Evening star., 1901-12-28

parts of the far east, and they are pushing
thelf trade in every possible way.
Coffee Plantations.
There are large number of Europeans
who have recently engaged in coffee raising
on the Malay peninsula. In the protected
native state of Selangor there are 100 such
estates, veTying in size up to 1000 acres
each Most of the planters are setting ont
rubber trees in addition to their coffee and
some are planting cocoanuts. They use In
be making money.
mere are other plantations in Johore
fahang and the Negri Sembilan Have
You ever heard of these states? They are
all more or less governed by England and
they constitute a large part of the Naiav
peninsula They raise pepper. coffee and
gambler and some of them produce a largo
amount of tin. Some have sago plantations
ana some do big business in tapioca, teak
wood and rattan. -
On q SagO Plantation.
There Is a great deal of sago produced in
this part Of the world. 1t comes from one
variety OF palm trees which grows in the
jungle and which is also set out in planta-
tions. The sago is made from the pith which
is very large and porous. The trees are cut
down in the woods and the trunks split open
from one end to the other, so that the nth
eau be scooped out. After this it is carried
to the factory and run through graters into
a sort of pulp. The pulp is allowed to
stand IN water for some hours and the
hher leaves the sago and goes into the
water. After this the water is changed
until finally nothing but the sago is left
1t is now in the form of a starch, which is
dried in the sun After drying 1t is broken
up and ground into -four, which is the
sago flour Of our markets.
Tapioca, which is also raised here. comes
frcm the root of the tapioca plant 1t is
a
The roots are cultivated, 1t requiring about
eighteen months to grow the crop. After
gathering the roots are cut into pieces,
ground up and boiled to get out the tapioca.
A great deal OF the product goes to the
United States.
CObras and Tigers.
Nearly every one of these settlements on
the Strait of Malacca has its botanical
garden, and not a few have geological ac-
compartments. L went out the other day
to the garden in Singapore to look at the
snakes. The country is full of them, and
it has some of the deadliest knownto man
The government gives a reward for the
poisonous varieties, paying from fifty cents
to 50 per head according to size and char
acter saw man bring some to the Of |
hclals in bag in order to collect his fees
He had thirty-nine, and every one of them |
was venomous. He pulled the snakes out |
of the bag with his bare hands and cracked |
their heads against the stones as he showed |
them to the policemen, and 1 wondered |
that he was not bitten. The government |
pays So for snakes of fourteen feet and up- !
ward.
The Home of the Tiger.
The Malay peninsula is the home of the
Tiger. Every now and then baby is eaten
and frequently men and women. Not long
ago the statistics showed that 300 people
were annually killed on this Singapore
Island by tigers, and during a visit to the
1 was shown the tracks of a
1ger in the mud near a saw mill by which /
we drove. The tiger had been about the
mill the preceding night, but had gone away
without eating up any of the Malay babies
N the village near it and without PLAYING
with the quiet buzz saw The government
reward for full-grown tiger is $50 and for
tiger cat SIS.
Cobras Which Spit Poison.
Speaking of snakes, the reward is fifty
cents for the cobra, which is to be found
The cobra is brownish-gray
snake, about five feet in length. It is slug
gish in its movements. and can easily be
killed, but one must be very careful to
Keep out of the way of it's venom. When |
attacked it raises it's head and spreads it
out in the shape of a hood, while 1t spits
,ut poison with noise like an angry cat. |
It can throw it's spittle distance of eight |
,eet, and if a bit Of it happens to fall upon