232 INSECT DESTRUCTION OF THE PADI. 



cestors ; and then they find that the trees, which have, 

 during that time, covered the ground, to the destruc- 

 tion of the deleterious lalang grass and other weeds, 

 are easily felled, and the ground prepared ; though, as 

 has been before noticed, the crops from such land are 

 not so abundant as those from the ' utan tuah/ or old 

 forest, which in consequence is, notwithstanding the 

 greater proportionate amount of labour requisite to bring 

 it under cultivation, always, when procurable, preferred. 



It will be seen from the above statement that the 

 farms of the Dyaks are prepared towards the end of 

 the dry season, so that they have the wet monsoon to 

 bring the padi to maturity, and the beginning of the 

 following fine weather, April and May, to ripen the 

 grain. Some tribes have a succession of farms coming 

 in a few weeks later than each other, but never more 

 than three. The hill Dyaks seldom plant their farms 

 till a month or two later than the sea tribes, who con- 

 sequently have the first of the market ; new rice always 

 selling for a higher price than the old, the former being 

 esteemed' sweeter and more nourishing by the Malays, 

 who are the purchasers. 



From the mode of pounding the padi in mortars, to 

 free it from the husk, adopted by the Dyaks and 

 Malays, none of the rice, the produce of the island, 

 can be kept for any length of time : the grains being 

 broken, and the enamel which protects them from the 

 wevil being destroyed, that insect soon takes advantage 

 of the circumstance to attack and destroy it ; in the 



