328 



RICE. 



than for its quality. In Java as in Sumatra there are two different 

 climates, one in the lower regions, which are tropical, and those of 

 the higher plains and mountains, which resemble the climate of 

 Southern Europe. 



In 1863, 126,537,000 lbs. of rice were exported from Java; in 

 1870 310,722 piculs. 



Borneo. — Both the soil and climate are here very favourable to the 

 growth of rice, but little more is grown at present than would appear 

 to suffice for hoDie consumj)tion. It is raised in almost every part of 

 the country. Its price is from 80 dollars to 97 dollars the koyan 

 of 5220 lbs. 



In the Philippines the hill rice is sown in May, and cut in October ; 

 whilst that of the plains is planted generally in July or August, and 

 gathered in December and January. Rice forms the staple article of 

 food for the inhabitants. Its price varies, according to locality. 



One quinon (or about 7 acres of land) in the province of Bulacan 

 is said to produce on the average 250 to 300 cavans (96 lbs. each) 

 of paddy. Were the system of irrigation understood and generally 

 practised, the cultivation of rice might be considerably augmented. 



Africa. — The cultivation of rice undoubtedly dates from the oldest 

 periods of which we have any historical record, " Cast thy bread 

 upon the waters : for thou shalt find it after many days," * evidently 

 applies to rice, which in Egypt is always sown whilst the waters of 

 the Nile still cover the land, the retreating floods leaving a rich 

 deposit of thick alluvial silt, in which the rice vegetates luxuriantly. 



The chief rice grounds of Egypt are in the Delta, and the choicest 

 in the environs of Damietta. . The beating and husking are effected 

 with American machines. The commerce in rice centres almost 

 exclusively at Alexandria, Damietta, and Rosetta. 



Rice is cultivated abundantly by the negro tribes of East Africa to 

 the Monomoisy inclusive, bearing everywhere its Malay name of 

 " padi." Cademosta met with rice on the Gambia. And Lopes 

 (a.d. 1588) speaks of " a grain brought to Congo not long since 

 from the river Nilus, and called ' luco ; ' " in which word we readily 

 recognise the Egyptian name of rice. It is also grown on the west 

 coast of Africa, and in the islands of Ceylon, Reunion, Mauritius, and 

 Madagascar. From Madagascar we received upwards of 10,000 cwts. 

 in 1875. 



Brazil. — Vast plains and even slopes of hills favour throughout this 

 empire the culture of rice, which sometimes grows to three feet in 

 height, and produces more grain than the fertile lands of India. 

 Maranham rice rivals that of Carolina, and on the marshes and banks 

 of the rivers of Mato Grosso, or those of the San Francisco and others, 

 it grows and yields excellent crops without labour. 



Wallace, in his ' Travels on the Amazon,' thus describes the pro- 

 cess by which the rice is freed from its husk at Para. The grain 

 first iDasses between two mill-stones, not cut, as for grinding flour, 

 but worked flat, and by this the outer husk is rubbed off. It is then 

 conveyed between two boards of similar size and shape to the stones, 

 set all over with stiff iron wires about | of an inch long, so close 



* Ecclesiastes, xi. 1, 



