Therefore the people walk through the crop gathering all ripe ears. The rice-sparrows congregate in thousands as the grain begins to ripen, and the noisy efforts of the people fail to keep them at a distance. The harvest is the most important event of the year. It is a favourite time for courtship, and many marriages are arranged. These are not cooked, but merely dried in the sun, and though they need much mastication they are considered a delicacy.ĭuring the time of the ripening of the corn a spirit of gaiety and joyful anticipation prevails. In a good season this is the happiest time of the year both men and women take the keenest interest and pleasure in the growth of the crop.ĭuring the time when the grain is formed but not yet ripe, the people live upon the green corn, which they prepare by gathering the heads and beating them flat.

In the intervals the women gather the small crops of early padi, pumpkin, cucumbers, and so forth, spending several weeks together on the farm, sleeping in the hut. In working over the patch in this careful fashion some three weeks are consumed. The hoe in the right hand and striking the blade downwards and towards her toes with a dragging action.

Blade of the tribes