The problem of water management in Thailand has become an issue because water resources are predicted to be insufficient for future agricultural development. In exploring relevant water management methods, an investigation of people's irrigation systems is instructive.
 The objective of this article is to make an economic analysis of traditional water management institutions in Northern Thailand on the basis of a field survey. The results of the analysis are as follows.
 1) The rules for maintenance of traditional irrigation systems are consistent with the individual farmer's self-motivation in a labor-surplus economy.
 2) The relative scarcity of water resources in the process of agricultural development has induced a change in the traditional water management institution to alleviate the scarcity.
 3) The new institution (so-called strict rotation system) has generally relieved the congestion of water utilization, but some farmers whose fields lie far from the main canal still suffer losses from the congestion.

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Chemical, physical, morphological and mineralogical properties of soils in the toposequence of Gunung Gadut tropical rain forest, West Sumatra, were determined. The study area has an annual rainfall of more than 5,000mm, among the highest in the world, and no real dry season. No water deficit in the soil was found throughout the year. A reconnaissance soil survey revealed a close relation between the distribution of soil types and the topography as well as geologic conditions.
 Soils in four permanent plots for study of forest ecology and flora were examined in detail. The Pinang Pinang plot is in a foothill Dipterocarp forest on a gentle hill top with a partly narrow and partly broad ridge at 550m altitude. Soils were relatively young Typic Dystropepts developed from Quaternary andesite. Although the soils show a prominent red color and strong acidity, adequate nitrogen and base status make them relatively fertile. Clay minerals were kaolin and 2 : 1 type vermiculite. The Gajabuih plot is also in a foothill Dipterocarp forest on a northwestern slope near a ridge with moderately steep to undulating relief at 550m altitude. Soils were Oxic Dystropepts or Orthoxic Tropudults developed from Permian shale and phyllite, which had yellowish brown color and a well-developed structure. Although levels of nitrogen and available calcium seemed to be adequate, Mg was relatively poor in comparison with Ca. Clay minerals were predominantly kaolin and gibbsite. The Airsirah plot is in a hill oak forest on a broad and undulating ridge at 1,100m altitude. Soils were highly leached and strongly acid Tropudults developed from Quaternary volcanic ash. Soil fertility was low. Clay minerals were spheroidal halloysites. The G. Gadut plot is in a mossy mountain oak forest on a wide plateau at 1,600m altitude. Soils were extremely infertile Tropaquods developed from Quaternary volcanic ashes. A thick organic horizon was underlain by bleached and extremely leached subhorizons. The C/N ratios were very high. Clay minerals were allophane and imogolite.
 Chemical fertility, especially available calcium, correlated well with tree heights. The upper limits of tree height were estimated at 119m for the Pinang Pinang plot, 109m for the Gajabuih plot, 51m for the Airsirah plot, and 38m for the G. Gadut plot, whereas the measured maximum heights were respectively 59m, 61m, 34m, and 20m.

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The mainstay of life before World War II in the coastal lowlands of tropical Asia was sago-washing and fishing. These activities can still be seen in a limited part of the east coast of Sumatra. Khairamandah is an old village dating back to the Sultanate which has survived on sago production. Despite its isolated location in the midst of a huge swamp forest, village life seems to have been stable, even affluent, thanks to the abundance of sago and forest products, for which usually market demand remained good. This sago village is, however, now undergoing rapid change due to the systematic expansion of coconut plantations.
 Bekawan is a typical Melayu fishing village, located next to Khairamandah. The village stands on stilts erected in shallow water off a mangrove fringe. The site was formerly occupied by a group of orang laut, but in 1915 a Melayu merchant built a fishing camp there and soon it developed into a village. Fishing for shrimps, which were sold in Singapore, was the sole activity and is still done today. The arrival of Chinese-Indonesian fishermen with larger nets has almost completely forced the Melayu from their original place. They still live there, but now they work for the newcomers.

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This paper focuses on the funeral ceremony of an old man named Odchas, a Bontok who resided in Mountain Province, Northern Luzon, the Philippines. It details the process of the funeral ceremony, then discusses the cosmology of the Bontok, which gives order to the ritual process and kinship behaviors.
 Although the Bontok believe in sorcery, they often ascribe such misfortunes as accidental death, epidemics, sterility, disease of livestock and crops, landslide and fire to aníto or spiritual beings in general. The Bontok have an elaborate system of knowledge about aníto, and their rituals for aníto consist of many taboos, ritual seclusion, animal sacrifice, ritual head-hunting, mock fighting and prayer [合田 1976; 1977; 1979].
 Until recently, the Bontok practiced head-hunting, which not only involves physical aggression between different villages but is closely related to their belief in supernatural beings. For example, fomáfag, the spirits of beheaded enemies, are believed to cause a number of misfortunes to the villagers. In the Bontok system of belief, the living and the dead are not always clearly distinguished. Aníto are believed to be present everywhere and to cause trouble or even to possess people.
 The death of a fellow villager, especially at the hands of outsiders, is an occasion when the Bontok disclose their inner feelings of agitation, fear, hatred and resentment. This is because the death is not a single misfortune but rather the beginning of a battle of head-hunting, as well as an omen of all kinds of misfortunes. People are excited and proud when their fellow villagers win a fight with people from another village, for they believe it will bring fertility and prosperity to their village.
 In this light, their ways of dealing with sickness and death can be regarded as part of the process in which they classify and interpret misfortune in order to recover fertility and prosperity.
 Rituals are generally seen as a system of planned and formalized symbolic activities. This is true of animal sacrifice and recital of myth as performed by the Bontok, in which the details of the ritual are rigidly prescribed by the context. But this is not the case with funerals. During the funeral ceremony, people should observe a ritual holiday or té-er.
 When the day is declared to be té-er, the village is closed and the whole community is cut off from the outside world. A rainbow or a hawk flying over residential space, both of which considered bad omens, bring an immediate end to the ritual holiday. Moreover, the fall of an object from a wall in the house of deceased, the cracking of a hearth-stone, or the dropping of unhusked rice from the winnowing basket during a funeral ceremony are also bad omens that need to be dealt with properly. Aníto sometimes cause illness or possess villagers and cause them to act strangely.
 Such unexpected events during a funeral ceremony may change the course of the ritual process. Thus, only the system of knowledge that classifies and interprets these incidents and ways to deal with each situation is fixed; the ritual process itself varies depending on what happens during the course of the funeral ceremony.

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