over every part of the field, and a few seeds of
the rice thrown into every footmark; the men employed in sowing being
obliged to crawl along the surface on their bellies, with the basket
of seed on their backs; for were they to assume an upright position,
they would inevitably be bogged in the deep swamp. The holes
containing the seed are not covered up, but people are placed on the
bunds to drive away birds, until the young grain has well sprung up.
The land is not manured, the stagnant salt water remaining on it being
sufficient to renovate the soil. The rice seed is steeped in water,
and then in dung and earth for three or four days, and is not sown
until it begins to sprout. The farmer has now safely got over his
sowing, and as this rice is not as in other cases transplanted, his
next anxiety is to get a supply of fresh water; and for this he
watches for the freshes which usually come down the river about the
middle and end of February, and if the river then reaches his _bhull_,
he opens his bund, and fills the enclosure with the fresh water. The
sooner he gets this supply the better, for the young rice will not
grow in salt water, and soon withers if left entirely dry.

The welfare of the crop now depends entirely on the supply of fresh
water. A very high inundation does not injure the _bhull_ cultivation,
as here the water has free space to spread about. In fact the more
fresh water the better. If, however, the river remains low in June,
July, and August, and the south-west monsoon sets in heavily on the
coast, the sea is frequently driven over the _bhulls_ and destroys the
crops. It is in fact a continual struggle between the salt water and
the fresh. When the river runs out strong and full, the _bhulls_
prosper, and the sea is kept at a distance. On the other hand, the
salt water obtains the supremacy when the river is low, and then the
farmer suffers. In this manner much _bhull_ crop was destroyed in the
monsoons of 1851 and 1852, during the heavy gales which prevailed in
those seasons. The rice is subject to attacks also of a small black
sea crab, called by the natives _Kookaee_, and which, without any
apparent cause, cuts down the growing grain in large quantities, and
often occasions much loss.

The crop when ripe, which, if all goes well will be about the third
week in September, is reaped in the water by men, either in boats, or
on large masses of straw rudely shaped like a boat, and which being
made v