through the British Residents. (Vide Appendix A.)

During the first three years of occupancy, the land is given free of any charge or duty; at the end of that time a grant is given in perpetuity, for such portion as shall have been cultivated, at a merely nominal price of 1 dollar per acre, with a tax on exported produce of 20 per cent.

33. Several applications for land have already been made by planters from Penang, but I sincerely hope, now that the Government of Perak has been fully recognized, and placed under British protection, enterprising men from England will in like manner also apply for grants.

34. Both bills and plains are thickly covered with forest, the difference in the trees being that those kinds which grow on the hills are not found in the plains, and vice

versa.

35. Numerous durable woods, all well adapted for building purposes, are to be found. Amongst these may be mentioned as the principal the dammar laut, the chingai, the tumusic, kalin, marbuo, ningapas, maranti, prah, and Minyak borok, others are extremely suitable for cabinet work, such as the Kamuning, the sarayan, &c., while others yield gums and drugs for instance, the india rubber, the gutta percha, copal, catechu, kulit klawang, and the malo.

86. The only cereal at present cultivated in Larut by the Malays, is the rice plant. Of this there are three varieties, viz. :—

Padi Sawah (Oriza Sativa), Padi Pulot (Oriza Glutinosa), and Padi Unrab, or mountain rice.

37. The first variety is cultivated chiefly in the plains, and the other two on higher ground. A short description of the manner of preparing the ground and planting the paddy, which is primitive in the extreme, may not be deemed uninteresting. A corner of a field having been cleared, it is thickly sown with paddy seed to form a nursery ground for the rice plants.

38. The plough is simply a pole about three inches in diameter and eight feet in length, with a fork protruding from the lower end, at an acute angle to serve as a coulter. A small bar of wood inserted above this at an oblique angle, forms a handle to guide the instrument. Subsequently to the ploughing the clods are broken, by drawing a heavy beam of hexagonal timber, about twelve feet in length and eight inches in diameter, backwards and forwards across the ground.

The Malay harrow is as primitive as the plough. A beam thickly studded with iron spikes being the only approved instrument.

39. When the plants in the nursery have reached the height of six inches, they are taken up and placed in the field in bunches of six or seven together at intervals of two fect, in rows, also two feet apart.

The sowing in the nursery ground and planting in the field are generally done by the Malay women.

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40. The harvest succeeds the planting in about four months; as soon as the ears of The harvest. the plants are sufficiently ripe they, are cut off,-(the stalk being left in the ground for food for buffaloes) and brought away in baskets to be stored.

Winnowing.

41. The process of threshing is, beating the ears with thick sticks to loosen the husk; Threshing and this is succeeded by winnowing, which is done by taking the paddy in baskets to a platform raised about ten feet from the ground, and allowing it to fall from that height on to mats spread beneath to receive it. The grain falls by its own weight and the chaff is carried away by the wind.

42. Sugar cane and tobacco are also cultivated in small quantities by the Malays and Sugarcane and Chinese, as well as several esculent tubers. Of the latter there are several varieties, the tobacco, and sealant most common are the following :-

Ubi Badak (dioscorea spiculata);

Ubi Butung (dioscorea alata);

Ubi Gadung (dioscorea kinsula);

Ubi Kuntang (Ocinum Tuberosum); and,

Ubi Java (conooloolus Batatas).

tubare.

43. With regard to the climate of Larut, I am happy to be able to state what cannot Climate. generally be urged in favour of tropical countries, that one great advantage to the European settler is its genial temperature, this being universally acknowledged to be by those who have tried it conducive to active exercise. The languor and lassitude experienced in most tropical countries is here almost unknown.

thermometer.

44. The thermometer seldom rises higher in the shade during the day than 86 degrees, Armage height of while at night it frequently sinks to 65 degrees. The temperature on the hills is tionably less. The mornings and evenings are invariably cool and refreshing, while the Nights sold.

propor- nights are often cold, causing warm covering to be indispensable. The power of the sun at noon-day, though tropical, is tempered so materially by a breeze which almost always blows freshly from the hills, that fatal effect has never been known to result from it.

45. The rain-fall is great from about the middle of August to the end of December, Rainfall. but during the remainder of the year the weather, though decidely having an unusual tendency to wet, does not in any way interfere with farming operations, but is, on the contrary, extremely conducive to the rapid growth of vegetation.

46. The only mineral at present worked in Larut is tin. This has been found in the plains at depths varying from 20 to 30 feet. In the hills the ore is sometimes found in pockets in the beds of streams, the lumps being often as large as walnuts. At the base of the hils this ore has generally the appearance of coarse black gravel, while in the plains it invariably resembles glistening sand, which the miners prefer as easier to smelt. The fact that the fragments become smaller the further they recede from the hills proves beyond a doubt that attrition of enormous power has at some former period of the earth's history been brought into play,

Minerals-tin.

47. The land at present open for mining purposes is in extent four miles square. Land now available Several of the mines now in work have been opened for upwards of seven years.

for mining.

of tin exported

48. It is impossible to state accurately the amount of tin which previously to the year Approximate value under review has been produced, but from native accounts the value of tin exported during previous to 1874. the seven years above referred to, appears to have been 6,000,000 dollars (upwards of 1,250,0001. sterling).

mines.

49. This amount was the produce of only thirty mines. These mines were re-opened Produce of thirty after the pacification in March last, but up to the end of July did not export in any considerable quantity. This delay was occasioned by the complete state of disuse and ruin Mines destroyed into which the mines had fallen during the previous two years of fighting. Sand and clay during the war. had been washed into some by the heavy rains, until they were nearly choked, and others were fathoms deep in water. "Several months were consequently occupied in clearing away the debris, and pumping the water out of the mines, and the machinery by which they were worked having been entirely broken and destroyed, much time was also lost before this could be replaced and operations commenced.

50. Owing to these drawbacks, not more than 10,937 piculs were exported from the Tis exports in 1874, time that the mines might be said to be fairly in work to the end of the year, viz., from the mines were

the 1st August to the 31st December. This gave an average of 70 piculs for each mine

per mensem, and the total value at the present low rates of 20 dollars per picul, was but 218,750 dollars.

51. By the close of the year, however, besides the thirty mines above alluded to, 10 mines working. ninety others had commenced work, and there is every reason to believe that in a few nonths the greater number of these will be exporting tin.

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