4G 



THE HAINAN ESE MIAO 



This shows the terrible waste of timber. The Miaos burn the 

 grass and foliage to sow the upland rice. 



at best. They are truly "the eternal pioneers," and one 

 old-young woman told me she had moved twelve times in her 

 life of forty-odd years. 



Their few pigs they cannot afford to eat except at 

 wedding feasts, but sell them to the Hainanese traders. 

 Chickens and ducks they eat occasionally, and also prepare 

 the salted eggs. They raise very few greens but occasionally 

 will buy them from a neighbouring Loi village. Corn is raised 

 a great deal — a small variety of maize that does very well 

 on the hillsides. The heart of a certain variety of palm tree 

 is a common food, and in times of famine roofs of trees and 

 brakes, bark, anything, must be used to stay the pangs of 

 hunger. A well-to-do famih~ may own a few cows, but they 

 have a curious custom which they often follow, of giving 

 their cows to the neighbouring Lois to care for. The calves 

 of course revert to the original owner, but the Lois use the 

 animals to work their rice fields and to haul the great logs 

 of hardw T ood to the rivers. 



Bears are found in the mountains, and the Miao prepare 

 pitfalls and traps for them, shooting them when they have 

 been thus captured. A species of small antelope makes very 

 •good eating. Wild boar are also often captured, and likewise 



