CHAPTER  VIII.
 

PRESENT  POSITION  OF AGRICULTURAL  ENTERPRISE,  LOCAL

  INDUSTRIES, AND  FOREIGN EXPORT AND IMPORT  TRADE. '



Export of last Decade— The Plumbago Trade—Gold and Iron—Native

   Industries generally nourishing—Tea and Cacao will make up for

   the Deficiency in Coffee.



   TO sum up and show at a glance  the present position of

    the export trade arising from  our agricultural enter¬

prise  and local industry, we give in Appendix a tabular

statement of the staple exports.   In Appendix No. I. will

be found the actual figures of the staple exports (and their

distribution) in 1891, and previous three years.

  There are a few headings in this export table that we

have not touched on yet, and the  principal one of these

is  plumbago, or graphite.  This is the only mineral of

commercial  importance   exported  from   Ceylon.    The

mining industry is  entirely in the hands of the Sinhalese ;

mines of from 100 to 200 and even 300  feet depth are

worked  in  a primitive fashion, and the finest  plumbago

in the  world  for  crucible purposes  is obtained.    The

industry has  taken  a great  start of  recent years, the

average export increasing about 50 per cent, within the

decade; the value  of the trade averages  about £350,000

per annum, and this  mining  industry has  sprung  up

entirely within the last  forty-five  years.*

  * See Monograph on " Plumbago," by A. M. Ferguson, contributed to

the Royal Asiatic Society's Journal (Ceylon), in 1885.

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