SUMATRA. 
I fhall fpeak firft of the cultivation of the L^MituF or upland paddee. UpjandpadJee 
This is fown, as is obvious from the name, in high grounds, and al- 
moft unii'erfally on the fire of old woodsj on account of the fiiperior 
richnefs of the foil ; the continual fall and rotting of the leaves, form- 
ing there a bed of vegetable mould, which the open plains cannot af- 
ford, being exhaufted, by the powerful operation of the fun*s rays, and 
the conftant produdtion of a rank grafs, called lalkng. When this la!- 
Lang, with which the eallern iHands, are for the mofl part covered, where 
the ground is free from wood, is kept under by frequent mov\ing, or 
the grazing of cattle, it's room is fupplkd with grafs of a finer texturet 
Many fuppofe that the fame, identical fpecies of grafs undergoes this 
alteration, as no frefh feeds are fown, and the change uniformly takes 
place. But this is an evident miftake, as the generic chara«ftcrs of the 
two are eflentially different, the one being i\i^gmm€n carkofum^ and the 
other the gramen aikukium^ defcribed by Runiphius. The former, 
which grows to the height of live feet, is remarkable for the whitenefs 
and foftnefs of the down, which is it's bloflbm, and the other for the 
Ih^irpnefs of it's bearded Iccds, which prove extremely troublefome to 
the legs of thofe who waiic among it*. 
On account of the fertility which it occafions, the natives do not 
look upon the abundance of wood in the country, as an inconvenience^ 
* *' Gramen cajkofum* Hoe totos occupat campos, nudojqu* colles ; tam dense flilait ger- 
mman*, uf, c I<ingi«qMo. haberctuf campus oryza c^nfit us ; tarn lujttirius^ & fortUtfr crefdr, ut 
neque hoi-tos nequc fyivas evjEet, aique lam vchcrticntcr piorepit^ ut afeac vix depurarl ac ftrvari 
polunt, licet quotidlt dcambwleutur^** 
" Gramen acicn latum. Ttu? fere ntilbs eft, led hie dstigendum eft rxdiofunQ iudi- 
■ bfjum, <|\iod qiris habtt, fi per campos, vcl in fylvis ftvocetlac, ubi hoc gramen ad vias publieExa 
crefdc, quurn praeterieniium vtfliJjus fcraen quam maxime inhoerct." Rtmpbias- LePiwvre, in Jiis 
Travels of a Phiiofopher, dcfcvibes the plains of Madagafrar and Java, as covered with a iotig 
grafs, which he cnlU Fatak, and which, from (he analogy of the countries in other lefpefl*, 1 
flioujd fuppofe to be laliaitg i but he praifes it as affording excel knt paftu rage ; wliercas on 
Sumatra it it reckoned the worft, and except when very 'young, it \% not edible by the hrgcfl: 
cattle i for which reafon the carters am! drovers conilanily fet fire to that which growj on the 
plaint by the roati fiile, that the young fkoot* wluch aften^-ards fpriag ttp, may fupply food to- 
their bca£U« 
R but 
