<N3 corn.— sStorf Ttme, 



warfare ; yet it is of vast utility in times when the 

 crops fail. 



seed irtKt. 



Four guntainis of paddie are sown upon a well-wa- 

 tered and cleared spot of laud of the extent of about a 

 sixteenth part of an orlou#. In about 40 days the 

 plants attain sufficient vi^or to admit of k their being 

 removed to the hindang, or paddie field. 



The task of transplanting is commonly performed 

 by the women. Before the seed is sown in the nur- 

 sery, it is twice measured, in order to ascertain that 

 none has escaped preternatural!}' ! 



The samai or rice plants are pulled up by their 

 roots in bunches of sufficient size to f>e easily grasped 

 with one band. The roots are rapidly cleaned with 

 the other and the tops are rut off". A few of the 

 whitest stalks arc then selected and carried separately 

 to the field. Ayer badak, a fragrant cosmetic dis- 

 solved in water, is now sprinkled over the ground id 

 order to propitiate the spirit of the paddie [ the Ma- 

 layan Ceres, for whom the Malays have no distinct 

 appellative but express their meaning- by the words, 

 Samangat Paddie,— the Ckaha Vendai of the Bur- 

 mese—which implies that the spirit of the paddie va- 

 nishes through terror when not conciliated. 



The spot on the field where propitiatory evocation 

 is made, they term Burnt Vidro, which are Sanscrit 

 words denoting "Prince's ground" This might be 

 supposed to imply that the spirit evoked is deemed 

 masculine. But the nature of the invocations which 

 follow rather leave this in doubt. The selected stalks 

 are placed on a rest along with offerings of dressed eggs 

 — pooloot rice or oryza gl u tin- «a— sugarcane— ™coa- 

 nut , and sweet-meats. These offerings are afterwards 

 commonly left on the spot j but some ryots take 

 them home and eat them. 



