228 PLANTING PADI AND INDIAN CORN. 



always abounds, are frequently made of this light and 

 easily worked material, the ends being stuck into the 

 ground, and supported by cross bars, which run along 

 the whole length of the fence, and to which the per- 

 pendicular stakes are attached by lashings of rattan, or 

 other suitable substance. The burning being finished, 

 and the pagar made, though this latter operation is fre- 

 quently delayed until the seed has sprung up, no 

 other preparation of the ground is deemed necessary. 

 The plough, and other instruments for turning up the 

 soil, the inventions of nations more advanced in the 

 art, are to them unknown; but if the former were 

 introduced, it would be useless in many places, 

 as the sides of steep hills are frequently chosen for 

 the farm.; and, in all cases, it would be unavail- 

 able while the natives continued to leave their fields 

 after but one year's cultivation, as the labour of 

 removing the trunks of the large trees, which are now 

 allowed to decay in the field, fertilizing it .as they 

 crumble into earth, would not be compensated by the 

 produce of the ground they occupy, if the field were 

 not cultivated for a succession of seasons. 



The padi seed, which is saved with the greatest care 

 from the choicest of the preceding season, is planted in 

 holes, made by a blunt-pointed stick, at the distance of 

 from fifteen to eighteen inches apart every way. Three 

 or four seeds are dropped into each hole by the women 

 and children, who cover them by scraping a little earth 

 or ashes over them with their feet. 'Jagong/ or 



