48 



JOURNAL, R. A. S. (CEYLON). [Vol. VIII. 



sand about the boundaries of the field : then, without a word 

 to any one, or allowing so much as a quid of betel to pass 

 his lips, he retires for the night to a deserted house ; other- 

 wise the charm will have no effect. 



It is considered advisable to protect the paddy plant by 

 the performance of a separate kema, or charm, as it attains 

 each of its nine nodes (geta ; puruka), or rises each inter- 

 node (petta.) * 



When there is every prospect of a very good crop, a 

 Gard-yakun ceremony is resorted to in the hope of warding 

 off the baneful influence of evil-eye (es-vaha) and evil-tongue 

 (kata-vaka), as Mr. levers has noted in the Regalia Dis- 

 trict.! 



Eeaping. 



Similarly, when the crop is ready for the sickle, a lucky 

 hour is Darned, and the cultivator, after bathing and putting 

 on a clean cloth and eating kiribat,% enters the field, and at 

 the set time cuts three handfuls of ripe ears. These are kept 

 apart for Kataragama Deviyo on a tree, or post, close to the 

 field, and at the close of the harvest used in the Deviganne 

 ddnaya.\ Reaping is then commenced in earnest, men 

 and women working jointly and "beguiling their labour" 

 with cheering songs. || The unthreshed paddy is stacked in 

 ricks or cocks (goyan-kola keti) frequently encircled with 

 young cocoanut leaves or jungle creepers, round, or within, 

 the plot of ground reserved as the threshing-floor (kamata ; 

 Aalavita; pdvara.) 



Threshing. 



Two or three days elapse before the important business of 

 threshing begins. 



* Note 4. f Journal C. A. S., 1880, pp. 47-8. 



X Rice pudding made with cocoanut milk and a little salt in a shallow- 

 dish (vattiya ) and cut or pressed into convenient pieces for eating. 



§ t: When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall 

 reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of 

 your harvest unto the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord 

 to be accepted for you."-— Leviticus, xxiii., 10, 11. 



|| Note 2. 



