6o8 
Supplement to the ^'■Tropical Agvicultunst." [February i, 1892. 
regulations assumed too stringent a nature, the 
result was to bring on a deal of hardship to 
the poor villagers who had hitherto enjoyed many 
harmless privileges. The protection of forests, so 
that the Government may not lose the produce 
which is of value is a matter of great importance, 
and the villager himself would admit that it is 
to his own interest to help to elfect this. Let 
us for a moment glance at the position of the 
poor villager of the interior. He may possess 
some paddy land, but it often happens his con- 
dition is so helpless, that he is too poor to obtain 
even the seed paddy necessary for sowing his 
fields, much less to secure any manure for the 
land, or to carry on any agricultural improve- 
ments. On his bit of garden land he may grow 
a few yams, vegetables, or a little grain, and 
these if they come up well, will supply him 
with a small quantity of food : but in the vil- 
lages in the interior of the Islandthere is of course 
no sale for anything that can be raised on such 
land. There is no industry he can take to, and 
in the absence of any industries he was accus- 
tomed to gather beeswax and wild honey, jungle 
ropes and fibres, tanning fruits and edible berries, 
fence sticks and firewood either for sale or for 
barter with the village traders, or sometimes for 
his own immediate use. These brought him some 
little money or the necessaries for subsistence, and 
were the means by which he employed a part of his 
time usefully. What the villager complains of in 
-the new forest rules, is the fact that he is now 
denied the privilege of obtaining these products. 
The right of collection of jungle produce is now 
given over to a single enterprising man (not 
generally a villager) for a nominal sum. What 
the forest regulations aim at is not the paltry 
income that accrues, but the protection afforded 
to the forests. It appears, however, that a better 
plan would be to encourage the villagers to carry 
on the work which they were used to, with pro- 
per restrictions, and to draw up regulations in 
such a way as to give them liberty to collect 
any jungle produce, be it beeswax or honey, 
jimgle rope or fibres, tanning fruits or edible 
berries, fence sticks or firewood, free of cost, 
after registering their names with the officer 
in charge of the forests. The best way to guard 
against any undue advantages that are likely to be 
taken, would be to place a check on the traders who 
should in all cases, before they remove the pro- 
duce from a district, be made to take a permit to 
do so. 
It would also be for the interest of native 
agriculture if certain areas could be reserved in 
different centres as " village forests " for the use 
of the cultivators, as they appear to do in India, 
Such reserves would not only supply the neces- 
sary sticks and ropes for the putting up of 
fences around fields, but also yield the firewood 
necessary forthe inhabitants. Above all, parts of 
such village reserves should form the feeding 
grounds for the village cattle, that are generally 
in need of food, aiul sufler greatly during the 
period the fields are under cultivation. 
Many a useful industry in connection with 
forests coyld be introduced by instructing the 
villagers as to the value of various products 
found in our Ceylon jungles, and l)y explaining 
liow these could be utilized for indusi rial jiurposes. 
1 shall note some of those in a future issue. 
W, A. JU. ^, 
CEREMONIES OBSERVED BY KANDYANS 
IN PADDY CULTIVATION. 
( Concluded.) 
This paper will bring to a close the consider- 
ation of the subject I have dealt with in my 
preceding contributions. 
Threshing is of course conducted by buffaloes 
yoked together. During this ceremony women 
are not permitted to intrude on the halnvita or 
threshing floor on any pretence whatever, as the 
Kandyan goyiyas harbour an ill-defined notion 
of their impurity. But in Beligal Korale, in Xe- 
galle District, and also in Seven Korales (Kurune- 
gala District), women are not altogether sub- 
jected to this probition. When the ears of 
paddy are well trodden down by buffaloes so 
as to separate the paddy, it is winnowed, in 
order to i-emove the dast and other refuse which 
are very often found along with paddy. If the 
threshing is likely to continue for more than 
a day, a rude watch hut called a pela is con- 
structed by the goyiya, and a watcher is set as 
a guard to prevent theft and ravages of wild 
beasts. 
After winnowing, the paddy has to be mea- 
sured. This process is termed yal karanaica. It 
is noteworthy that because the Xandyan culti- 
vator often happens to be illiterate, he resorts 
to a .seemingly queer method of measuring the 
crop his field had produced. For this purpose 
a ripe arecanut is taken, and when 40 lahas (1 
amunam) are counted, a line is drawn on the 
arecanut, and so on, as many lines as there 
are amunams. A nilakaraya, or tenant, when he 
goes to his landlord to tell him the quantity 
of paddy his field yielded, takes great precaution 
not to express the number in words, but to offer 
the arecanut which would clearly indicate the 
number. 
The following is a list of the measures of 
paddy current among the Xaudyans : — 
2 
Patas 
1 
Manawa. 
2 
Manawas . 
1 
Neli. 
4 
Nelees 
1 
Kuruue. 
4 
Lahas 
1 
Timba. 
5 
Kurunes 
. 1 
Bera. 
2 
Beras 
. 1 
Pela. 
4 
Pelas 
. 1 
Amunam 
12 
Amunams . 
. 1 
Yala. 
The removal of paddy from and to the house is 
exclusively performed by women who are re- 
quired to go through a process of purification. 
There are many receptacles of paddy among, 
which I shall mention the principal ones. 
Paddy is generally stored in an at mm or a 
barn or granary, which is the largest possible 
receptacle. It is made of wooden planks in the 
shape of a square and set usually on stone 
pillars. The best site for the construction of 
an atuwa is in front of or in the middle of a 
house. The atuwa has an opening at the top 
which is reached by means of a ladder. A 
Bihi is next in size and importance. This is 
a huge vessel conical in form and constructed 
of sticks or split calamus (rattan). The largest 
sized one is capable of holding about a lumdfed 
auiuuams or lou bushel.^. 
