BOTANY. 143 



CEREALS. 



The cereal grasses commonly grown within the tro- 

 pics, do not appear to be as nutritious as those of tempe- 

 rate climates. Rice and millet are not equal to wheat and 

 oats. The Burman books say, there are seven kinds of 

 saba, or cereals, in which they include pai or beans. 



coodoSh rice 988B" (Pali.) 



CD3COSII " oooc8i < l 



ojs^oScooonSo wheat col^ou cc 



cjcoDon barley uoou < c 



g^o8u millet oqoo« cf 



qj?i millet-paspalum co(g[a>» " 



so5« millet -panicum coo5[o <c 



hi beans and peas oQoGjOQa ' f 



RICE. 



Rice is universaiiy cultivated, and cultivation has pro- 

 duced many varieties. The Karens have distinctive 

 names for more than forty, and Karen mountain rice is 

 preferred by many to that which is raised by the Burmese 

 on the low lands ; yet it is s?.id not to be so nutritions, and 

 on this account bears a less p. ice in bazar. It is of all 

 colors from ivory-white to coal-black. 



Of the black rice the Karens prepare a kind of bread, 

 which to them supplies the place of gingerbread. A por- 

 tion of seethed rice is poured into a large mortar with a 

 prodigious quantity of sesamum seeds. Two women then 

 take their strong ebony'pestles and pound it, striking alter- 

 nately until it becomes a light bounding mass. It is then 

 thrown upon the eating stand, when the whole family seat 

 themselves around it in oriental style, and dissever it with 

 their sabres. 



The Karens have another mode of preparing this kind 

 of rice, which is particularly convenient for travellers. A 

 quantity unboiled is thrust into joints of small bamboo., a 



