Food and Clothing

Abstract

As already mentioned in the introduction, the inhabitants of the Hill Tracts are primarily swidden farmers. Fields which are plowable — whether they can be irrigated or not — are possessed only by a few Chakma, Marma, Tippera and Sak. On the Matamuri there are also a few isolated Mru who plow; all others lay out their fields on the slopes of the hills where no type of plow agriculture is possible. Terracing as one finds in Sri Lanka and on Luzon is not found anywhere in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. That it would be completely impossible is doubtful; in most places, however, the stone which would be needed to reinforce the ground is simply nonexistent. If one wishes to prevent the monsoon rains from washing away the thin layer of humus, one cannot clear the ground in such a way as to remove the roots of the old growth. One therefore cuts and burns only that vegetation standing above ground; the root system is left intact.