d boat building, and the heavier work generally. The women
help in the lighter part of the farm work, husk and pound the rice they
eat, cook, weave, make mats and baskets, fetch the water for their daily
use from the well or river, and attend to the children.

With regard to paddy[2] planting on the hills, the work is divided
between the men and women in the following manner. The men cut down the
jungle where the paddy is to be planted. When the timber and shrubs have
been burnt, the men and women plant the grain. The roots and stumps of
trees are left in the ground. The men walk in front with a long heavy
staff in the right hand of each, and make holes in the ground, about a
foot apart. The women walk behind them and throw a few grains of seed in
each hole.

[Footnote 2: Paddy--rice in the husk.]

When the paddy has grown a little, the ground has to be carefully
weeded; this work is done by the women. When the crop is ripe, both men
and women do the reaping. They walk between the rows of standing grain,
and with a sharp, oddly-shaped little knife, they cut off the heads one
by one, and place them in their baskets which are tied to their waists
in front of them. The carrying home of the paddy thus reaped is mostly
done by the men, who can carry very heavy loads on their back, though
the women help in this work to some extent. The next thing is to
separate the grain from the little tiny stems to which it is still
attached. This is done by the men. The grain is placed on a large square
sieve of rattan or cane, fixed between four posts in the verandah of the
Dyak house, and the men tread on it and press it through the sieve. The
paddy that falls through is taken and stored in the loft in large round
bins made of bark.

When rice is wanted for food, the paddy is dried in the sun, and then
pounded by the women in wooden mortars with pestles five feet long. As a
rule two or three women each use their pestles at one mortar, which is
cut out of the trunk of a tree. I have seen as many as six girls use
their pestles in quick succession at one mortar. In this way the grain
is freed from husk, and is made ready for food.

The Dyak marries at an early age, and lives in a long village house with
many other families, and does his best to get as much paddy as possible
each year. He rises on work-days early in the morning, partakes of his
frugal meal of rice and salt, or rice and fish, varied by a piece of
wild pork or venison