51G FOURTH BULLETIN OF [184G. 



lajxinous ruatler to be iispil for burning. Tliis may be <xot rid of by tbe same means 

 tli.il the oi! inai;ulactiireis free common train oil from its jjum. 



KicE. — This .rlicle consists of numerous varieties, of uliich few know even the 

 name, and is 8usee(>lible of a wider range of climate and tf^mperature than cotton. 

 Jt <;rows througiiout tliu rugioiis of tlio east, at all allilniies below those of snow 

 uiid frost, and even iti sonio parts of Ciima where ihe rivers are liozen almost 

 (•very year, as at the mouths of the Yang Tze-Kiang (33^^ north) in northern 

 China, where the product is Very large. Of late years it has been extensively 

 grovvii at very low prices in the I'-nglish sjllloinents of the Malacca straits, par- 

 liculaily in Arracan, Province ^Veile^ley, and otlitr districts in that neighborhood. 

 Tliese countries have become, since lb3(i, large exporters of rice lo China, and in 

 years of scurcilv lo various parts of Indi.i, the Cape of Good Hope, and Mauritius, 

 anil someli.nes lo Persia and Vrabia. Its price is generally from §1 to §1 25 per 

 picul of 133 J pounds. Bengal is, however, the granary ot the east, producing on 

 its low grounds not only immense crops of rice, but wlieat, and ol.her esculent 

 grams and puNes. In years of plenty large shipments are made at low prices to 

 Araiiia, llie Ki^d Se^, Persia, Muscat, and other countries of the east. But little 

 B'ligal rice eoiUos lo Chin:i. It is likewise sent lo England, the Capo of Good 

 Hnpe, the iMauritins, and Bourbon. At these two latter Islands they pursue tlio 

 foolish policy ol liie West Indian and our southern [ilaiders, who buy all their provi- 

 sions, and use their capital entlrtly in ihe production of cotTeo and sugar. 



'Iliere are probably not more than thirty foreign ships — Amei;can, Spanish, 

 Dutch, and English — whicii bring rice to (^hina. It is procured by these vessels 

 in the islands of Java, Liiconia, iJally, Loiiibock, and other oountiies of the Arch- 

 ipelago. The price per picul (133} pounds avoirdupois) in these cuunlrios is oftea 

 as low as 60, 7ll, and S'O cenls. But the grealest importations of rice into China 

 come from Siam, where there is a numerous population of Chinese emigrants, and 

 troni the colonies of Honan and Formosa. It is likewise brought from Tonkin, 

 Cochin China, Cambodia, and the islands of tlie Archipelago. From these several 

 countries the Chinese juiiks, freipicntly of 500, COO, and 800 tons, bring the largest 

 importations, which of course must be very great, as the duly is merely nominal 

 and the consumption obtains among the whole nation of thrf ) hundred and fifty 

 millions. It is literally the " staff" of life." 



Kiee is cultivated in the east, on the lowlands, in a similar manner to our South 

 Carolina and Georgia method, but of course not so scientifically. It is dono 

 mostly by small propri'tors of two, three, lour, and ten or twenty acres — seldom 

 more. The whole family, men, women, and children, assist in the cultivation, 

 giKhering, and preparation for market. Tiie harvest, in all parts of India and the 

 east, is a great time of merrimpnt, toasting, and jollity, particularly as I have seen 

 it in Inilia and the island of Ceylon. All the mighbors assist each other, when 

 necessary, in the weeding, gathering, and preparation, and I may well add, univor- 

 sally in ihe eating of it. It is iho custom lo steam it fora short time before husk- 

 ing. Tno rice is then dried on small mats in the sun, and pounded in a wooden 

 mortar, when it is cleaned by ihu women by silting and winnowing in bamboo 

 sieves, shaped like adal shovel or scoop, with a raised rim around the part held by 

 the hand. The steaming lightly enables them to get off the red skin with much 

 greater facility. 



Rice is raised in the mountains of Ceylon, India, and other parts of the east, on 

 terraces formed by embaiiknicnls made with much labor, where there are small 

 intervals, with rivulets or brooks, capable of answering the purposes of irngation. 

 At a distance, whi n the grain is ripe, nothing can be more beautiful in nature than 

 these cultivated terraces, interspersed with cottages — whicli are generally very neat 

 and well kept in Ceylon and India in these situations, the mountaineers being a hardy, 

 independent rai>^ of men, half embosomed in the shadn of the beautiful and luxuriant 

 trce» and foliag - of the tropics. Theswiituations are very vnluablo and healthy, and, 

 when, there .tre tiireo or tour hundred aCtcs available, usually ajipears a small village, 

 with its : 'lops, sinithery, temple, and other ippurtonunces of oriental civilization. 



Rico may bu divided into two great ordor^, each subdivided into numerous spc 

 cies, cultivated at dilferent altitudes, 'I in diir:reril tempi -atures, viz ; that cul- 

 tivated by laying it under water at cor' : n limes, and the other raised on dry land. 

 In Bengal and all low ountnes ihruiig.iuut iho oast thoy purtuo the same princi- 

 ples, by a more roundabout method, that we ilo in Carolina and Georgia, viz : by 



