chap, xi.] IRRIGATION. 257 



so permeated by artificial channels, that every portion of it 

 can be irrigated and dried at pleasure. According as the 

 slope of the ground is more or less rapid, each terraced 

 plot consists in some places of many acres, in others of 

 a few square yards. We saw them in every state of 

 cultivation ; some in stubble, some being ploughed, some 

 with rice-crops in various stages of growth. Here were 

 luxuriant patches of tobacco ; there, cucumbers, sweet 

 potatoes, yams, beans or Indian-corn, varied the scene. 

 In some places the ditches were dry, in others little 

 streams crossed our road and were distributed over lands 

 about to be sown or planted. The banks which bordered 

 every terrace rose regularly in horizontal lines above each 

 other ; sometimes rounding an abrupt knoll and looking 

 like a fortification, or sweeping round some deep hollow 

 and forming on a gigantic scale the seats of an amphi- 

 theatre. Every brook and rivulet had been diverted from 

 its bed, and instead of flowing along the lowest ground 

 w r ere to be found crossing our road half-way up an ascent, 

 yet bordered by ancient trees and moss-grown stones so 

 as to have all the appearance of a natural channel, and 

 bearing testimony to the remote period at which the work 

 had been done. As we advanced further into the country, 

 the scene was diversified by abrupt rocky hills, by steep 

 ravines, and by clumps of bamboos and palm-trees near 

 houses or villages ; while in the distance the fine range 

 vol. i. s 



