(Agricultural Archaeology 1997(1):73-8. Japanese>Chinese transl. by Lin Guangxin & Peng Shijiang, History Lab. Researcher,

S China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, PR CHINA. Format by G. Leir, trans/ed. by Jiwu Wang & B. Gordon)

3. Harvesting and Processing Methods

As rice transplanting is followed by watering, weeding, pest control, harvesting and processing, it is worth mentioning Malayan methods distinct to the island region, but I can only give a general discription.

In straw cutting areas, husking is done by beating because they were co-introduced. Farmers who gather ears also foot husk, supporting their bodies with a pole while stamping ears on a bamboo sheet. Sometimes, only one person participates, with sifters confining husked rice.

Some N Sumatrans sickle but retain foot husking (muter or enjik), adding a 1 m bamboo sifter stage which dropped rice to the ground. W Sumatrans cut or pick ears, using the irik method to husk (Poniman & Takatani 1988:29-35, 77). Malaya also has foot husking, while NW Malayan beating is common. E coast Malayans husk with buffalo hooves, beating and human feet. People also foot husk on a bibei stage like Sumatra, perhaps imported (Jackson 1972:81-88).

Javanese foot husking involving repeated beating was endemic, but has disappeared except in paddies, where ears are put on a bamboo sheet on a road. Husking rites were in the E Indonesian islands (Da Mu 1991:60). Florance Island straw cutters also foot husked (ri) to separate straw from ear, usually done after a priest performed a rite. Pig and sheep blood were sprayed on dry rice and storage baskets in the field, followed by people eating before carrying the rice home for husking. This kind of work also occurred elsewhere, called kele or toda (ibid:671).

Another husking method is the boat-shaped mortar & pestle. The Javanese put cleaned stored rice in a hole atop a rectangular tree trunk mortar (lesoeng) for husking. Rehusking led to finer rice (De Bie 1901:58-9). Borneo and the Philippines have this mortar, other regions (including Java) have other types that multiply with rice introduction; e.g., Tuolachans use another mortar, retaining the iso for rice, while other mortars were for other items (Woengsdregt 1928:147). All villagers use mortars for husking, followed by dustpan clean-up, as in mainland SE Asia, while islanders use a round dustpan. As harvest was confined to ears, people counted and stored them but not grain, a technique distinct to SE Asian islands. Ear picking lost popularity, husking became beating, then machines.

As the same change happened to ancient hoof ploughing and bunch planting, we see SE Asian mainland and island differences.

4. Other Cultural Essentials

As I introduced Malayan island rice cultivation traits, I will note its cultural factors. Sasaki (1990:249-251) summarized them in SE Asian groups: paddy rice tradition includes early dry rice cultivation and later use of the spade, mortar & pestle, pig, cow, water buffalo, advanced storage and bamboo tools. As fishing, rice wine, dustpan, sifter and bamboo basket also relate, we can say the former belongs to original Malayan rice cultivation, the latter imported from China and India. As paddy and dry rice co-existed before Chinese or Indian rice introduction, it is natural that Malayan rice cultivation has its distinct character.

In Part 1's three Asian rice systems I said Malayan cultivation includes slash & burn and paddy. I assumed Malayan rice came from S China or SE Asian mainland. As paddy and slash & burn have dry rice technical traits like those in SE Asian mainland and Malayan burnt fields, unaffected by Chinese and Indian techniques, I discuss some elements other than rice cultivation, saying these elements exceed those in Malayan rice cultivation.

First, I introduce SW China and SE Asian mainland and island advanced storage (Dalin 1990:567). I cannot say it is common because grain was also stored in baskets or boxes, or ears under the roof. Advanced storage varies in pole height and building material, but usually relates to house style; e.g., N Sumatrans built beautiful storages like houses.

People adding or taking stored rice hold proscribed rituals, symbolically prohibiting the death spirit from occupying rice before storage. A priest simultaneously orders two men to carry "mother & father rice" decorated with the chieftainess' medicine for preventing contact with the death spirit. She also leads others to carry rice to storage, carrying "mother & father rice" around it before storing on a central stone, with other rice stored outside overnight, as the rice spirit will be tired if it is stored inside and reducing its value. On day 2, a storage rite protected rice from the death spirit, along with herbal medicine. After rice storage, only old women entered the storage for 4-7 days, with later work likewise. Before rice removal, they covered a rice ear with cloth and sent it to the chieftainess, whereupon the women could do their work (Woengsdregt 1928:237-247). I briefly introduced Doubada rice storage, demonstrating their "rice spirit" and fear of their "death spirit" (now rare, but some elements persist).

Now I discuss Sumatran (Roth 1896:379-381) and SE Asian island boiling of banana leaf, rice and coconut juice (sometimes adding meat & vegetables) inside bamboo, covering its hole with grass and cooking until done.

Hamaheila and Sahu islanders used three cooking methods (Visser 1989:4): (a) wash rice, put in bamboo and heat (e a jala); (b) roll rice in banana leaf and put in bamboo (e a sasalanga); and (c) put banana leaf in bamboo and then rice (e a to'ou), which was the most common, but people just do it now for celebration.

Malugu island rice cultivation was introduced recently by Arab businessmen and Javanese (Visser ibid:38-40), but single or multiple routes may exist. Late 19th century Sahu was a major rice producer where bamboo was used to cook rice. I found villagers did not plant rice, only cooking bought rice in bamboo, a method introduced by Bujixi businessmen. People cooked rice before they knew how to plant it. As bamboo cooking is common in mainland SE Asia, it does not belong to Malayan rice cultivation. It only closely relates to its cultivation.

As various Malayan rites precede seeding, islanders have close ties with rice technology. No rites means no cultivation. Harvest and storage rites resemble seeding rites, a system retained in E Indonesia¹⁵; e.g.s, Woengsdregt (1928), Shanxia (1982) and Conklin (1980) report rice rituals in many places, but I just discuss similar rituals and report results from my investigation that may be valuable in exploring Malayan rice cultivation.

Qiantian (1982:69-72) noted several issues for discussion; e.g.s, related seeding and transplanting rites; rite focus shift from rice spirit to soil ghost (neither antagonistic); and rice rite expansion via the whole system and adapting locally in various forms. While "no evidence proves his thought" (ibid.:72), he assumed "a common base for slash & burn and paddy rice cultivation rites (ibid.:75). He also thought Malayan rice rites persist from "original rice cultivation", representing the original regional rice spirit. Malayan rice cultivation maintained the most valuable elements in terms of cultivation tradition, something valuable to the study of original Asian rice cultivation. (to be cont.)