Note 33 — ANDA’S MEMORIAL, 1768

It is an abuse that all the curas oblige the dalagas (so are the girls called) to go to the house of the fathers (the latter, although contrary to law, call it “convent”) to pound the rice. That operation consists in removing the husks with certain mallets, by dint of their labor. If this service and labor—which would have to be done by their servants, or be paid for to the poor, in which case the work would be proper, and of value to them—is neglected, it is under penalty of lashes to the girl who does not render it. It is a shameful thing that these women, all marriageable, have to do so unsuitable and dangerous things, as daily experience affirms.33