AGRICULTURE 



105 



against the edge of the knife. The ears thus 

 cropped are thrown into a basket slung round the 

 neck. As soon as a large basket has been filled by 

 the reapers, its contents are spread out on mats on a 

 platform before the hut. After an exposure of two 

 or three days, the grain is separated from the ears by 

 stamping upon them with bare feet. The separated 

 grain passes through the meshes of the coarse mat 

 on to a finer mat beneath. The grain is then 

 further dried by exposure to the sun. When the 

 whole crop has been gathered, threshed, and dried 

 in this way, it is transported in the large shoulder 

 baskets amid much rejoicing and merry-making to 



Fig. 14. 



Fig. 15. 



the padi barns adjoining the house, and the harvest 

 festival begins. 



The elaborate operations on the padi farm that 

 we have described might seem to a materialist to 

 be sufficient to secure a good harvest ; but this is 

 not the view taken by the Kayans, or any other 

 of the cultivators of Borneo. In their opinion all 

 these material labours would be of little avail if not 

 supplemented at every stage by the minute observ- 

 ance of a variety of rites. T\i^ padi has life or soul, 

 or vitality, and is subject to sickness and to many 

 vaguely conceived influences, both good and bad. 



Determination of the Seasons 



The determination of the time for sowing the 

 seed is a matter of so great importance that in each 



