MANUFACTURE, of FOREIGN MERCHANDISE, and of TREASURE, EXPORTED ACCOUNT, in each of the 13 under-mentioned Official Years. RAILWAYS. No. 7.-LENGTH of LINE open on RAILWAYS in INDIA on 31 Dec. in each of the 13 under-mentioned years. No. 8.-PRINCIPAL STATISTICS of the POST OFFICE of BRITISH No. 9.-STATISTICS relating to GOVERNMENT TELEGRAPHS in 1 Information is wanting to complete the statement for this year. The figures for the *Excluding the Ceylon wires. 3 For 1872-8 and the following years the statements of receipts and expenditure are H 22. No. 10.-NUMBER of COOLIE EMIGRANTS embarked from CALCUTTA, MADRAS, BOMBAY, and FRENCH PORTS in INDIA, to EDUCATION. No. 11.-RESULT of EXAMINATIONS at the UNIVERSITIES * in *The Universities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras were incorporated in 1857 by India Office, HENRY WATERFIELD, Secretary, 1 APPENDIX B. CHINCHONA CULTIVATION IN INDIA. THE introduction of Chinchona cultivation into India was undertaken with the object of ensuring a cheap and unfailing supply of the febrifuge for the use of the millions who annually suffer from fever. Fever is by far the most prolific cause of death in India, carrying off very many more than all other diseases and accidents put together. The total number of deaths from fever in India is upwards of a million and a half annually. At least half these deaths will eventually be prevented by putting some cheap form of the Chinchona alkaloids into every druggist's shop in the country at one rupee per ounce; and thus multitudes will be saved from death or grievous suffering. The successful introduction of Chinchona cultivation into India has been a task of considerable difficulty in all its stages. It was not only necessary to transplant a genus of plants from one side of the world to the other, it was also an essential element of success to convert wild into cultivated plants. This involved a close study of the climate, soil, and general physical aspects of each region where the valuable species grow in their native forests; a comparison of these circumstances with those prevailing in the East Indies, the discovery of the best species, and also of the species best adapted to secure good results in their new homes, the study of all the requirements of the plants under cultivation, without any guide, as the Chinchona had never before been cultivated; and finally, the solution of numerous very complicated questions relating to the best and cheapest form in which the febrifuge can be provided for general use. The task was difficult and complicated. Mr. Markham undertook it in 1859, and all arrangements connected with the collection of plants and seeds in South America, and their conveyance to India, have been made by him, and carried out under his superintendence. His original plan was to depute collectors to the different regions of the Andes where the various species flourish, to have the collections made simultaneously, and to convey them direct across the Pacific to India in a special steamer. But only a portion of his scheme obtained sanction, and no steamer was provided. He was, however, determined that all the species should be secured eventually, and that the work should be complete, even if it extended over many years. This has been the case. It has taken many years to do what might have been done in one or two, and the expense has been quadrupled. Yet the whole work is now at last complete. In 1859 Mr. Markham was only able to organise three expeditions; one, under his own command, to obtain plants and seeds of the Calisayas and other species from Caravaya, in Southern Peru, yielding the yellow barks of commerce; a second, under Mr. Pritchett, to collect species in the forests of Central Peru yielding the grey barks of commerce; and a third, under that eminent botanist Richard Spruce, to collect plants and seeds of the Chinchona succirubra in the forests of Ecuador, yielding the red bark. In 1860 the whole of this work was done, and done thoroughly, so far as the difficult and dangerous part of it in the Andean forests, and the conveyance of the plants to sea ports on the coast of the Pacific, were concerned; but the failure to furnish the means of direct conveyance to India led to disasters which were inevitable. The plants had to be conveyed across the Isthmus of Panama, then to England, then across Egypt, and down the Red |