about the root, a hole was discovered in the
trunk, and its course upwards ascertained by
means of a cane probe. With the cattie, one
of the boys commenced cutting an opening
midway in the trunk of the tree. On looking
up, I perceived that the patient gave
unmistakable symptoms of ill-health. The long
leaves were drooping at the end, and tinged
with a sickly yellow; many of the nuts had
fallen off, and others had evidently half a
mind to follow the example. The flower,
which had just burst above, hung down its
sickly head, weeping away the germs of what
had else been nuts. The hole was now
complete; it was large enough for the smallest
boy to force his hand in; and it soon brought
away a basket full of pith and powdered wood
from the body of the tree. There, amidst
the ruin, was the enemy that had caused
so much mischief and labour. It was an
unsightly worm, about four inches in length,
and as thick as one's small finger, having
a dull white body and black head. I then
began to wonder what had next to be done,
whether the tree would die after all this
hacking and maiming. Would the medicine-
man now be sent for? No. The interior of
the wounded tree, as well as the aperture, was
thoroughly freed from dirt and decomposed
fibre—which might have aided in hatching any
eggs left by the worm—and, finally, the root
was covered up, and the opening and inside of
the palm tightly filled with clay. I was
assured that not more than one of ten trees,
thus treated, ever fails to recover its health.

The nocturnal attacks of elephants are
checked by means of lighted fires, and an
occasional shot or two during the night. Wild
hogs and porcupines are caught in traps, and
hunted by dogs. The monkeys are shot down
like the squirrels, and the white ants are
poisoned. In spite of all these measures,
however, an estate often suffers very severely,
and its productiveness is much interfered
with, by these many depredators.

The soil over which I had as yet passed
had been of one uniform description—a light
sandy earth, containing a little vegetable
matter, and but a little. Afterwards, I
arrived at a tract of planted land, quite
different in its nature and mode of cultivation.
It was of a far stiffer character, deeper in
colour, and more weedy. This portion of the
estate was in former days a swamp, in which
the porcupine, the wild-hog, and the jackal,
delighted to dwell, sheltered from the
encroachment of man by a dense mass of low
jungle, thorns, and reeds. To drive away
these destructive creatures from the vicinity
of the young palms, the jungle was fired
during the dry weather. It was then perceived
that the soil of this morass, although wet and
rank from its position, was of a most luxuriant
character; a few deep drains were opened
through the centre, cross drains were cut,
and after one season's exposure to the purifying
action of the atmosphere and rain, the
whole of it was planted, and it now gives fair
promise of being, one day, the finest field in
the plantation.

From this low ground I strolled through
some long avenues of trees on the right; their
long leaves protected me from the heat of the
afternoon sun, which was still considerable.
The trees on this side were evidently older;
they had a greater number of ripe fruit; and
further away in the distance might be seen a
multitude of men and boys busily engaged in
bearing away the huge nuts in pairs, to a path
or rude cart track, where a cangany, or native
overseer, was occupied in counting them as
they were tossed into the bullock cart. The
expertness of the boys in climbing these
smooth, broken, and branchless trees, by the
aid of a small band formed by twisting a
portion of a cocoa-nut leaf, was truly astonishing.
In a moment their small feet grasped
the trunk, aided by the twisted leaf, whilst
their hands were employed above; they
glided upwards, and with a quick eye detected
the riper fruit which, rapidly twisted from
their stalks, were flung to the ground. Their
companions below were busy in removing the
nuts; which for young children is no easy task;
the nuts frequently weighing fifteen or twenty
pounds each nut, with the husk or outer skin
on them. The natives have a simple but
ingenious method of tying them together in
pairs, by which means the boys can carry two
of them with ease, when otherwise one would
be a task of difficulty. The nuts have little,
if any, stalk: the practice, therefore, is to slit
up a portion of the husk, (which is the coir
fibre in its natural state), pull out a sufficient
length without breaking it, and thus tie two
together; in this way the little urchins
scamper along with the nuts slung across
their shoulders, scarcely feeling the weight.

I followed the loaded carts. They were
halted at a large enclosure, inside of which
were huge pens formed of jungle sticks, about
ten feet in height; into these the nuts were
stored and re-counted; a certain number only
being kept in each, as the pens are all of the
same dimensions. Adjoining, was another
and still larger space lying lower, with some
deep ditches and pits in the midst. Here
the outer husk is stripped off, preparatory
to breaking the nut itself in order to
obtain the kernel; which has to be dried
before the oil can be expressed. Into the
pits or ditches the husk is flung, and left
in water for ten or fourteen days; when
it is removed and beaten out on stones, to
free the woody elastic fibre from dirt and
useless vegetable matter. This is a most
disagreeable operation, for the stench from
the half-putrid husks is very strong. The
fibre, after being well dried on the sandy
ground, undergoes a rude assortment into
three qualities, in reference chiefly to colour,
and is then delivered over to the rope-maker,
who works it up into yarn, rope, or junk, as
required. Freed from their outer covering,