FIELD WORK
If you are up very early in the morning you may see large herds of
buffaloes and bullocks being driven to the paddy-fields. These
surround the village, sometimes extending for miles in different
directions; but often they are simply small clearings scattered
through the jungle. The cattle are always driven by the children of
the village, and it is curious to see how docile these huge buffaloes
are under the control of some diminutive native, while with Europeans
they are obstinate, ungovernable, and often dangerous.
The children always ride the cattle to the fields, sitting well back
on the haunches, for they frequently have to travel a long, and often
broken, path to their destination, and during the rains they are thus
enabled to cross the streams and flooded areas, which it would have
been impossible for them to do on foot.
It will interest you to know something about the manner in which the
Burmans produce their rice-crop. Rice, as you know, requires a great
deal of moisture, especially in the early days of its growth;
consequently the ground upon which the rice-crop is to be sown must be
_level_, so that the water with which the fields are covered may flow
equally over the whole surface. The water is kept in by little dikes,
or "bunds," as they are called, which surround each field, or the part
of it to be irrigated; and as during a considerable portion of each
year these cultivated areas are under water, and are always more or
less in a boggy condition, these "bunds" form the most convenient, if
not the only, means of traversing the district. Tortuous and winding
as they are, it is not easy to decide upon your route, and you need
not be surprised if the little causeway upon which you have set out
eventually brings you back to your first starting-point, and you must
make another attempt in a different direction. I remember once being
hopelessly lost among the "bunds" in my endeavour to cross a patch of
paddy-land, and although it was not more than a mile in width, two
hours of valuable time were spent before I solved the problem of this
labyrinth, and struck the road on its farther side.
Rice cultivation begins towards the end of the monsoon, when the rains
have thoroughly saturated the soil and filled the fields with water,
often to the top of the dikes. Then ploughing begins, and the grass
with which the fields were recently covered is turned over in clods,
as we do at home, by means of a curious wooden plough shod with bronze
or iron.
These ploughs are drawn by the bullocks and buffaloes, or by elephants
when they are available, the operation being often carried out under
water. After this all the cattle in the district are driven on to the
fields in order to break up and trample down the clods, and sometimes
harrows, much like our own, are used for the same purpose.
Then the sowing begins, the rice being scattered very freely over one
or two selected portions of the whole area, for which they serve as
nursery gardens; for the rice is not sown generally over the fields,
but the young plants transferred from these small nurseries to the
larger fields. This work is done by the men and women, who, wading in
the water, plant out the young growth 5 or 6 inches apart, and one may
notice that during this operation all wear leggings or stockings of
straw as a protection against the leeches which in enormous numbers
infest the muddy water.
The rice now may be left to itself, excepting for the necessity of
keeping it constantly supplied with water, which is raised from the
neighbouring river or creek by many ingenious appliances, and carried
to the fields by pipes of bamboo or channels in the mud.
While the crop is growing the cattle have an idle time, for with the
exception of the bullocks which draw the market-carts, and a few which
may perhaps be working in the oil or sugar mills, there is nothing for
them to do. For the rest, the time between the sowing and reaping is
passed enclosed in large pens or roaming by hundreds in the jungle.
The harvest begins in October, and lasts until December or later,
according to the district. When ripe, the rice is 3 to 4 feet in
height, each plant growing several ears, the grain being slightly
bearded, like barley; and in good soil, where the water-supply has
been continuous, its growth is so dense that it is impossible for
weeds to grow.
I know few prettier sights than a harvest-field in an early autumn
morning. Through the steamy exhalations from the ground, and dancing on
the dewdrops which hang heavy upon every blade or ear, the early sun is
shining. Everything is mysterious in the haze, through which the belt of
forest which surrounds the cultivated land is grey and ghost-like; huge
cobwebs hang between the bushes laden with glittering beads of moisture,
and the whole scene is bathed in a curious opalescent light in which all
sense of distance is destroyed. Scattered through the fields are the
harvesters, whose brightly-coloured "lungyi" and gay head-scarf are the
only spots of definite colour.
The rice is cut with sickles a little above the ground, so as to leave
sufficient straw to serve as fodder for the cattle or to fertilize the
land. The grain is bound into sheaves much as we do at home, and after
remaining in the fields for a day or two in order to dry, it is
carried to the threshing-floor. This is simply a piece of selected
ground where the surface is dry and hard, on which the sheaves are
placed in the form of a large circle and the grain trodden out by
cattle. When the threshing is complete and the straw removed, there
remains a huge pile of grain and husks freely mixed with dust. This
has to be cleaned and winnowed, which is done by a very simple
process, the grain being thrown into the air by means of large shallow
trays made of bamboo, when the wind, blowing away the dust and loose
husks, leaves the grain tolerably clean in a pile at the worker's
feet.
The rice is not yet fit for use, however, the grain still being
enclosed in its hard husk, which has to be removed by another
process. In travelling through Burma one may often notice standing
outside a native dwelling a large and deep bowl composed of some hard
wood in which lies a rounded log about 4 feet in length, much like a
large mortar and pestle. These are the "pounders," in which by a
vigorous use of the pestle the husk is separated from the rice, which
is again winnowed and washed, and is then ready for use. Though
generally eaten in its simple state, bread and cakes are often made
from rice-flour, which is ground in a hand-mill consisting of two flat
circular stones, and is identical with the hand-mill of Scripture.
From the large areas the bulk of the rice-crop is shipped to Rangoon,
sufficient for the needs of the people being stored in the villages in
receptacles formed of wicker-work covered on the outside with mud.
I have described the process of rice cultivation which is followed in
districts where a perpetual water-supply is available, but in other
and drier zones a different kind of rice and other crops, such as
sugar, maize, and sesamum, are grown; but while these, as well as many
fruits and vegetables, are cultivated in the neighbourhood of every
town or village, rice may be considered to be practically the only
agricultural crop in Burma, and forms perhaps its most important
article of export.
Though not cultivated by man, the country produces another crop which
to the Burman is second only to rice in value. I mean the _bamboo_,
which grows in enormous quantities in every forest or jungle in the
country. There are many varieties of bamboo, some comparatively small,
others growing to a height of 60 or 70 feet, the canes being often
upwards of 2 feet in circumference at the base. Each species has its
separate use, and, as we have already seen, there are few things for
which the Burman does not employ it. His houses are very often
entirely built of it: canes, either whole or split, form its framework
and flooring; the mats which form the walls are woven from strips cut
from the outside skin; the thatch is often composed of its leaves;
while no hotter fire can be used than one made from its debris. Split
into finer strands, the bamboo furnishes the material of which baskets
are made, while its fine and flexible fibres, plaited and woven into
shape, form the foundation for their beautiful bowls and dishes of red
lacquer. Bows and yokes for the porters, sheaths of weapons and
umbrella frames, and a host of small articles of domestic furniture,
are of the same material, and a section cut from the giant bamboo
forms an excellent bucket, which is used all over the forests.