CHAPTER IX.
FARMING AND PRODUCTS.
The staple of the country is rice. Their farming operations are simple in the extreme, and as the soil is very fertile, I know of no place where the husbandman is so abundantly rewarded for so little labor. Their plough is exactly like that used in Scripture times, and pictures of which you have doubtless seen in books on biblical antiquities. It consists simply of a crooked stick, answering for beam and handle, to which a sheath is attached, to the end of which a small shovel is affixed. It has but one handle, and is difficult to hold, and hence from the same kind of an instrument we have the Scripture illustration, "No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven." To this plough they attach a couple of oxen, or Indian buffaloes, and when sufficient rain has fallen to soften the ground a little, they scratch it over with their little plough. When sufficient rain has fallen to turn the ground into a perfect mortar, they stir it up again, and sow the rice upon the mud. This they sometimes harrow over with a brush or rude wooden harrow. About this time the water in the rivers begins to overflow the banks, and gradually overflows the rice fields to the depth of three or four feet. The rice however, manages to grow, and keep head above water, and so long as it can do this it is all right. The water keeps up until the rice is out in heads, and then it begins to subside until harvest, when the ground is generally quite dry. I have rode in my boat for a whole day, directly over the rice fields, when the rice was coming out in heads, and found the water in many places four feet deep, but the heads of the rice were waving in the wind majestically above it. The best quality of rice is raised by transplanting. The ground is prepared the same as before, but instead of sowing broadcast, they take the rice plants, and place them in the soft mud with the hand. This work is generally done by women and children, and they do it very dextrously, placing the plant in the mud with the thumb and finger almost as fast as they can walk. It is put down in rows, about two or three inches apart. This is the same kind of rice as the other, only the grains are fuller and better, and it commands a better price in market.
After planting his rice the farmer has little or nothing to do until his crop begins to ripen, when all hands have to turn out to drive off the birds. There are immense flocks of a diminutive little bird, with gray and red wings, and about the size of a canary, and sings almost as sweetly. They are beautiful little creatures, but great rice-eaters, and would soon destroy a whole crop if not driven away. Men, women and children have all to turn out to guard off these, and other rice-eating birds, until the harvest is gathered.
The rice crop is harvested about the first of January, with a kind of primitive sickle, and bound into small sheaves. It is then collected by means of a nondescript ox-cart into one place, where they intend to thresh it. The threshing floor is levelled off on the ground, as in Scripture times, and a bamboo pole is set up in the centre, upon the top of which a few heads of the best rice have been tied, as a kind of first fruit-offering to the spirits. The sheaves are then placed around in a circle, and a number of oxen are driven around abreast upon it. When threshed, the rice is collected into a heap and winnowed with a large fan. The threshing is frequently done at night, and I have seen the banks of some of the rivers illuminated for miles with fires around the threshing floors. The crops are generally abundant, and the labors of the husbandman abundantly rewarded.
The native mills for hulling the rice are small basket affairs turned by band, but there are now in operation four steam rice-mills, built and owned by Europeans, and which clean on an average about four thousand piculs of cargo rice daily.
Bangkok is one of the greatest rice ports in the world, and vast quantities are shipped every year to China, Europe, California and other places.
Cotton grows well, and the quality is good, but is not raised in any quantities. A few Hainan Chinese have located up the country, and are raising cotton, but all they raise is shipped in junks to the island of Hainan.
Some little Indian corn is raised, but not as a business; it is generally used when soft. Vegetables of various kinds are also raised in considerable quantities, such as sweet potatoes, turnips, cabbage, beans, peas, cucumbers, squashes and egg-plants.
All tropical fruits are also abundant, such as oranges in great variety, shaddocks, plantains, mangos, mango-stines, jack-fruit and bread-fruit. The king of fruits to the natives however, is the durien, a large fruit about the size of a man's head, with a prickly shell. Inside the shell there are a number of lobes, each having a large seed, surrounded with a white pulpy substance, resembling custard highly flavored with garlic. To most Europeans the smell of the fruit is very offensive, resembling that of a spoiled egg. When a boat load of the fruit is passing up the river, even before the shell is broken, it can be smelled at a great distance. Strange to say however, after a few contacts most Europeans become extremely fond of the fruit, notwithstanding the smell. It is however, like most acquired tastes, the end gained scarcely justifies the effort in obtaining it.
The palm is there also in considerable variety. The palmyra, the cocoanut, the nypa, the date, and the areca palms, all figure to some extent.
Amongst the woods the teak is most valued for ship building, and quantities of it are shipped every year to China and Europe for that purpose. Rosewood is also abundant, and a variety of other red woods. Sapan wood is largely exported to China for dyeing purposes.
There is scarcely anything so generally used and so universally prized as the bamboo. It grows in clumps to the height of about seventy-five feet; and when full grown is about six or eight inches in diameter at the butt. It also grows in joints, and is hollow except at the joint. The houses of the poorer classes are all built of this. Their baskets, boxes, buckets, boat covers, and nearly all the utensils used by the poorer classes, are made of it. It is to all appearances a "sine qua non" in the country.
Their domestic animals are few. The ox and the Indian buffalo are prized for farming purposes. Fowls and ducks are raised in great quantities, but by the Siamese only for the eggs; the Chinese however, eat large quantities of them. The ducks have lost the instinct of incubation, and the eggs are hatched by artificial means. Pariah dogs are there in great numbers, and many of them without any owners, and they frequently render night hideous by their howling.
Amongst the ferocious animals the tiger is chief; both the Bengal and leopard species are found in numbers in the jungles. The fox, wolf, and a small species of bear, are also found.
Monkeys in great variety are there, and in passing up the rivers and along the canals they can be seen in large droves perched upon the trees, cutting up their antics apparently for the benefit of the passer by. Several species of deer, and wild hogs, abound in the jungles. Jungle-fowls, pea-fowls, and a vast variety of other birds abound, so that an expert sportsman can find plenty to do for his gun.
About thirty species of venomous serpents are known to the natives, about one half of which are considered very poisonous. A few inflict deadly wounds with their tails. One of the most venomous is five or six feet long, and has the power of reflecting prismatic colors. The cobra, or hooded serpent, is abundant. The boa constrictor is also common, but does little harm except rob hen-roosts at night. The writer has frequently been obliged to arise at night to relieve his hen-roost from their attacks, and he has seen them, when killed, measuring twelve and fifteen feet long. The natives tell marvellous stories about those found in the forests, forty and fifty feet long, and which can crush and swallow a deer, or an ox, without any difficulty. Vast numbers of harmless little lizards are constantly sporting upon the walls of your house and bed-room. The most noted is the "gecho," a large dragon-headed lizard, about six or eight inches long, called by the Siamese "To-kay." He secretes himself during the day, but comes out on the walls at night in search of moschetos and other things for food. He is a fierce-looking fellow, and most Europeans at first sight are terribly afraid of him. Shortly after our arrival in the country, one evening when we were about to retire, we discovered something, presenting rather a ferocious appearance, in the corner of the bed-room near the ceiling. My wife could not think of retiring with such a creature so near the bed, so I got a long bamboo pole and called in a native man to assist, and after a considerable contest we succeeded in worsting him. They have also a tremendous voice, and at night will often keep you awake by hollowing "To-kay, To-kay," from some secret corner of your bed-room. We once lived in a part of a house, the other half of which was occupied by another mission family. There was a large "To-kay" which had been about the house for some time, and was quite a pet with the other family, and they would not allow him to be disturbed. In the evening, however, just when our baby would get to sleep, he would come out and commence his hollowing and wake her up again. One afternoon when the other family were out, he came out on the porch, or veranda, and commenced hollowing lustily, and I loaded my shot gun and brought him down. This, and the one already alluded to, are the only encounters I have ever had with the "To-kays."
An American gentleman who was traveling around the world, once stopped with us. He arrived from the ship about 9 o'clock in the evening. He was scarcely in the house until a To-kay commenced hollowing, apparently for his edification. The gentleman looked up in consternation, exclaiming, "What's that—a billy-goat?"