it is not extensively cultivated,
as the birds and insects destroy a large part of the crop.

The malagequit is very much prized, and used for making sweet and
fancy dishes; it becomes exceedingly glutinous, for which reason it
is used in making whitewash, which it is said to cause to become of a
brilliant white, and to withstand the weather. This variety is not,
however, believed to be wholesome. There is also a variety of this
last species which is used as food for horses, and supposed to be a
remedy and preventive against worms.

The rice grounds or fields are laid out in squares, and surrounded by
embankments, to retain the water of the rains or streams. After the
rains have fallen in sufficient quantities to saturate the ground, a
seed-bed is generally planted in one corner of the field, in which the
rice is sown broadcast, about the month of June. The heavy rains take
place in August, when the fields are ploughed, and are soon filled with
water. The young plants are about this time taken from the seed-bed,
their tops and roots trimmed, and then planted in the field by making
holes in the ground with the fingers and placing four or five sprouts
in each of them; in this tedious labor the poor women are employed,
whilst the males are lounging in their houses or in the shade of
the trees.

The harvest for the aquatic rice begins in December. It is reaped
with small sickles, peculiar to the country, called yatap; to the
back of these a small stick is fastened, by which they are held,
and the stalk is forced upon it and cut. The spikes of rice are
cut with this implement, one by one. In this operation, men, women,
and children all take part.

The upland rice requires much more care and labor in its
cultivation. The land must be ploughed three or four times, and all
the turf and lumps well broken up by the harrow.

During its growth it requires to be weeded two or three times, to
keep the weeds from choking the crop. The seed is sown broadcast in
May. This kind of rice is harvested in November, and to collect the
crop is still more tedious than in the other case, for it is always
gathered earlier, and never reaped, in consequence of the grain not
adhering to the ear. If it were gathered in any other way, the loss
by transportation on the backs of buffaloes and horses, without any
covering to the sheaf, would be so great as to dissipate a great
portion of the crop.

It appears almost incredible that any people can