S U M A T R A; 
Whiltt this work is going on, a fpot is prepared in a convenient part of 
the ground^ where the iecd paddce is Town, in fmall pacchcs, very 
thick, for tranfplanting, and in this ftate it is called hmmay. When ir 
is about two or three inches high, the tops are cropped in order to mul- 
tiply tlje fhoots* At th$ end of forty days from firll fowing, the tranf- 
plantation takes place ; holes are made in the fawoor as defcribed in 
the laddang, and a few plants put in each ; a referve being made in 
tlie patches to fupply the place of ibch as lliali have failed upon removal. 
The innumerable fprlngs and runs of water with which this tfland 
abounds, render unneceliary the laborious procefles by which water is 
raifed and fupplied to the plantations in the Weft , of India^ where the 
country is level, and the foil Tandy : yet flill the principal art of the 
planter confifts, and is required, in the management of this article ; to 
furnilh it to the ground in proper and moik rate quan tit ies, and to carry it 
off, fpom time to time, by drains ; for it muft on bo account be long 
ftagnant, as a neglect of that kind would occafion the grain to rot. 
When the paddee begins to form the ear, or to bloilom, as the natives 
esprefs ir, the water is all finally drawn off. They now begin to pre* 
pare their machines for frightening away the birds, in which they employ 
incredible pains, and wonderful ingenuity* Tlie firings and ebppers 
are fo difpofed, that a child lhail be able, with the fmiple motion of it*s 
arm, to create a loud, clattering noife, through every part of an cxten- 
five plantation ; and on the borders are placed, at diftaaces, a fpecics of 
windmill 6xed on poles^ which, to an unexperienced traveller, have as 
tremendous an cffedl as thofe which tc trifled the Knight of la Mancha. 
In four months from the time of tranfplanting, they Begin to reap 
the grain. The mode of doings this is the fi^me with both fpecics of 
paddee. The ears are cut off pretty fliort, one by one^ with a i^Ude in- 
flrument, refemhling the fhjmp cf a knife, in a bamboo haft*- This 
is performed with one hand, as If the ears were plucked, and each, a*i 
taken off, is put into the other hand, till that is full; when they are 
" The Inhabitajits of Mcnacgcabaw reap wiiU an inftnuneiK refembUng a fickle* 
S tietl 
