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be pointing to the beginning of such a period, but still, at the right time, thanks be to the Lord, He sent blessed rain and thus turned away from us the calamity of hunger.
By the end of July the first rice harvest has been brought in. As soon as heavy rain has watered the fields you can see the ploughs in the fields again. As soon as the plough has broken up the ground for the second sowing the women are ready, waiting in rows, standing in the mud of the ploughed field in order to plant out the rice seedlings. The present crop will be ready for harvest in October, and, after that, barley will be planted. In Spring the barley will be ready for harvest. Thus, three harvests, but, nevertheless, so much poverty and want. The reason for this is, on the one hand, the large population, and, on the other, the fact that the Chinese eat a lot of rice, therefore they need a lot. The rice is immediately threshed on an open place in the field or in front of the houses because the Chinese have neither cellars nor barns where they can collect their produce.
Besides the already-mentioned rice, they also plant wheat, yams, sugar-cane, and hemp, a certain oil-plant, and [sweet-] potatoes. The potatoes are sweet, watery, and stringy, and are therefore not healthy, but they are used by the Chinese in different ways, and made edible. They do not pay any attention to the cultivation of fruit-trees, and fruit-trees do not seem to grow in this region. Thus, fruits like pineapples, oranges and mangoes, do not grow here.
Besides the already mentioned resources from which the inhabitants of the area surrounding Tungfo gain their livelihood, a number of people find a sparse income by way of fishing. They either sell the fish immediately or they dry them first in the sun, and then salt them, which is a method of preserving them for a longer time, and then sell them as salt-fish. The smell of fish prepared in this way is very unpleasant; nevertheless, the Chinese like to eat them, and it seems to represent a substantial and regular part of their meals.
The Chinese are a very diligent people, that one has to
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be pointing to the beginning of such a period, but still, at the right time, thanks be to the Lord, He sent blessed rain and thus turned away from us the calamity of hunger.
By the end of July the first rice harvest has been brought in. As soon as heavy rain has watered the fields you can see the ploughs in the fields again. As soon as the plough has broken up the ground for the second sowing the women are ready, waiting in rows, standing in the mud of the ploughed field in order to plant out the rice seedlings. The present crop will be ready for harvest in October, and, after that, barley will be planted. In Spring the barley will be ready for harvest. Thus, three harvests, but, nevertheless, so much poverty and want. The reason for this is, on the one hand, the large population, and, on the other, the fact that the Chinese eat a lot of rice, therefore they need a lot. The rice is immediately threshed on an open place in the field or in front of the houses because the Chinese have neither cellars nor barns where they can collect their produce.
Besides the already-mentioned rice, they also plant wheat, yams, sugar-cane, and hemp, a certain oil-plant, and [sweet-] potatoes. The potatoes are sweet, watery, and stringy, and are therefore not healthy, but they are used by the Chinese in different ways, and made edible. They do not pay any attention to the cultivation of fruit-trees, and fruit-trees do not seem to grow in this region. Thus, fruits like pineapples, oranges and mangoes, do not grow here.
Besides the already mentioned resources from which the inhabitants of the area surrounding Tungfo gain their livelihood, a number of people find a sparse income by way of fishing. They either sell the fish immediately or they dry them first in the sun, and then salt them, which is a method of preserving them for a longer time, and then sell them as salt-fish. The smell of fish prepared in this way is very unpleasant; nevertheless, the Chinese like to eat them, and it seems to represent a substantial and regular part of their meals.
The Chinese are a very diligent people, that one has to
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