third component [the yoke-pole: the end of this pole is in fact firmly joined to the sole-beam; it then bends up and is braced in place in the middle by the brace-bar]. This third component runs parallel to the sole-beam, but it goes further to the front. The draft animal is yoked to the front end of this third component. This instrument has to be carried by the farmer to the field while the draft animal runs ahead. The reason for this is partly because of the construction of the plough which cannot be pulled along a road, and partly because in China there are no roads, but only footpaths leading to the fields. Either a cow or a buffalo will be used as the draft animal. The furrows that can be made with this plough are not particularly regular; it is more suitable for tearing up the ground which the harrow has to smooth and even up afterwards. The harrow consists of a row of iron teeth on each side, i.e. one row in front and one behind it, and two iron uprights which are connected with each other by a transverse wooden bar. The harrow is held with both hands on the bar, and is pulled by one of the above-mentioned animals, or sometimes by the farmer in person.
The most important product that is cultivated is rice. Rice can only be planted when the field is under water, and it will only grow when it is continuously kept in water. The rice-fields are kept in this state partly through heavy rains, and partly through artificial irrigation. This can easily be done because the fields slope down from the mountains to the sea. If water is led down to the upper edge of the fields, then by opening a gap in the narrow, raised field-bund (these narrow, raised field bunds, with footpaths on, form the divisions between the tiny fields), the water can be diverted through and the whole of the rice fields can be covered with water.
In some years there is no rain at the time when the seeds are sown, and the water channels dry out, and then there is great hardship. Rice immediately then jumps to a high price, so that many people cannot afford the money for their daily rice. During such famine periods, people take refuge in theft, and thieves and robbers increase. Nowhere is safe from them any more. All the signs seemed last spring to
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