There is a certain peculiarity in their method of cultivating rice. On the beginning of the rains the Stiên selects his piece of ground, and with nimble hatchet clears it of its growth of bamboos, but not attempting to meddle with the large trees. As soon as the canes have dried he sets fire to them, and in this way clears his ground and manures it simultaneously. Then he takes two long bamboos and lays them in a line on the ground; with a dibble in each hand he makes on either side a row of holes about an inch and a half deep, at short distances. Having finished _his_ share of the work the man retires to enjoy his ease, while his wife enters on the scene, and from a basket slung to her waist dips out a handful of rice, a few grains of which she drops into each hole with equal neatness and rapidity. No more is necessary. Nature does the rest. The heavy rains soon wash the soil over the holes; and the heat of the climate soon causes the seed to germinate. Meanwhile the cultivator sits and smokes in his hut, or proves his skill with bow and arrow at the expense of the goats, apes, or wild boars. At the end of October is reaped the harvest. Generally, for some weeks previously much privation and distress are experienced, and the improvident Stiên, who never takes thought of the morrow in the season of plenty, is reduced to feed upon wild roots, maize seeds, young bamboo shoots, and even serpents, bats, and toads. For this sorry fare the Stiên compensates himself as soon as the harvest is gathered. A general feasting commences: one village inviting the inhabitants of another; oxen being freely slaughtered; and eating and drinking prevailing from morn to night, and almost from night to morn, to the sound of tambourine and tomtom. * * * * * ~ABOUT THE STIÊNS.~ Like the Annamites, the Stiêns wear the hair long, but twisted up, and fastened by a bamboo comb, with a pheasant’s crest on the top of a piece of brass wire by way of ornament. They are mostly of tall stature, strong, and well-limbed; with regular features, thick eyebrows, and a good forehead. Their hospitality is abundant, and a stranger, on his arrival, is immediately entertained with rice-wine, a pipe of peace, and a fatted pig or fowl. Their dress is simplicity itself,--a long scarf about two inches wide; and even with this they dispense when “at home” in their cabins. They have neither priests nor temples; and their religion appears to consist of a belief in a supreme being called _Brâ_; to whom, on occasions of calamity and suffering, they sacrifice a pig or an ox, and sometimes a human victim. ~THEIR RESPECT FOR THE DEAD.~