Section 46 Rice
Rice forms the1 chief subsistance of the people2 in India, China, Japan, and other eastern3 countries. Indeed, it supports4 more persons than any other article of food5. In Asia it (S. 2, N. 1) is chiefly cultivated in India, China, and6 Ceylon; in Europe: in Lombardy7 (Italy) and Spain; in Africa: in Egypt; in South America: in Brazil; and in North America: in8 the Carolines and9 Louisiana. Its10 cultivation requires an11 immense quantity of moisture. It12 grows best in13 fields which can be inundated. Indeed14, the fact that it is usually sown upon watery soil makes it probable that the first Verse of the eleventh Chapter in15 Ecclesiastes refers to Rice. In Egypt, for example, it is always sown while16 the waters of the Nile cover the land, and when the floods subside17, (S. 27, N. 8) it is deposited18 in the mud. A strong spirit19, called arrack, is distilled from20 rice, and21 the straw is used for making plait for hats and bonnets.—Nelson’s Readers.
Notes
1 das hauptsächlichste Nahrungsmittel.
2 Say ‘of the inhabitants of India (Indiens)’, etc.
3 orientalisch.
4 ernähren.
5 Nahrungsartikel, m.
6 Supply here the prep. auf, which should always be used to render the English ‘in’ before names of islands.
7 in der Lombardei.
8 auf den Karolinen.
9 Supply the prep. in.
10 Der Reisbau, i.e. the cultivation of rice.
11 an — of = extraordinary much.
12 The noun ‘rice’ must here be repeated, since the pron. ‘er’ would refer to ‘Reisbau’.
13 auf.
14 Ja, die Thatsache, daß, etc.
15 im Prediger Salomonis; to refer to something, sich auf etwas beziehen. The above mentioned passage reads as follows: ‘Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days’.
16 Say ‘when the land is still covered by (von) the waters of the Nile’.
17 sich zurück´ziehen, i.e. withdraw.
18 sich ab´lagern (see S. 4, N. 4, A); ‘mud’, here Schlamm, m.
19 Spiritus, m.
20 aus.
21 and — bonnets, und das Stroh gebraucht man zur Anfertigung von Männer- und Frauenhüten.