INDIAN VILLAGES PLOWS AND SCRAPERS. 25 



want of a better term. These houses are of one story, ha\intr a slnol(> 

 room, or occasionally two. In the mountain ret,^ions the walls are of 

 stone, while on the plains they are made of brick or dried mud. There 

 is usually a small yard in the rear of the house. There are openings, 

 but no windows, and the doorway, if closed at all. simply has a ])amboo- 

 niat curtain. The roofs are made of tile and the floors of cla^- hardened 

 by repeated washings with cow duntv. 



VILLAGES. 



Between the houses in the small villages are narrow, tortuous allej'^s, 

 but i-arely regular streets. The village is surrounded by a high wall 

 of stone, brick, or adobe, which answers for a fence against depreda- 

 tors, the cattle being brought within this inclosure at night. Each 

 village has its customs and unwritten laws, and it and not the indi- 

 vidual is the political and social unit. It has its blacksmith and car- 

 penter, its doctor, and its headman or chief, and generally its l)anker. 



The government taxes for the village are paid b}^ the headman, who 

 assesses them among the inhal)itants in proportion to their property 

 or income. Local matters are settled by the village, though in impor- 

 tant cases there lies an appeal to the British courts. The village doc- 

 tor, the carpenter, and the blacksmith are paid in rice at the harvest, 

 not for specific work done, but as a sort of annual salary. 



PLOWS AND SCRAPERS. 



The plows used in different provinces vary somewhat, but have a 

 general resemblance in that there is no moldboard and the instrument 

 is simply one for stirring the soil. It consists of three pieces- -the 

 standard, the tongue, and the steel drill at the tip of a wood support 

 or shoe. (PI, lY, fig. 2.) 



The standard is usually 3 by 4 inches and about 5 feet long, into 

 which, about 12 inches from the lower end, the tongue is mortised at 

 an angle. The standard stands a little less inclined than ordinary plow 

 handles. Near the upper end is a single pin used for a handle. A 

 steel bar about 1 inch square at one end and brought to a point at the 

 other passes through the lower end of the standard and is supported 

 by a V-shaped shoe. This steel bar stands at such an angle that the 

 sharp point penetrates the soil 3 or 4 inches or more, as may be 

 required. It amounts to nothing more than a sharp-tooth drill, and 

 costs 60 cents complete. This plow is drawn by two oxen. (PI. 

 IV, tig. 1.) In use, the steel tooth cuts from the land a cloddy strip 

 from 4 to 6 inches wide, and this is then broken up by the wedge- 

 shaped wooden shoe. Afterwards men and women pass over the 

 fields and smash the lumps with their mauls. Some ryots use a crude 

 clod crusher made of wood and drawn by oxen. The harrow is much 

 like ours, but crude. After the harrow has been used the routine of 

 labor depends upon the crop to be planted. 



