it, quum
praetereuntium vestibus, hoc semen quam maxime inhaeret. Rumphius volume
6 book 10 chapters 8 and 13. M. Poivre describes the plains of Madagascar
and Java as covered with a long grass which he calls fatak, and which,
from the analogy of the countries in other respects, I should suppose to
be the lalang; but he praises it as affording excellent pasturage;
whereas in Sumatra it is reckoned the worst, and except when very young
it is not edible by the largest cattle; for which reason the carters and
drovers are in the practice of setting fire to that which grows on the
plains by the roadside, that the young shoots which thereupon shoot up,
may afterwards supply food to their buffaloes.)

If old woods are not at hand ground covered with that of younger growth,
termed balukar, is resorted to; but not, if possible, under the age of
four or five years. Vegetation is there so strong that spots which had
been perfectly cleared for cultivation will, upon being neglected for a
single season, afford shelter to the beasts of the forest; and the same
being rarely occupied for two successive years, the face of the country
continues to exhibit the same wild appearance, although very extensive
tracts are annually covered with fresh plantations. From this it will be
seen that, in consequence of the fertility to which it gives occasion,
the abundance of wood in the country is not considered by the inhabitants
as an inconvenience but the contrary. Indeed I have heard a native prince
complain of a settlement made by some persons of a distant tribe in the
inland part of his dominions, whom he should be obliged to expel from
thence in order to prevent the waste of his old woods. This seemed a
superfluous act of precaution in an island which strikes the eye as one
general, impervious, and inexhaustible forest.

MODE OF CLEARING THE GROUND.

On the approach of the dry monsoon (April and May) or in the course of
it, the husbandman makes choice of a spot for his ladang, or plantation
of upland rice, for that season, and marks it out. Here it must be
observed that property in land depends upon occupancy, unless where
fruit-bearing trees have been planted, and, as there is seldom any
determined boundary between the lands of neighbouring villages, such
marks are rarely disturbed. Collecting his family and dependents, he next
proceeds to clear the ground. This is an undertaking of immense labour,
and would seem to require herculean force,