The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

AGRICULTURE loi
making and repairing the implements to be used
in cultivating, harvesting, and storing the crop,
and also in sowing at the earliest possible moment
small patches of early or rapidly growing padi
together with a little maize, sugar - cane, some
sweet potatoes, and tapioca. The patches thus
sown generally lie adjacent to one another. If the
weather is fine, the fallen timber becomes dry enough
to burn well after one month. If much rain falls it
is necessary to wait longer in the hope of drier
weather. Choosing a windy day, they set fire to
all the adjacent patches after shouting ^^
out warnings to all persons in the fields. ^^^^S|
While the burning goes on, the men |flpt^^ffl|
'' whistle for the wind," or rather blow ^^g^^g
for it, rattling their tongues in their ^^^m^
mouths. Some of the older men make ^^^^
lengthy orations shouted into the air, ^^^8
adjuring the wind to blow strongly and ^^M^m
so fan the fire. The fire, if successful, i^^^^l_^
burns furiously for a few hours and then f^^^^^^
smoulders for some days, after which f^^^^^H
little of the timber remains but ashes ^ v v ^
and the charred stumps of the bigger fig. 12. — Sea
trees.
^ If the burning is very incom- fo^^j^^S.'
plete, it is necessary to make stacks
of the lighter timbers that remain, and to fire
these again. As soon as the ashes are cool, sowing
begins. Men and women work together
the men go in front making holes with wooden
dibbles about six inches apart ; the women follow,
carrying hung round the neck small baskets of
padi seed (Fig. 12), which they throw into the
holes, three or four seeds to each hole. No care
is taken to fill in the holes with earth. By this
time the relatively dry season, which lasts only
some two months, is at an end, and copious rains
cause the seed to shoot above the ground a few
;