The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1886-12-02

Ceylon now pays its own military expenses,
the force being only one regiment o. British
infantry, one of native and one b ade of
artillery. The island government & lnts aid
to schools having a required numb Of pu-
pills. The Dutch requirement of n uJestant
profession was at once abolished Hospitals
and dispensaries abound. A British governor
founded our medical college, which is liber-
ally endowed by two wealthy Singhalese.
The Singhalese, the native Coylonians have
an aptitude for the medical vocation, and
have large practice in government employ
and among resident British.
The proportion of children is one i'm twenty
eight. In India it is one in 160 The Sim
ghalese are prone to litigate They go to law
about owning the sixth part of a cocoanut
tree. A Singhalese is Judge of the supreme
court Others are leading lawyers. The
abolition of slavery was finished about forty
years ago. Less than thirty years ago poly
andry (nany husbands was legal.
The people have both Singhalese and Tamil
newspapers, Those two are the most numerous
of the several eastern races here.
British law conserves the forests and pre-
vents the extinction of wild elephants, elk,
ETC. The townspeople have modern advan-
tages.
Government, from time to time, according
to the will of the different governors, clears
away overgrowth and excavates out of debris
and earth the still remaining architecture Of
civilization which ranks among the most
interesting of ancient ruins, and will hence
forth much increase the attractions of Ceylon
CEYLoN's NATIVE PRODUCTS.
The native people could raise plantation
and garden products-pepper, cinnamon, nut
meg, chocolate, cardamoms and fruit-sell
them dear and buy rice cheap from India
and Burmah Rice is their staple grain food
But they take to their inherited rice culture
more than to any other agriculture. Rice re-
quires a flooded ground Falling IN with
their preference, the British have largely re-
stored ancient irrigation works, thus doing
more for the Singhaiese than for centuries
had been done by either European Or native
rulers The average native was a more SPAR
ing eater seventy years ago than he is today
and he Is apparently a very moderate cater
now. He was always inclined to vegetarian
ism through lds devotion to Buddha The
exported cinnamon has greatly increased
under British rule. Cinnamon is native to
Ceylon, as tea is in some parts of-Assam and
Burmah. CeylOn cinnamon is the finest in the
world
More attention is now given to the various
palms. Many forohanded Siughaese and
Tamils, whose thrift also is within the last
dfty years, now plant gardens of palms and
other profitable trees as an Investment 1t is
estimated that III Ceylon there are 25,00OOOO
cocoa palm trees, covering over 800, 600 acres,
almost ali owned by Snghalese and Tamils
The annual exports Of essential oils made
from lemon grass, citronella grass, cinnamon
leaves and cinnamon value nearly $500 ,OOO
The Singhalese raise their own tobacco, and
export little to India. They sometimes mix
it with their "betel,' a combination with
lime, which is generally used by the people of
this region, who live mostly on rice anl the
like. 1t is said by Psychologists to furnish an
element in which their food is deficient
Every Singhalese garden grows a little
sugar cane, mainly to be chewed like candy.
There is only one large manufacturing sugar
estate in Ceylon. The culture has been tried,
and in most situations the cane runs in stalk
and the moist climate and soil do not allow
the sap to cryatalize, nor does the stalk yield
enough crystali2able material
THE ''VAsT-OF-TRICKs. -
The Arabs introduced the coffee plant very
ancientiy; yet is beverage was unknown
when the European arrived The Snghalese
used the coffee leaves in their spicy curries,
and they olnnmenred the shrines Of the adored
Buddha with the delicate white and jasmine
like coffee flowers But the British made
great plantations, each estate employing
scores and hundreds Of laborers, mostly Tamils
from South Hmdustan. The Tamils are more
energetic to get the opportunity of hard work
than the Singhalese. The British planter soon
introduced the West Indian system of cultiva-
ton; coffee became the backbone of our
treasury and the manufacturer Of individual
fortunes Then the Singhaese caught the
coffee zeal, and quarter to one,half Of the
export was native coffee.
Meantime a small, bright orange spot ap-
peared on the coffee leaves, yet slightly af-
fecting the plant Nobody cared for it ex-
cept the director of the Ceylon Botanic gar
dens, and gold in the planters pockets jingled
louder than the plant doctors word of alarm
But that little blight, the "Vast-of- Tricks as
was Anglici2ed the Himmaleia Vastatrix,
brought the proprietors home from their
haunts, mortgaged then estates, cheapened
their lands and now a new generation OF men
are as energetically and enthusiastically
planting tea with an anticipation Of more
than the prosperity Of coffee times if the
world will continue to be thirsty, and will
continue to quench that thirst over ''the cup
that cheers but not inebriates." Everything
is booming Ceylon at present is a favolite
place for British capitalists to start their sons
in a really wide and interesting career of in
dustry, the direction of great plantations enl-
ploying one and a half to two laborers to
every acre.-Anna Ballard in Cincinnati
Commercial Gazette.