, 1888-03-17
FROM OVER THE SEA.
A GREAT COMMERCE BEARER FROM
lNDlA'S CORAL STRAND.

A Bark Arrives in New York from Ports
Whence Clearing Papers from America
Are Seldom Issued-ArticIes of Com
merce from the Tropics.
The marine investigator at Sandy Hook,
casting his eyes seaward the other day,
spied something which unaccustomed
eyes would not have seen. He clapped
his glasses, fine double extra power ones,
to his eyes and stood in a posture of scru-
tiny for many moments.
Its a bark, - says he, still focusing
his glasses on the distant object.
A shadowy substance began to appear
on the horizon. The eye of the landsman
would have simply noted that something
hat sailed was approaching.
h Nova Scotian," was the laconic
utterance that came from beneath the
binoculars.
''Then it's the Strathay, now due" was
the equally laconic outcome of a marine
encyclopedia who stood near.
Pretty soon the bark's sails, doomed M
against the horizon and she came whoop-
ing along in a spanking breeze to the
lower bay. She was the Strathay, ninety
days from 1ndia's coral strand, and she
bore a royal cargo. When Capt. Urqu-
hart got his quarantine papers he brought
his vessel in tow of a tug, her streamers
flying, up to a Brooklyn pier, and a long
sea voyage was ended.
The Strathay comes from ports whence
clearing papers from America are seldom
issued. She has been in the dismal and
frightfully hot harbors of Alipee and
Cochin, on the Malabar coast, in the
southern part of India.
~CEYLoN's SPICY FREEZES
She had lain for days getting the spicy
breezes of Ceylon at Columbo, and the
blood heat rays of the sun, and there took
in 1000 barrels of plumbago. The in
southern India, where the man eating
abounds, and sharks turn on
their bellies and swallow nlen at a crunch
ing gulp, she found 1900 barrels of CO.
coanut oil, which will be evolved into
American soap, and a great quantity of
the mating that is made from the fbrous
bark of the cocoanut. Then the Strathay
was ready to make for civilization and
New York, and she came along with some
rlp-roar1nB breezes, a great
bearer, under a foreign flag.
Only two or three vessels arrive from
Alipee and Cochin in the course of a year.
The freights of these are consigned to the
firms who virtually monopoliZe trade from
this quarter.
There are no harbors at these ports, and
vessels are obliged to anchor two miles
off in the open sea. Though havenless
the land is fissured with many lagoons or
~backwaters. The country is low and
sandy and covered with luxuriant vegeta-
ton and vast forests of palm trees. From
the latter are obtained the chief COM
modities of commerce. The straight
stemmed trees are from forty to eighty
feet high, and the natives climb these
with the aid Of a short cord, connecting
their big toes, which helps ascension by
fitting them into grooves of the bark.
After the nuts are knocked off the thick
husks are separated from the inner shell
by sharp iron spikes, and then laid in pits
dug along the seashore, where the salt
water macerates them. When the husks
become sufficiently pliable they are taken
out and beaten with clubs, which COM
pletely parts the ber from the pithy
portion. 1t is then thoroughly cleaned
and dried, and known as khair or coir,
and is twisted into yarn and then woven
into mating. The kernels, by hydraulic
pressure, yield the oil now 80 much used
by American soap makers, as it produces
soap capable of floating upon water.
Thousands of Hindoos, male and female,
are employed in these industries by the
white merchants. They are very docile,
exist on rice, fish and fruits, and receive
equivalent to five or six cents for their
daily wage.