S U M A T a A. 
jl^rictiUurc. — Rke^ its Cultivation^ ^c— Plantations of Coco^ Betel 
nutf and otker Trees, for Domejiic nfe. — Dye Jluffs, 
From their domeftic oeconoiny I am led to take a view of their la- Agriculture* 
hours in the field, their plantations and the ftate of argicukure amongft 
them, which an ingenious writer elleems the julteft criterion of civili- 
zation. 
The mof! important article of cultivation, not on Sunaatra alone, but Ri^g, 
throughout the eaft, is rice. It is ihe grand material of food^ on which 
at leaft fifty millions of the inhabitants of the earth fubfift, and although 
chiefly confined by nature to the regions included between, and border- 
ing <m the tropics, its cultivation is probably more extcnfive than that 
of wheat, which the Europeans are wont to confider as the univerfal ftaff 
of life. In the contintnt of Afia, as you advance to the north ward , 3'ou 
come to the boundary where the plantations of rice dilappear, and the 
wheat fields commence ; the cold felt in that climate, owing In part to 
the extreme height of the land, being unfriendly to the production of 
the fornaer article, 
Rjce {bras) whilflin thchufk, is in InOia called paddee, and affumes 
a different name in each of its other various ftatcs. We obferve no 
diftindion of this kind in Europe, where our grain retains through all 
its ilagcs, till it becomes flour, its original name of barley, wheat or 
oats*. Among people whofe general objedls of contemplation are few, 
* Tbe following, btrufc many others » are names applied to rice, in its difftrent ftages of 
jjrowtb and perparation : pudditi original name of the iced r oojay \ gmin of J aft feafon : hmneii 
the plants before removed to the fawoorsi Brm othray-f Hce, the hulk of the paddce being ukcn 
cff: cbemepi rke cleaned fur hoi ling ; m£*if boitcd riiac: pttrms I ycHovv rice : jumbari a 
fervkc of rice^ S^c* 
thofe 
