150 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part I. 



\ir 



root, and before the mud has had time to dry, the water is re-admitted : when the plants 

 are two or three inches lygh, the ground is weeded, and any thin parts made good by 

 transplanting from such as are too thick. The water remains on the field till the rice 

 begins to ripen, wliich is commonly in seven months : it is then let off and the crop cut 

 down with reaping hooks, and carried to the threshing floor, where it is trod out by 

 buffaloes. 



930. The agricultural implements of the Singalese are few and simple ; they consist of 

 jungle hooks {Jig. 121. a), for cutting down trees and underwood ; an axe (b) ; a sort of 

 French spade or beche (c) ; a plough of the lightest kind (rf), which the ploughman holds 

 with one hand, the beam being attached to a pair of buffaloes, by a yoke (c), and with 

 the other, he carries a long goad (/), with which, and his voice, he directs and stimu- 

 lates the animals. A sort of level [g) is used 

 for levelling the ground after ploughing, which, 

 like the plough, is drawn by a pair of buffaloes, 

 the driver sitting on it to give it momentum. 

 For smoothing the surface of tlie mud pre- 

 paratory to sowing, a sort of light scraper (h) 

 is employed. The reaping hook (i) is similar 

 to ours ; their winnow {k) is composed of 

 strong matting, and a frame of rough twigs. 

 The threshing floor is made of beaten clay ; 

 and previously to commencing the operation of 

 treading out, a charm [Jig. 122. 1) is drawn on 

 the middle of the floor. A forked stick {m) is , 

 used to gather and stir up the straw under the 

 buffaloes' feet. {Davy's Cej/lon, 278.) 



931. A Singalese farmyard bears some resemblance to one of this country {fig. 123.) ; 

 but fewer buildings are required, and no barn. 



123 



932. An embankment, or retaining mound, 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 labour to so rude and simple a people. 



SuBSECT. 7. Of the present State of Agriculture in the JBirman Empire, in Java, Malacca, 

 Siam, Cochin-China, Tonquin, Japan, ^c. 



933. Tlie agriculture of these countries, and of 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 labour the buffalo or ox ;" the chief manure, water ; and 

 the chief material for buildings and implements, the bamboo. 



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

 and vigour of the natives. In this respect they possess a decided preeminence over the 

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

 bodily exertions than the Birmans. 



935. 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 pre- 

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

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

 are extremely pestiferous ; and an inliabitant 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. 



