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4- Another reason exists for the paucity of the rice supply in Pahang. The crops 
are often very insecurely fenced in, the natives often being satisfied with a tangkal 
babi, or charm, consisting of a line hung upon upright posts, under which it is fondly 
believed that no pigs will pass. Even if the fencing was more regularly attended to, 
and pigs and buffaloes kept from damaging the crops, there are a number of other 
animals which cause great damage. The principal enemies to the crop are rats, of 
which there are two kinds— the tikus p rally or ordinary field mouse, and the tikus 
mondoky a very large species of rat, not unlike the Australian bandicoot, — the 
kelasan , a large species of bat which devours the grain by night, and the belalang 
gambavy or green locust, of which, however, there has been no serious plague in 
Pahang during the last few years, though great damage was done to the crops by 
by them in 1884-1885. 
5. The modes of cultivation are, of course, rude in the extreme, and the mode 
of reaping with a small instrument, called a tuei, which consists of a small semi- 
circular blade, the other edge of which is sharpened, and against which each stalk is 
pressed one by one, the ear being held in the fingers, is peculiarly slow and painful. 
Five or six reapers with this instrument will only reap one igu of land in 15 days, 
(an igu is as much land as a single yoke of oxen can plough in a season), whereas 
with the* sabit, a kind of reaping-hook, which, in some places, has been introduced 
by the natives of Sumatra, the same amount of work can be done by two men in three 
days. In some places the use of the sabit is being adopted by the natives of Ulu 
Pahang, but in most places the Malays, while confessing the superiority of the Ravva 
tool, are too true to their conservative instincts to be willing to accept the innovation. 
6. The introduction of new seed is much desired by the natives in this District, 
and to a certain extent I believe that it would be possible for an active District Officer to 
even effect some changes in the tools and implements employed. I doubt very much, 
however, whether the indigenous population would undertake the cultivation of any. 
but the products of the soil with which they are already familiar. A Malay always 
considers that he has done all he can do when he says that he is “ not accustomed” 
to any new' industry, and it seldom seems to occur to him that it is possible to make 
oneself accustomed to it. Even padi-planting, if it is to be extended to any appre- 
ciable extent, would have to be undertaken by some persons other than the people of 
the country, who have neither the desire nor the energy to make use of the natural 
advantages which they find ready to their hands. They are fully aware that these 
advantages exist, but they are, as a race, too supine to avail themselves of them. 
7. The amount of land at present under cultivation is about sufficient to supply 
half the rice necessary for the food requirements of the District. I estimate that there 
is from 10,000 to 15,000 acres of land annually cultivated for all purposes by the 
people of this District— a District which in area is larger that the whole of the neigh- 
bouring State of Selangor. i , ' . ’ > d * 
8. In writing the above, I fear that I shall not have brought to your notice any 
matters with which you are not already familiar, but I nave thought that it is possible $ 
that some of the trivial facts which I have given in this report, relating to Malay padi- 
planting in Pahang, may be useful to you as reference when considering this question 
with a view to improving the system now in use in this State. 
I have, &c., 
HUGH CLIFFORD, 
Superintendent , Ulu Pahar.g. 
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