Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/299

 Where the ground is swampy this method is generally followed, since if the seed were scattered in the swamp it would never mature. It is also adopted for convenience sake by some of those whose rice-fields are entirely dependent on the rain. In so doing they run the risk of the rain delaying its coming longer than usual, so that the padi cannot be transplanted from the nursery to the field at the proper time and is thus lost altogether.

Accordingly they prepare their nurseries as late as possible. If all goes well, the subsequent task of weeding proves very easy; the weeds are simply pulled out with the hand (uruëh) from the soft ground. They are thus saved the tedious work of the eumpòë.

Others are compelled to adopt the seuneulōng system owing to their being prevented by the force of circumstances from sowing (tabu) a long time before the rainy season.

The sowing in the nursery is done in the same way as that in the field. The interval between this sowing and the planting out depends of course on the rate of growth of the seedlings and the presence of water on the umòng or rice-field. They endeavour if possible to plant out on the 44$th$ day after the sowing. With this we may compare the "removal of the oven" (bòïh dapu) 44 days after child-birth and the setting up of the tombstone 44 days after death; indeed a special value is universally attached to that number.

At the commencement of the planting out of the padi, due regard is paid to the superstitious usage of the peusijuëʾ or cooling, which forms among the Achehnese the accompaniment of a whole host of important acts and undertakings. For the cooling of the umòng they employ leafy fronds of the pineung (betel-nut palm) and the plants called manè manòë and sisijuëʾ, which are tied together and soaked in flour and water (teupōng taweuë), to besprinkle the centre of the rice-field. After this is done, the green besom is planted right in the middle of the umòng. Some omit the sprinkling of flour and water, and simply plant the bundle of boughs in the centre. Both methods alike are known as puphōn padé, the commencement or inauguration of the padi.

They then begin planting from the centre outwards, after having