PLOUGHING, 



225 



to the crooked post may be really pitKluoed by it A true 

 square changes ita figure readily into a rhomboid or obliqutj 

 figure, but when one or two of the uprif^hts are bent or 

 sloping, and placed so as to oppose each other, the effect ol" 

 a strut is produced, though in a rude and clumsy manner. 



Just before I had left Manuijatu the people had so^v^l a 

 conBiderable quantity of maize, which appears above 

 ground in two or three days, atid hi tavourable seasons 

 ripens in less than two months. Owing to a week's prt?- 

 inature rains the groimd wfis all flootled when 1 refciirne(.i, 

 and the plants just coming into ear were yellow and dead. 

 Not a grain would be obtained by the whole village, but 

 luckily it is only a luxury, not a necessaiy of life. The 



S4TtVE WUUIfEi: fljOiiUM, 



rain was the signal for ploughing to begin, in order to aow 

 rice on all the llat lauds between us and the town. Thtt 

 plough used is a rude wooden instrument with a very 

 short single handle, a tolerably well-shaped coulter, and 

 the point formed of a piece of hard palm-wood fastened 

 in with wedges. One or two bufiffdoes draw it at a 

 very slow pace, The seed is sown broadcast, and a rude 

 wooden harrow is used to smooth the surface. 



By the beginning of December the regular wet season 

 bad set in. Westerly winds and driving rains sometimes 

 continued for days togetlier; the fidds for miles around 

 were under water, and the ducks and bulTaloea enjoyed 

 themselves amazingly. AJl along the road to Macassar, 



Q 



