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Still the wind-spirit would not give in, and SIMPANG IMPANG was very angry, and seizing his father, the fire-drill, he set the windspirit's house on fire. Then at last the wind-spirit called out that he would make compensation for the PADI he had taken away. "But," said he, "I haven't any gongs or other things to pay you, so I'll make you a whole man with two arms and two legs and two eyes."
The latter is bent downwards at a right angle just above the blade, in a plane perpendicular to that of the blade, and its other end is prolonged by a short wooden handle, into the end of which it is thrust. The woman stoops to the work, hoeing carefully round each PADI plant, by holding the hoe in the right hand and striking the blade downwards and towards her toes with a dragging action.
These marshy places, which are to be found in the neighbourhood of many Malay Kampongs, are ready-made rice fields, but since the cultivation of a pâdi swamp requires more exacting labour than most Malays are prepared to bestow upon it, they are often left to lie fallow, while crops are grown in clearings on the neighbouring hills.
Sawahs are plantations of padi in low wet ground, which, during the growth of the crop, in the rainy season between the months of October and March,* are for the most part overflowed to the depth of six inches or a foot, beyond which latter the water becomes prejudicial.
Alongside the inner wall of the gallery stand the large wooden mortars used by the women in husking the PADI. Above these hang the winnowing trays and mats, and on this wall hang also various implements of common use hats, paddles, fish-traps, and so forth.
For pig and deer a trap is laid at a gap in the fence about the PADI field. It consists of a bamboo spear of which the end is sharpened and hardened in the fire. This is laid horizontally about two feet from the ground, resting on guides.
As this was done in the face of my caution not to intermeddle without my consent, I resolved at once to put the matter to the issue; and having armed four boats, went up and seized all the rice and padi collected for my neighbors' use.
Built our huts near a field of maize and padi. 27th. Marched to Koto Tuggoh, from whence the inhabitants fled on our throwing one shell and firing a few muskets, and we took possession of the place. It is situated on a high hill, nearly perpendicular on three sides, the easiest entrance being on the west, but it is there defended by a ditch seven fathoms deep and five wide.
When the crop is all gathered in, the house is MALAN to all outsiders for some ten days, during which the grain is transported from the fields to the village and stored in the PADI barns. When this process is completed or well advanced, the festival begins with the preparation of the seed grain for the following season.
The seeds are crushed and the tallow melted out and gathered in bamboos. It is used as a food, generally smeared on hot rice. It is sometimes a principal feature of the Punan's diet for considerable periods. Wild sago is abundant and is much used by Punans, and occasionally by most of the other peoples when their supply of PADI is short.
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