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Real property of individual The individual owns dwelling houses, granaries, camote lands about the dwellings and in the mountains, millet and maize lands. in the mountains, irrigated rice lands, and mountain lands with forests. In fact, the individual may own all forms of real property known to the people.
After a good harvest the caban fetches four reales; but just before the harvest the price rises to one dollar, and often much higher. Mountain rice is more remunerative than watered rice about in the proportion of nine to eight. Camote can be planted all the year around, and ripens in four months; but it takes place generally when the rice culture is over, when little labor is available.
He is at all times kept in a pen and fed regularly three times each day with camote vines when in season, with camote parings, and small camotes available, and with green vegetal matter, including pusleys, gathered by the girls and women when there are no camote vines. All of his food is carefully washed and cooked before it is given to him.
The dog started up a white deer and LumabEt and his companions followed until they had gone about the world nine times when they finally caught it. At the time they caught the deer LumabEt's hair was grey and he was an old man. All the time he was gone he had only one banana and one camote with him for food.
Next in importance is the camote, or sweet potato, and then follow in the order of their importance: corn, banana, sago and cocoanut. Fish, eels, crabs, grasshoppers, monkeys, deer, pigs, and chickens form a part of the food supply; in fact, the people seem to draw the line at nothing but crows, snakes, mice, rats, goats, horses, dogs, and cats.
During June and July these same girls gather the camote vines for pig food. About August this labor falls to the women. Mention has also been made of the fact that during the latter half of April and May the boys and girls of all ages from 6 or 7 years to 13 or 14 guard the palay sementeras against the birds from earliest dawn till heavy twilight.
At both ends of the ang-an', outside the store walls, is a small hidden secret space called "kub-kub," in which the family hides many of its choice possessions. During abundant camote gathering, however, I have seen the kub-kub filled with camotes.
The mountain-side sementera for camotes, maize, millet, and beans is prepared simply by being scratched or picked an inch or two deep with the woman's camote stick, the su-wan'. If the plat is new the grass is burned before the scratching occurs, but if it is cultivated annually the surface seldom has any care save the shallow work of the su-wan'; in fact, the surface stones are seldom removed.
As has been said in a previous chapter, during the months of April and May many little girls from 5 to 10 work and play together for long hours daily gathering a few varieties of wild plants close about the pueblo for food for the pigs. This labor is unnecessary as soon as the camote vines become large enough for gathering.
The woman's rain protector is often brought home from the camote gardens bottom up on the woman's head full of camote vines as food for the pigs, or with long, dry grass for their bedding.
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