334 INDUSTRIAL. INSTITUTIONS. 



new forests of bamboo for the cultivation of the succeeding 

 year.&quot; Concerning men of another tribe, Masters writes: 



&quot;After the Naga has cultivated a piece of ground two years, and 

 often one year only, he rinds it so full of weeds . . . that it is not 

 worth his while to sow it again, and he clears fresh jungle accordingly.&quot; 

 And Mason says of the Karens: 



&quot;Most of the Karen tribes change their fields annually . . . They 

 clear a few acres of land, burn them over near the close of the dry 

 season, the ashes serving as manure ; and when the first showers fall, 

 they plant their paddy.&quot; 



How laborious is their husbandry is proved by photographs 

 illustrative of Karen life, kindly sent to me from Maulmain, 

 Burma, by Mr. Max Ferrars. In them is shown the clearing 

 of a patch of forest, which, after one crop of rice, must be left 

 fallow for 10 to 20 years; there is the stage made on a steep 

 hill-side for threshing ; and there are the huts for watching : 

 some of them of special construction to meet danger from 

 tigers. Similarly among the Gonds. Notwithstanding that 

 he has already made a fence round his clearing, &quot; sometimes 

 the owner of a dhya will watch at night on a platform in 

 the middle of the field and endeavour to save it from wild 

 animals.&quot; 



When we remember that such rude agriculture as these 

 hill-tribes carry on, is made possible by an implement for 

 which they are indebted to more advanced peoples the axe 

 we may form some idea of the almost insurmountable 

 obstacles which had to be overcome at the outset, when there 

 were no implements but pointed sticks and hoes made of the 

 blade-bones of animals, and when there was no knowledge of 

 plant-culture. Indeed, it is surprising that agriculture ever 

 arose at all: the reward was so uncertain and the labour 

 required so great. And here is observable an instance of 

 that increasing rapidity of progress referred to at the outset 

 as arising from decrease of resistance. While rude cultiva 

 tion was limited to little scattered spots amid vast tracts 

 covered with forest, wild Nature continually overwhelmed 



