CO885(1-2) — Page 323

No. 5.

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EMIGRATION FROM CHINA TO THE WEST INDIES.

repeated mouldings the cane rows are raised 2 feet, and often 2 feet above the adjoining level. This relieves them from water, and is supposed to make them stand erect, by which the trashing is facilitated, and the circulation of air is promoted. The buildings are simple and inexpensive. The principal mill is a horizontal one of iron, having three rollers, and is worked by buffaloes. These animals are powerful, but slow. Six of them are sufficient to work the mill, and three spells are sufficient for the day's work, which averages about one ton of sugar per day.

The second mill is the common Chinese mill, consisting of two vertical rollers of granite. It is worked in the same manner as the horizontal mill, but with two or four buffaloes instead of six.

18. Land being of comparatively little value, contractors and labourers here, as well as in province Wellesley, are allowed to cultivate provisions on the estate for their own use. The labourers live in the neighbouring villages, or in huts on the estate built by themselves. Upon some of the estates in province Wellesley, they occupy large sheds belonging to the estate. These sheds, consisting merely of round strong spars, palin leaf sides and roof, and mud floor, are erected at little cost. One which I visited was occupied by fifty or more Chinese, and as nearly every man had his own narrow but separate com- partment, which he had partitioned off from his neighbours by a palm leaf erection, and had been careful to provide himself with a bed and a musquito netting, the whole looked sufficiently comfortable and well adapted to circum- stances. Itinerant cooks, bakers, barbers, and slopsellers, are always at hand, and these little associations soon comprise within themselves every requirement that could be afforded by a large village.

19. I inquired of some of the Chinese contractors in Singapore whether they would like to go to the West Indies. Their reply was very prompt, that if well paid or encouragement offered they would have no hesitation in going. They made no inquiry as to the locality or climate of the West Indies, but only whether they could remit money to their family. Since my arrival in Calcutta I have received a letter from Mr. Dalmeida on the subject, an extract from which I subjoin for your Excellency's information.

20. The island of Penang is about 24 miles in length and 7 miles in its greatest breadth. In its general appearance and outline it bears some resembance to Grenada, and in parts there is also considerable similarity of soil. The ascent to the "Hill," which attains an elevation of 2,400 feet, resembles the ascent to the "Grand Etang"; from the summit the view is varied and extensive, and embraces a considerable portion of the island and the whole of the province Wellesley. The harbour is formed by the island on one side and the province Wellesley on the mainland on the other. Plains of considerable extent, but broken by low hills, stretch along the east and south sides of the island, and are covered with nutmeg plantations and rice fields. The north and west sides of the island are mountainous and covered with primæval forests.

It is an extensive

21. The province Wellesley lies immediately opposite to Penang, and extends in length about 30 miles, with an average breadth of 7 miles. plain, relieved by occasional hills of conical form, which rise abruptly from the surface, and is bounded on the north, cast, and south sides by mountain ranges of considerable elevation, which, excepting where the Chinese have made small clearances, are covered with trees from the summit to the base. The province is watered by several rivers which take their source in the mountains that run south along the centre of the Malay Peninsula. The banks of these rivers are fertile, having in parts a considerable depth of vegetable deposit. Some of the best estates are situated near these rivers, but from the difficulty of forming embankments of sufficient strength to keep out the water during the floods, the cultivation is placed at a sufficient distance to be out of danger of inun- dation. From this cause some of the best soil is not available, but the rivers give facilities for irrigation (which is often adopted, particularly by the Chinese), and for the establishment of navigable canals, not possessed by the estates having a higher locality.

22. There is one sugar estate in Penang and eleven in province Wellesley. Of the latter, several were abandoned a few years ago, but are now nearly all in course of being reclaimed. Of those in cultivation, three are very fine estates, with about 500 acres of cultivation on each. One of these belongs to a Chinese proprietor of the name of Leegeam. It was established entirely under his own

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directions, is in the highest state of cultivation, and is managed under a very judicious and liberal system, not exceeded on any other estate in the province. I found Leegeam shrewd, intelligent, and eager to adopt any improvement His tending to increase the return, or improve the quality of his sugar. distillery was by far the most complete and best arranged of any in the province. He is the only gentleman I met with who preferred the Chuliahs to the Chinese. He considered the former more civil, and when their strength admitted equally good workers, but that in doing heavy work, such as carrying loads of canes, and carrying away the wet megas from the mill, there was no comparison between the two.

He employed them only as monthly or day labourers, as they did not seem to understand, and were generally averse to, the system of contracts.

23. Another estate, the Simpang Amput, belongs to an association of Chinese, and is cultivated, "en commandité,' on the principle of dividing profits according to the respective interests of the shareholders, cach having a limited responsibility. The cultivation covers about 200 acres, and is in good order, but the buildings are small and imperfect.

Two estates, Otaheite in Penang, and Batukawan in province Wellesley, are cultivated on the same system as the estate in Singapore, by giving the con- tractors an interest in the sugar made, but with this difference, that rent is charged for the land according to the quality and locality. On Batukawan the Chinese cultivators have the option of grinding their canes at the Estate Build- ings, or of disposing of them to the Chinese mills, of which there are several in the neighbourhood; but from the better quality of the sugar manufactured at the estates works, they generally prefer these to their own establishments.

24. On the large estates only high-pressure steam engines of 14 and 16 horse "Wetzell's" sugar pan, power are in use, and no accident has ever occurred. which is in fact the same as Gadesden's, with some slight modifications, is used on every estate; and, being heated by the waste steam from the engine, is found convenient and inexpensive, and not liable to derangement. The granulation is improved, and by means of it a good deal of the molasses on some estates is re-boiled into sugar, as being more profitable than their conversion into rum.

25. Besides the estates which I have named, the aggregate cultivation of which amounts to not less than 3,000 orlongs, say 4,000 acres (the orlong is one acre and a third), there are about 500 orlongs(666 acres) more of cane cultivation, divided into small farms, and held by Chinese, each farm not exceeding a few acres in extent. These farmers generally club their means together for the erection of a set of works, the cost of which, including the building (an open shed with atap roof), machinery, a battery of three iron boilers, and a stock of 10 or 12 buffaloes, does not exceed 350 to 400 dollars; or they dispose of their canes to a neighbouring mill, erected at the cost and carried on at the expense of another association of Chinese, who make their profit by a per centage on the sugar manufactured.

26. A Chinese sugar mill consists of two vertical granite rollers, fixed in a frame, and is worked generally by two buffaloes. The canes are pressed three or four times through the mill until every particle of juice is extracted. The megas is used for fuel; but, from the defective construction of the battery, it is found insufficient to boil the sugar, and a good deal of wood is therefore required to complete the operation. The canes are always ground at night, as the buffaloes work better, and do not suffer so much from heat. The mill is therefore set to work at sun down, and continues until 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning. An ordinary mill of this kind grinds from 800 to 1,000 gallons-12 buffaloes are generally required, of which 6 are employed at the mill, 2 to 4 to cart the canes, according to the distance of the farms from the buildings, and 2 are kept as a reserve in case of sickness or accident.

27. The great bulk of the labourers upon the sugar estates in province Wel- lesley, at least nine tenths of them, are Chinese. I found them everywhere hard-working and industrious, and they are spoken of in the highest terms as labourers by the resident planters. They are considered to be of a stubborn and unyielding temper, and very difficult to manage, individually; but this difficulty has been completely overcome by the system of jobwork or contracts, which has been now universally adopted. The abandonment of the former sugar culti vation is attributed by all the planters maixly, if not entirely, to the enormous cost of wages, and the bad quality of the work performed, when labourers were

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