As I expressed my astonishment at seeing the crops still standing at the end of November, they said, "But look, Monsieur, it is only straw. There is not a single grain of rice." It was actually so. I looked at it, I even gathered hanltuis here and there The ears were either yellow or mud-coloured—for they had been buried in the mud: still of fine appearance from a distance, in reality the ears did not contain a solitary grain of rice. And I saw, in the same condition, hundreds and hundreds of acres of land following these, as far as the eye could reach. The lucky fields harvested 4/10—rare aves!—others 3/10, others again 2/10 and 1/10. One of our well-to-do Christians told me that he had gathered from seven acres altogether 50 Ib. of rice in the husk. And these are the fields that have produced a harvest The others have only straw... A Christian owner of more than 2,000 acres told me that he could scarcely feed his own family—about 30 persons—on the produce of his fields. And an old fellow of 80 years added that the owners of 40 and 50 acres would be among the starving, if they had no other resources, and would be forced to sell their land in order to live until the next harvest. If these are the well-to-do what is going to become of the poor? From east to west, from north to south off the subprefecture, I received the same reply—and_ how heart-breaking it was!—''Next year, we shall die of hunger,"
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.