152 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



918. A Slngalcsc farm-yard bears some resemblance to one of this country {Jig. 

 144.) : but fewer buildings, and no barn is required. 

 144 



919. An embankment, or TeXd\mngvt\o\\x\A, by which an artificial lake of three or four 

 miles in circumference is dammed up, is described by Dr. Davy. It is nearly a straight 

 line across the valley, twenty feet high, and 150 or 200 feet wide; the side next the water 

 forming an angle of 45, and faced with large stones, in the manner of steps. This 

 must have been a work of great labor to so rude and simple a people. 



SuBSECT. 7. Present State of Agriculture in the Birman Empire, in Java, Malacca, Siam, 

 Cochin China, Tonquin, Japaji, c^c. 



920. The agriculture of these countries and others of minor note adjoining them, differs 

 little as far as it is known from that of Hindustan. In all of them the sovereign is the 

 lord of the soil ; the operative occupier is wretchedly poor and oppressed. The chief pro- 

 duct is rice ; the chief animal of labor the buffalo or ox ; the chief manure, water ; and 

 the chief material for buildings and implements, the bamboo. 



921. The Birman empire is distinguished for the salubrity of its climate, and the health 

 and vigor of the natives. In this respect they possess a decided pre-eminence over the 

 enervated natives of the East ; nor are the inhabitants of any country capable of greater 

 bodily exertions than the Birmans. 



922. The seasons of this country are regular, and the extremes of heat and cold are 

 seldom experienced ; at least the duration of that intense heat which immediately precedes 

 the commencement of the rainy season, is so short that the inconvenience of it is very 

 little felt. The forests, however, like some other woody and uncultivated parts of India, 

 are extremely pestiferous ; and an inhabitant of the champaign country considers 

 a journey thither as inevitable destruction. The wood-cutters, who are a particular 

 class of men, born and bred in the hills, are said to be unhealthy, and seldom attain 

 longevity. 



923. The soil of the southern provinces of the Birman empire is remarkably fertile, 

 and produces as luxuriant crops of rice as are to be found in the finest parts of Bengal. 

 Towards the north, the face of the country is irregular and mountainous, with headlong 

 torrents and rivers in yawning chasms, crossed by astonishing bridges ; but the plains 

 and valleys are exceedingly fruitful ; they yield good wheat and various kinds of small 

 grain which grow in Hindustan, together with most of the esculent legumes and 

 vegetables of India. Sugar-canes, tobacco of a superior quality, indigo, cotton, and 

 the different tropical fruits in perfection, are all indigenous products of this country. 

 Besides the teak tree [Tectoria grandis), which grows in many parts of the Birman 

 empire, as well to the north of Ummerapoora, as in the southern country, there is 

 almost every description of timber that is known in India. 



924. The cattle used in some parts of the country for tillage and draught, are remarkably 

 good ; they put only a pair of them to the plough, which is little different from the 

 plough of India, and turns up tlie soil very superficially. In their large carts they yoke 

 four stout oxen, which proceed with the speed of a hand-gallop, and are driven by a 

 country girl, standing up in her vehicle, who manages the reins and a long whip 

 with ease and dexterity. Many of the rising grounds are planted with indigo; but the 

 natives suffer the hills for the most part to remain uncultivated, and only plough the 

 rich levels. They every where burn the rank grass once a year to improve the pasture. 

 The Birmans will not take much pains; they leave half the work to nature, which has 

 been very bountiful to tliem. In the neighbourhood of Loonghe many fields are planted 

 with cotton, which thrives well ; sesamum is also cultivated in this soil, and is found to 

 answer better than rice, which is most productive in low and moist grounds. In the 

 suburbs of Pagahm, there are at least two hundred mills employed in expressing oil 

 from the sesamum seed. In this operation the grain is put into a deep wooden trough, 

 and pressed by an ui)right timber fixed in a frame ; the force is increased by a long 



