CH. I] RICE AND OTHER CEREALS AND FOOD PLANTS 41 



" four-month," etc. rices, up to six and nine month. It is almost 

 needless to point out that the yield is in general greater the- 

 longer the ripening period, but of course the kind grown in any 

 one district must depend on the length of time during which 

 water is available. Six-month rice will be useless if there is 

 only water for four months. 



Swamp rice requires to grow in a few inches of water 

 until its seeds are all but ripe, consequently it needs to be 

 cultivated in fields which are enclosed in little banks of earth to 

 prevent the water from getting away, and to have regular irri- 

 gation provided for it, even in wet countries. The most 

 economical districts for rice cultivation, therefore, other things 

 being equal, are the great flat alluvial lands about the lower 

 courses of the large rivers, as in Bengal, Madras, and Lower 

 Burma, but rice can be cultivated anywhere that there is water 

 available, and the soil suitable. On the large flats the fields 

 can be correspondingly large, while as we get into more rolling 

 country they become smaller, and require more terracing, until 

 at last, in really hilly country, the fields become very small, 

 often not more than a few square yards, and irregular in shape, 

 and exhibit marvels of terracing, as may be seen in the picture 

 of the terracing in the Kandyan country of Ceylon (Plate I). In 

 these terraced fields, of course, the water is passed down from 

 one field to another, but to bring it to the topmost field often 

 requires considerable engineering feats, the water being brought 

 for long distances in channels winding round the faces of the 

 hills. These channels often run for miles over very difficult 

 pieces of mountain country. 



In some places there are no streams that can be impounded 

 for purposes of irrigation, and the rice has to be grown with the 

 ordinary rainfall, the rain being simply retained in the fields by 

 the banking up of their edges. 



Being the cultivation of the national food, and a cultivation 

 of almost immemorial antiquity, the growth of rice in Indo- 

 Malaya is hedged round with many superstitious observances, 

 which differ from country to country. A brief description of 

 some of the ceremonies observed by the Kandyans or moun- 

 taineers of Ceylon may perhaps suffice as an indication of 



