FOURTH BULLETIN OF 
516 
[1846. 
laginous matter to be used for burning. This may be got rid of by the same means 
that the oil inanuiaet urers free common train oil from its gum. 
Rice. — This article consists of numerous varieties, of which few know even the 
name, and is susceptible of a wider range of climate and temperature than cotton. 
It grows throughout the regions of the east, at all altitudes below those of snow 
and frost, and even in some parts of China where the rivers are frozen almost 
every year, as at the mouths of the Yang Tze-Kiang (33° north) in northern 
China, where the product is very large. Of late years it has been extensively 
grown at very low prices in the English settlements of the Malacca straits, par- 
ticulaily in Amman, Province Wellesley, and other districts in that neighborhood. 
These countries have become, since 1836, large exporters of rice to China , and in 
years of scarcity to various parts of India, the Cape of Good Hope, and Mauritius, 
and sometimes to Persia and Arabia. Its price is generally from $1 to $1 25 per 
picul of 1.331 pounds. Bengal is, however, the granary of the east, producing on 
its low grounds not only immense crops of rice, but wheat, and other esculent 
grains and pulses. In years of plenty large shipments are made at low prices to 
Arabia, the Red Sea, Persia, Muscat, and other countries of the east. But little 
Bengal rice comes to China. It is likewise sent to England, the Cape of Good 
Hope, the Mauritius, and Bourbon. At these two latter Islands they pursue the 
foolish policy of the West Indian and our southern planters, who buy all their provi- 
sions, and use their capital entirely in the production of coffee and sugar. 
There are probably not more than thirty foreign ships — American, Spanish, 
Dutch, and English — which bring rice to China. It is procured by these vessels 
in the islands of Java, Luconia, Bally, Lombock, and other countries of the Arch- 
ipelago. The price per picul (133-£ pounds avoirdupois) in these countries is often 
as low as 60, 70, and 80 cents. But the greatest importations of rice into China 
come from Siam, where there is a numerous population of Chinese emigrants, and 
irom the colonies of Honan and Formosa. It is likewise brought from Tonkin, 
Cochin China, Cambodia, and the islands of the Archipelago. From these several 
countries the Chinese junks, frequently of 500, 600, and 800 tons, bring the largest 
importations, which of course must be very great, as the duty is merely nominal 
and the consumption obtains among the whole nation of three hundred and fifty 
millions. It is literally the “ staff of life.” 
Rice is cultivated in the east, on the lowlands, in a similar manner to our South 
Carolina and Georgia method, but of course not so scientifically. It is done 
mostly by small proprietors of two, three, four, and ten or twenty acres — seldom 
more. The whole family, men, women, and children, assist in the cultivation, 
gathering, and preparation for market. The harvest, in all parts of India and the 
east, is a great time of merriment, feasting, and jollity, particularly as I have seen 
it in India and the island of Ceylon. All the neighbors assist each other, when 
necessary, in the weeding, gathering, and preparation, and I may well add, univer- 
sally in the eating of it. It is the custom to steam it for a short time before husk- 
ing. The rice is then dried on small mats in the sun, and pounded in a wooden 
mortar, when it is cleaned by the women by sifting and winnowing in bamboo 
sieves, shaped like aflat shovel or scoop, with a raised rim around the part held by 
the hand. The steaming lightly enables them to get off the red skin with much 
greater facility. 
Rice is raised in the mountains of Ceylon, India, and other parts of the east, on 
terraces formed by embankments made with much labor, where there are small 
intervals, with rivulets or brooks, capable of answering the purposes of irrigation. 
At a distance, when the grain is ripe, nothing can be more beautiful in nature than 
these cultivated terraces, interspersed with cottages — which are generally very neat 
and well kept in Ceylon and India in these situations, the mountaineers being a hardy, 
independent race of men, half embosomed in the shade of the beautiful and luxuriant 
trees and foliage of the tropics. These situations are very valuable and healthy, and, 
where there are three or four hundred acres available, usually appears a small village, 
with its shops, smithery, temple, and other appurtenances of oriental civilization. 
Rice may be divided into two great orders, each subdivided into numerous spe- 
eies, cultivated at different altitudes, and in different temperatures, viz : that cul- 
tivated by laying it under water at certain times, and the other raised on dry land. 
In Bengal and all low countries throughout the east they pursue the same princi- 
ples, by a more roundabout method, that we do in Carolina and Georgia, viz : by 
