CHINA. 1751- 35« 



Wo-kock when it is not yet pounded. The 

 rice groats before they are boiled are called 

 Mabee, and when they are boiled they go by 

 the name of Fann. Rice is at firft' fown in 

 April in high places ; when it is grown half a 

 yard long, it is dug out of the ground, and 

 tranfplanted in rows upon a deep clay ground, 

 in fo low a fituation, that it is always laid under 

 Water by the tide for fix hours together, and 

 then is left dry for fix hours next following. 

 Accordingly rice requires a natural ebbing and 

 flowing, and a warm climate. If this were 

 not the cafe, it would be worth while to plant 

 it on our fhores. The ground on which it 

 grows is called paddy-ground by our people 

 who go to the Eajl Indies, and confifts for the 

 greatell part of a blue clay, which looks 

 brown at top from the different manures. The 

 Chincfc make ufe of a kind of dung which we 

 reject, to manure their rice fields and other 

 fields with, though not very plentifully : it 

 occalions a great ftench upon the grounds in 

 dry places ; but in the rice fields is fo temper- 

 ed with, or warned away by, water, that it is 

 but little regarded. The dung is brought to 

 the innermoft bays of the water, in order that 

 when it runs into the land every part of the 

 field may have its ihare. When the water 



cannot 



