Other adjuncts of the house are the mill, for husking the
paddy ; the pestle and mortar, for pounding it to remove the
inner pellicle ; the baskets, for containing the paddy and
milled rice ; the stiff mat of split bamboo, for putting the
paddy out in the sun before it is milled ; and the winnowing
baskets. In the British Burma Gazetteer, Volume I, page
404, the Burmese mill is thus described : —

" The mill consists of a solid cylinder of wood about two
feet in diameter, the upper surface roughened with radiating
lines, a quarter of an inch deep being cut into it; on
this works another cylinder, the lower surface similarly
roughened, with an opening through it in the shape of an
inverted truncated cone : to one side of this upper piece is
loosely fastened the end of a long pole, and by working
this backwards and forwards the upper cylinder is made
to revolve and to husk the grain which is passed in
at the top and comes out between the two portions
of the mill."



THE TALAINGS 31

The one, however, in more common use in Talaing
villages is of much smaller diameter and is not made t»
revolve, but is turned back and forth, about half way round,
and back again, by means of a transverse shaft passed
through the upper part and grasped by the two hands of the
operator.
