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Swiddens and swiddening

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A new swidden is burned, but there are still many cuttings to gather up so that planting can begin.

ˀAŋah Sɛdlíj stands on a scaffold to fell a tree with an adze, to clear a swidden for planting millet.

Felling trees at a swidden at Labuᵏ, on the Bərtax River

A giant crop of cucumbers from a Temiar swidden at ˀAgít, near Pos Bʹlatim.

Squashes are grown on the swidden.

Jawaᵏ, a variety of millet, prefers a swidden cut from a forested area.

Jawaᵏ is pounded in a guul, a mortar carved of wood, at ˀAgít, near Pos Bʹlatim.

Jawaᵏ is sifted, to make grain for the day’s meal, at ˀAgít, near Pos Bʹlatim.

Jawaᵏ, foxtail millet, hanging at a home at Calɛɛr village, being kept for seed.

Kʹwaay gơơŋ, a yam that produces large, starchy tubers.

Kayuh, or manioc, is probably the most important staple food of the Temiars.

A sackful of manioc.

Womein dig kayuh, manioc, a vital staple of the Temiars.

Cultivation of hill rice has become a way of life to the Temiars. Seed is planted in holes made with a dibble stick.

The ﬁeld must be weeded to ensure that the rice produces full heads.

An elephant stomping on the rice ﬁeld, at Píɲcơơŋ, in 2020.

Destruction of a manioc patch (the author's), in 2019.

Any fruits that grow in the rice field are considered a gift and must be enjoyed.

Padi, varieties of rice, is planted with a dibble stick in a cleared plot of land, preferably where bamboo had grown.

As the rice is growing, no persons other than the swidden owner should enter the field.

The rice harvest at Píɲcơơŋ, of February, 2019, in full swing after the rainy season.

The rice heads are plucked off with a small blade in the hand, while the stalks are ﬂattened down with the foot.

The harvesters bear with the searing hot sun, for a week or two, until the whole crop is gathered in.

A taman, the tool used by the Temiars for cutting the heads of rice.

The heads of rice are laid in a basket to carry home.

The rice heads are trodden in a sack to release the grain.

Grain is sun-dried for a few days before storing in sacks.

It is potentially the last harvest ever if the seed runs out, which is from the 1960s.

A good rice harvest in 2018 gave sackfuls of grain, but it was the last successful planting to date.

The rice is measured out and pounded according to the daily need.

A woman harvests peanuts, a new crop to the Temiars, planted annually.

The peanuts are pulled up and washed.

Peanuts are hung up to keep dry, to preserve them in the pods for months.

Raw peanuts are pounded and mixed with manioc or added to vegetable to make a broth,

A woman of Tɛmagaaᵏ sifts bayam seed, a kind of spinach.

Corn is also planted, the cobs are often small and chewy but taste good.

Sơic nuts can be grated and cooked into a hot, nutty paste.

Kayuh, raw manioc.

Two women grate manioc into a pulp on rattan sticks, to be baked in bamboo tubes.

The starchy pulp of raw manioc.

Preparations are made on a festival day, to mark the start of the rice harvest.

Women pound rice grain in a wooden mortar

Two girls winnow grain after pounding to separate the chaff.

A woman sifts pounded grain on a tray.

Nasiᵏ sʹrɛmpaad, rice in packets, is made for stuffing inside bamboo and steaming.

Packets of rice are made for stuffing inside bamboo and steaming.

Rice steaming in bamboo tubes, the everyday cooking pot of the Temiars.

Preparations are made on a festival day, to mark the start of the rice harvest.

Rice cooked in a leaf packet.

Squashes are baked inside bamboo.

A woman lifts hot water from a log fire.

Food enjoyed on a festival day, to mark the start of the rice harvest.

Two girls at Kacəŋ wash vegetables in clean-ﬂowing mountain water (no need of filter systems).

A Temiar boy sits on a wild boar that was speared by a hunter. He is probably just old enough to begin eating the meat with the other men.

A large, male wild boar on a pole. The wild boar used to be the most frequent of animals caught by traps. And yet their meat is feared as an anger-causing animal. (Credit: ˀAnɛl)

A wild boar is fur-singed on a fire. Such work must be done away from women and children so that they don’t come in contact with the blood or its smell.

The animal is butchered outside with bush knives. Then it is shared out equally between the number of homes.

Young men roast ribs on the fire, to taste the meat before taking their share home.

Sabat meat is always cooked in separate pans and eaten away from women and children.

A catch of birds. The bird population has never been affected by the small number of Temiars who hunt. (Credit: ˀAnɛl)

Bats from the caves are larger than those found in bamboo cavities.

A bat found in a bamboo cavity.

Grubs such as these are eaten by the Semais, but the Temiars find them repulsive.

Rats caught with a kɛmbɔɔd spring and snare trap. (Credit: ˀAnɛl)

Two langurs shot with a blowpipe.

A pot and a bamboo tube of game, cooking at a camp at Gɛjgíjwɛɛd.

Kaaᵏ sʹlaaᵏ and kaaᵏ tʹŋə̄ə̄s caught in fish traps, in preparation for a feast.

Fish caught with a harpoon gun. (Credit: ˀAnɛl)

ˀAyơm, manseer carp, once plentiful in the Puyan River, now very rare.

Nasir Samsudin, of Píɲcơơŋ, holds a large Mahseer carp, an unusual catch these days due to the scarcity of ﬁsh in the last twenty years.

If the kaaᵏ kɛnrab, sandy catfish, is large it must be cut up and shared out with other families, to avoid dangerous ill fate.

A typical catch of ﬁsh using today’s method of casting a net, as bigger ﬁsh tend to hide in rock holes.

Dɛmdup, newts, found sucking to the rocks at waterfalls, are eaaten to cure a cold.

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