1841.
Notices of Chusan,
431
some situations, the rice was sown at different periods, so that while one part of the crop was ready for the sickle, another was yet in the blade. Whether by this means the ground was made to yield more abundantly could not be clearly ascertained, but that was the impres- sion obtained by conversation with the natives.
Agricultural implements were few and simple: a hoe with a long blade, a rake and fork, a plough and a rough kind of harrow, were used. The plough was substantially made; and just within the south- ern gate of the city was a foundry for casting the shares. For the irrigation of the fields, a very good chain pump was used, made wholly of wood, and the chain was formed of short pieces carefully jointed together; sometimes in place of this, a coarsely made rope was used; when the water had to be elevated only a short distance, and the pump was worked actively either by men or oxen according to its size, a large body of water was speedily raised. All the larger farmhouses had one or more of these pumps.*
After the rice is cut, it is tied up in bundles, and the heads beaten violently on a strong wooden grating, by which means the grain is separated; this is husked or cleaned, sometimes by being pounded in a large mortar with a stone headed beater, but at others by means of a large stone wheel, drawn by a bullock, and made to traverse in a stone gutter or channel in which the grain is placed. The fanning- mill is of good construction, and similar to those now used in Europe, which are doubtless copied from a Chinese original. The mill consists of two granite stones; the nether millstone is fixed and has a deep groove round it, with a spout for the exit of the flour; the up- per stone is somewhat smaller, with a handle by which to turn it, and a hole near the centre for the entrance of the grain; the flour is cleaned by means of a sieve.
The Chinese are remarkably fond of a kind of bean paste, which is made by boiling beans in a large caldron for several hours; they are then passed through the mill, and a kind of 'souring' added to the semifluid mass, which is allowed to stand for some hours, and afterwards put into small wooden frames, covered with cloth; these are submitted to the action of a strong press, to remove the water; after which the paste is exposed for sale, sometimes in mass, or made
up
like very thin pulse cakes, and occasionally taken and formed into a solid brown cake.
Capabilities of the island. There can be little doubt from the mildness of the climate, and the great variety of land, in the vallies,
See Chinese Repository, vol. V., page 485.
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