FARMING AND PRODUCTS.
The staple of the country is rice. Their farming operations are simple
in the extreme, and as the soil is very fertile, I know of no place
where the husbandman is so abundantly rewarded for so little labor.
Their plough is exactly like that used in Scripture times, and
pictures of which you have doubtless seen in books on biblical
antiquities. It consists simply of a crooked stick, answering for beam
and handle, to which a sheath is attached, to the end of which a small
shovel is affixed. It has but one handle, and is difficult to hold,
and hence from the same kind of an instrument we have the Scripture
illustration, "No man having put his hand to the plough and looking
back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven." To this plough they attach a
couple of oxen, or Indian buffaloes, and when sufficient rain has
fallen to soften the ground a little, they scratch it over with their
little plough. When sufficient rain has fallen to turn the ground into
a perfect mortar, they stir it up again, and sow the rice upon the
mud. This they sometimes harrow over with a brush or rude wooden
harrow. About this time the water in the rivers begins to overflow the
banks, and gradually overflows the rice fields to the depth of three
or four feet. The rice however, manages to grow, and keep head above
water, and so long as it can do this it is all right. The water keeps
up until the rice is out in heads, and then it begins to subside until
harvest, when the ground is generally quite dry. I have rode in my
boat for a whole day, directly over the rice fields, when the rice was
coming out in heads, and found the water in many places four feet
deep, but the heads of the rice were waving in the wind majestically
above it. The best quality of rice is raised by transplanting. The
ground is prepared the same as before, but instead of sowing
broadcast, they take the rice plants, and place them in the soft mud
with the hand. This work is generally done by women and children, and
they do it very dextrously, placing the plant in the mud with the
thumb and finger almost as fast as they can walk. It is put down in
rows, about two or three inches apart. This is the same kind of rice
as the other, only the grains are fuller and better, and it commands a
better price in market.
After planting his rice the farmer has little or nothing to do until
his crop begins to ripen, when all hands have to turn out to drive off
the birds. There are immense flocks of a diminutive little bird, with
gray and red wings, and about the size of a canary, and sings almost
as sweetly. They are beautiful little creatures, but great
rice-eaters, and would soon destroy a whole crop if not driven away.
Men, women and children have all to turn out to guard off these, and
other rice-eating birds, until the harvest is gathered.
The rice crop is harvested about the first of January, with a kind of
primitive sickle, and bound into small sheaves. It is then collected
by means of a nondescript ox-cart into one place, where they intend to
thresh it. The threshing floor is levelled off on the ground, as in
Scripture times, and a bamboo pole is set up in the centre, upon the
top of which a few heads of the best rice have been tied, as a kind of
first fruit-offering to the spirits. The sheaves are then placed
around in a circle, and a number of oxen are driven around abreast
upon it. When threshed, the rice is collected into a heap and winnowed
with a large fan. The threshing is frequently done at night, and I
have seen the banks of some of the rivers illuminated for miles with
fires around the threshing floors. The crops are generally abundant,
and the labors of the husbandman abundantly rewarded.
The native mills for hulling the rice are small basket affairs turned
by band, but there are now in operation four steam rice-mills, built
and owned by Europeans, and which clean on an average about four
thousand piculs of cargo rice daily.
Bangkok is one of the greatest rice ports in the world, and vast
quantities are shipped every year to China, Europe, California and
other places.
Cotton grows well, and the quality is good, but is not raised in any
quantities. A few Hainan Chinese have located up the country, and are
raising cotton, but all they raise is shipped in junks to the island
of Hainan.
Some little Indian corn is raised, but not as a business; it is
generally used when soft. Vegetables of various kinds are also raised
in considerable quantities, such as sweet potatoes, turnips, cabbage,
beans, peas, cucumbers, squashes and egg-plants.
All tropical fruits are also abundant, such as oranges in great
variety, shaddocks, plantains, mangos, mango-stines, jack-fruit and
bread-fruit. The king of fruits to the natives however, is the
_durien_, a large fruit about the size of a man's head, with a prickly
shell. Inside the shell there are a number of lobes, each having a
large seed, surrounded with a white pulpy substance, resembling
custard highly flavored with garlic. To most Europeans the smell of
the fruit is very offensive, resembling that of a spoiled egg. When a
boat load of the fruit is passing up the river, even before the shell
is broken, it can be smelled at a great distance. Strange to say
however, after a few contacts most Europeans become extremely fond of
the fruit, notwithstanding the smell. It is however, like most
acquired tastes, the end gained scarcely justifies the effort in
obtaining it.
The palm is there also in considerable variety. The palmyra, the
cocoanut, the nypa, the date, and the areca palms, all figure to some
extent.
Amongst the woods the teak is most valued for ship building, and
quantities of it are shipped every year to China and Europe for that
purpose. Rosewood is also abundant, and a variety of other red woods.
Sapan wood is largely exported to China for dyeing purposes.
There is scarcely anything so generally used and so universally prized
as the _bamboo_. It grows in clumps to the height of about
seventy-five feet; and when full grown is about six or eight inches in
diameter at the butt. It also grows in joints, and is hollow except at
the joint. The houses of the poorer classes are all built of this.
Their baskets, boxes, buckets, boat covers, and nearly all the
utensils used by the poorer classes, are made of it. It is to all
appearances a _"sine qua non"_ in the country.
Their domestic animals are few. The ox and the Indian buffalo are
prized for farming purposes. Fowls and ducks are raised in great
quantities, but by the Siamese only for the eggs; the Chinese however,
eat large quantities of them. The ducks have lost the instinct of
incubation, and the eggs are hatched by artificial means. Pariah dogs
are there in great numbers, and many of them without any owners, and
they frequently render night hideous by their howling.
Amongst the ferocious animals the tiger is chief; both the Bengal and
leopard species are found in numbers in the jungles. The fox, wolf,
and a small species of bear, are also found.
Monkeys in great variety are there, and in passing up the rivers and
along the canals they can be seen in large droves perched upon the
trees, cutting up their antics apparently for the benefit of the
passer by. Several species of deer, and wild hogs, abound in the
jungles. Jungle-fowls, pea-fowls, and a vast variety of other birds
abound, so that an expert sportsman can find plenty to do for his gun.
About thirty species of venomous serpents are known to the natives,
about one half of which are considered very poisonous. A few inflict
deadly wounds with their tails. One of the most venomous is five or
six feet long, and has the power of reflecting prismatic colors. The
cobra, or hooded serpent, is abundant. The boa constrictor is also
common, but does little harm except rob hen-roosts at night. The
writer has frequently been obliged to arise at night to relieve his
hen-roost from their attacks, and he has seen them, when killed,
measuring twelve and fifteen feet long. The natives tell marvellous
stories about those found in the forests, forty and fifty feet long,
and which can crush and swallow a deer, or an ox, without any
difficulty. Vast numbers of harmless little lizards are constantly
sporting upon the walls of your house and bed-room. The most noted is
the "gecho," a large dragon-headed lizard, about six or eight inches
long, called by the Siamese _"To-kay."_ He secretes himself during the
day, but comes out on the walls at night in search of moschetos and
other things for food. He is a fierce-looking fellow, and most
Europeans at first sight are terribly afraid of him. Shortly after our
arrival in the country, one evening when we were about to retire, we
discovered something, presenting rather a ferocious appearance, in the
corner of the bed-room near the ceiling. My wife could not think of
retiring with such a creature so near the bed, so I got a long bamboo
pole and called in a native man to assist, and after a considerable
contest we succeeded in worsting him. They have also a tremendous
voice, and at night will often keep you awake by hollowing "To-kay,
To-kay," from some secret corner of your bed-room. We once lived in a
part of a house, the other half of which was occupied by another
mission family. There was a large "To-kay" which had been about the
house for some time, and was quite a pet with the other family, and
they would not allow him to be disturbed. In the evening, however,
just when our baby would get to sleep, he would come out and commence
his hollowing and wake her up again. One afternoon when the other
family were out, he came out on the porch, or veranda, and commenced
hollowing lustily, and I loaded my shot gun and brought him down.
This, and the one already alluded to, are the only encounters I have
ever had with the "To-kays."
An American gentleman who was traveling around the world, once stopped
with us. He arrived from the ship about 9 o'clock in the evening. He
was scarcely in the house until a To-kay commenced hollowing,
apparently for his edification. The gentleman looked up in
consternation, exclaiming, "What's that--a billy-goat?"