| of the Malabar Cardamom. AME 245 
carried down to shops, or little storehouses, erected by Mopla 
merchants, or agents, in different places along the whole range of 
hills, and at a little distance from the farms. Here they are sub- 
jected to another and final operation by the venders to the whole- 
sale merchants on the coast. ‘This consists in holding them over 
a gentle and slow fire in flat baskets, while the assistants con- 
tinue rubbing them betwixt their hands for a certain time; which 
has the effect of detaching what remains of the permanent calyx 
and foot-stalks, or other adhering membranes, and gives the pod 
that appearance and marketable quality delineated in Tas. V. 
figs. 14 and 15. This operation is termed in Malabar Terimbous, 
a word expressive of its nature. The Cardamoms are now 
weighed for the purpose of ascertaining the respective quotas of 
rent payable by the different farmers. The result of this is expect- 
ed to correspond with a previous estimation of the quantity of the. 
crops, taken on the ground before they arrive at maturity ; on the 
approach of which, an official deputation, consisting of public 
officers and some of the head men of the country well acquainted 
with the subject, repairs to the Ela-Kandys, attended by the 
proprietors, and there makes the calculation from the combined. 
consideration of the extent of ground, age of the plantation, 
and general appearance of the fruit-stalks then in full bearing. 
Four or five of the visitors, whose interests are supposed to be 
neutral, and equally unbiassed betwixt Government and the 
Ryot, successively and seriously deliver their opinions; from 
the average of which the official attendants strike a mean, and 
mutual satisfaction is generally the consequence. This previous. 
step is designed to serve as a comparative check to the measuring 
after the final drying of the pods, when they are expected to bear 
the ak prer. of one-fifth to the quantity of the green as before 
. estimated. 
