42 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [PT. II 



these. "The goiya (cultivator) presents himself before the 

 Neket-rala (village astrologer) on a Monday or a Wednesday 

 with the customary offering of forty betel leaves and areca 

 nuts, and expresses his wishes in a humble attitude. The 

 Neket-rala then informs his petitioner, after certain astrological 

 calculations, of the circumstances upon which the success or 

 failure of his undertaking depends. On an auspicious day 

 (according to the Neket-rala) the goiya, after partaking of the 

 morning meal, wends his way to his land with a mamoti (see 

 above, a kind of hoe), his face turned towards the favourable 

 direction of the horizon as indicated by the astrologer. Should 

 the goiya on this journey encounter sights or sounds which 

 portend failure, e.g. the hooting of an owl, the cry of a house 

 lizard, the growling of a dog, the sight of persons carrying 

 weapons capable of inflicting injury, etc., he immediately turns 

 back and retraces his steps homewards. Again the Neket-rala 

 has to be approached in the manner before described, and 

 consulted as to a lucky hour. Were the goiya to meet with a 

 milk cow, vessels filled with water, men dressed in white, etc., 

 when he sets out towards his land, it is considered very 



propitious On the following day the goiya entertains such 



of his fellow-villagers with rice-cakes, milk-rice, etc. as are 

 willing to cooperate with him in the cultivation of his field. 

 At the lucky hour, these villagers armed with mamoties 

 proceed to the land, headed by the owner, and turning their 

 faces in the direction of Adam's Peak give out the cry of Ha 



pura hodai (Ha, a good beginning) 



"When the field is ready for sowing, on the advent of a 



lucky hour, the goiya leaves his dwelling after having recited a 

 number of religious stanzas, bearing an areca-nut flower and a 

 pata (handful with the fingers stretched out) of paddy (rice in 

 the husk). Having arrived at his field, with his eyes turned 

 towards the favourable region of the sky, he buries the paddy in 

 a corner of a ridge, having first moulded the earth at the spot 

 so as to resemble a peculiarly shaped symbolic figure, and lays 



the areca-nut flower on the top of the mound The High 



Priest of Kotmale Pansala informed me that the areca-nut 

 flowers were intended as an offering to the gods, who are held to 



