RICE FIELDS. 
29 
hollow of the cylinder. Having done this, they place its open end 
between the lips, and forcing down the piston, drive the masticatory 
into their mouths. But these instruments are, I suspect, confined to 
old men, who use them as a substitute for teeth. We halted at one 
of the sheds, about half-way on our journey, and partook of the never- 
failing and ever-grateful beverage in this climate, cocoa-nut juice. 
This fluid is very sensibly cool when taken from a nut fresh gathered, 
and as far as my experience goes, is free from any deleterious qua- 
lities. The end of the nut in a green state, is readily cut off with a 
strong knife, and the juice is drunk from the opening thus made. 
The natives climb the tall tapering palms which produce this fruit, 
with wonderful dexterity ; oftentimes ascending them without arti- 
ficial aid, depending on their hands and feet for support. Sometimes, 
however, they notch the trees, or place against them long and thick 
bamboos, to which they affix a row of pegs that serve as the steps 
of a ladder. 
Soon after leaving this place, the road, which before was tolerably 
level, became rugged, continually ascending, and sometimes very 
steep. The scenery on each side was composed of hillocks speckled 
with clumps of trees. At their base ran mountain torrents, in which 
natives were watering their buffaloes. On our right, Gunong Karang 
rose majestically in the back ground; and smoke ascending above 
trees, marked the site of the village of Plassur Pittee. As we ad- 
vanced, the inequality of* the ground increased, and had obliged the 
natives to cut it into terraces, for the cultivation of rice. These 
they had irrigated by filling up the bed of a stream at an elevated 
point, where its waters were first required. Having overflown the 
first, or uppermost field, it passed to a second ; from a second to a 
third, till it reached the lowermost, when it was led into its old chan- 
nel by a trench cut for the purpose. I was informed that the natives 
obtain from their paddy fields two crops of rice annually, in the high 
lands. Besides rice, they obtain two crops of esculent vegetables 
sweet potatoes, and after these, cucumbers with a species of bean. 
They allow no repose to the soil, which is a rich vegetable mould 
