re they readily
obtain permission to cultivate, without obstruction, this important
article of commerce. Parties of 300 or 400 at a time left in 1846. It
appears that, under his permissive license, the squatter obtains
permission to clear as much land as he possibly can, but the order
does not define any extent beyond which no cutting should take place.
The squatter clears as much land as the means at his disposal will
allow, in the hope and expectation that the jungle contiguous to the
cleared ground will be at his command for fuel--a supply of fuel, easy
of access, and adequate to the number of plants grown, being
indispensable to the culture and manufacture of gambier. When the time
for gathering the leaves arrives, another squatter (perhaps from
motives of envy or malice) obtains a "cutting paper," and commences
clearing in close proximity to the already-formed gambier plantation;
obviously depriving the owner of the fuel he has reasonably calculated
upon. The established planter cannot of course eject the intruder from
the land, since the latter possesses an equal right to it, in virtue
of his "cutting paper," which, as it specifies no limits, leaves him
the disposer or destroyer of the crop of the industrious planter.
Instead of the present system, a better practice ought to be
introduced, defining the boundaries to be included in a "cutting
paper," and effectually preventing a trespass on the fuel-land of the
industrious planter. This might easily be effected by specifying the
number of acres, as well as the direction, in every clearing paper
granted.

The average produce of gambier in Singapore is between 7,000 and 8,000
piculs monthly. The ordinary price is about 11/4 dollars per picul. A
deficiency of rain, labor, or other causes, will occasionally reduce
the annual produce from 90,000 or 100,000 piculs, to 60,000 or 70,000,
and this diminished supply will raise the market price of the article
probably 35 cents per picul. But, in addition to the effect occasioned
by a deficient supply, there are other causes in operation exercising
a powerful influence in reducing prices. Gambier was first exported in
1830, from Singapore, to the extent of 2,587 piculs, at 41/2 dollars per
picul. As a rival to bark it failed at so costly a price to meet with
encouragement; the culture and manufacture consequently declined until
1834, when 1,858 piculs were shipped to England at a somewhat lower
rate. The demand then became ac