46 



JOUKNAL, R. A. S. (OEYLON). [Vol. VIII. 



At the appointed hour, on arriving at the ground, one of 

 the cultivators, who has the credit of being fortunate, begins 

 the work (puravadanavd) by clearing the boundaries of 

 jungle with a bill-hook and mamotie (badawetiya gakanavd 

 or ddnarod ) ; and at the second lucky hour he and his com- 

 panions go to the field with the required number of buffaloes. 

 These are yoked together and driven about the field for the 

 purpose of trampling down and destroying weeds and grass, 

 and puddling the soil. This is the first mudding (puran- 

 medavuma) : if the fields are dug up by men with udali, the 

 proper term is puran-kotanavd : if kekulan fallow, land 

 has to be broken up, oxen are used to plough it (binnegan- 

 hiya). 



The dams are then repaired and sloped with mud, open- 

 ings for the water cut (vakkadaval kapanaod ), and again 

 closed at points of exit (vatura bandinavd ), and the channels 

 for irrigation (depd ela) cleared. 



If at the expiration of five or six weeks from the time of 

 the first ploughing the grass and weeds are not sufficiently 

 decayed, the fields are mudded or ploughed a second time 

 ( de-medavuma ; de-hiya ) though with less regard to a lucky 

 hour. In some K6ral6s a third ploughing (edduma) is 

 found necessary. 



In the low country the fields are usually swampy, neces- 

 sitating considerable labour to drain. The day before the 

 seed paddy is sown, a yotumdna* is erected on the boundary 

 dam (villa) at the lowest part of the field, where the water 

 chiefly accumulates and can be readily bailed out into the 

 channel intended to carry off the surplus. The bailing goes 

 on throughout the night, the men whiling away the time by 

 songs. t 



* A yotumdna is generally constructed as follows : — Six bamboos are 

 planted on the dam, three on either side and about two yards apart, so 

 as to meet about 8 or 9 feet above, and form three crutches. Across 

 these is laid an arecanut stem, and the whole structure made fast by 

 two extra bamboos supporting the ends. To the arecanut cross-pole 

 are then suspended as many yotu as may be needed for bailing. These 

 yoiu are elongated canoe-shaped scoops, about 6 feet long by 3 in girth, 

 hollowed out of logs, one end of which is to serve for a handle. 



f Note 2. 



