RICE-CULTURE. 87 



accordingly occupies a large portion of the time of the people ; 

 and in the preparation of the ground, the bringing of water 

 to irrigate the fields, and other necessary operations, a great 

 amount of skill and ingenuity is displayed. 



The rice-fields are of two kinds : first, those on which the 

 rice is sown, and then those to which it is transplanted, and 

 where it grows until it is reaped. The former are only narrow 

 strips of ground along the banks of the rivers, or terraces on 

 the sloping sides of the deep valleys ; and to them water is 

 conveyed from the nearest springs by means of aqueducts, 

 often carried in a most ingenious fashion for a considerable 

 distance along the curving sides of the hills. This is neces- 

 sary from the fact that the rice is sown in the dry season, 

 when there is no rain to afford the requisite moisture ; for rice 

 must be sown in water, and grown in water until it is ripe. 

 Great skill is shown in the construction of these terraces ; 

 and there are few more beautiful sights than the hill-sides 

 and valleys terraced from base to summit, often with nearly 

 a hundred green steps. 



The Hovas are very ingenious in rice culture, but they are 

 far surpassed by the Betsileo in the southern central provinces. 

 Not only are the valleys and hollows terraced, as in Imerina — 

 the concave portions of the low hills and lower slopes of the 

 high hills — but the convex portions also are stepped up like a 

 gigantic staircase. These works display not only industry, 

 but also some knowledge of hydrostatics, for I could not 

 discover how the water was brouf^ht to some of the low hills 

 which were surrounded by lower ground. Many of these 

 were terraced up to their highest point, the lines of rice-field 

 running round them in concentric circles, so that there was 

 not a square yard of ground unproductive. 



As soon as the rice-plants have reached a height of six or 

 eight inches, they are all taken up and transplanted, plant by 

 plant, into the rice-fields proper. These are much larger and 

 more extensive pieces of ground, covering the surfaces of the 

 broader valleys and alluvial plains. After being dug over, 

 water is let into the fields, and after further working by the 

 spade, and also by cattle being driven to and fro over the 

 ground, the plants are stuck into the soft mud by the female 



