Note 189 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature (continued 2)

In what may be called the “dry” method of planting rice (bĕrhuma or bĕrladang) the ceremonies naturally differ somewhat, as the forest has to be felled, if not every year, at least more often than is the case with the “wet” system; and the rice-seed is not sown in nurseries (as a rule), but either scattered broadcast or planted with the dibble whilst the ground cultivated is comparatively dry and no embankments are required. This is not, of course, intended to be an exhaustive description of the differences between the two systems (for which there is here no space), but merely to point out certain salient differences. A specimen of the charms used by the orang bĕrhuma (“dry padi” planters) will be found in the Appendix. The account in the text refers only to the wet method, which is by far the more important one, though the dry cultivation is probably the more ancient of the two. ↑