269 



Pounding the fruit and sorfing out the stones. The usual 

 Ibrm of wooden pes.tk was used. The pounded mass is then laid 

 on iron plates wliere the women do the picking out of the stones^ 

 the fibrous pulp l)eing put in wooden buckets, which were in this 

 case barrels sawn in two. 



Re-lieating the .pulp. The pulp now cooled is re-heated by 

 nieaus of stones heated to a very high temperature, which are 

 dropped and stirred in the m^ss of pulp. 



Extraction of the oil. The pulp is ladled into sacks made of 

 rotan with a slit on their sides by which the pulp is introduced. 

 At both ends of the sacks are loops through which a pole is passed 

 and by turning these in opjwsite directions, the torsion produced 

 on the sacks forces the oil out. 



(The next day the oil is boiled over a slow fire, which causes the 

 water to evaporate, wliile the scum formed on tlie surface by im- 

 purities is skimmed otf. 



The yield of oil was equivalent to 12% of the weight of fruit, 

 to which should be added the yield in Kernels (omitted in Mr. 

 Bories' report) say at the rate of 20% of the weight of the fruit. 



Thus we get as the output of two days' work of 4 men and 4 

 women, 



1700 lbs. of fruit = 204 lbs. of palm oil. 

 plus 340 lbs. of kernels. 



Th'is put into Malayan figures at a price of (see Bulletin des 

 Planteurs de Caoutchouc December 1919). 



Florin 0.40 per kilo of oil in Sumatra. 

 0.20 „ of kernels do. 



is equivalent to /0.18 and / 0.09 per pound and we obtain as final 

 result, 



204 lbs. of oil (a 0.18' = / 36.72 



340 „ kernels 0.09 = 30.60 



/ 67.32 = @ 1.15 = $58.50 



Straite Currency. 



Thus 16 days (8 people for two days) of coolie labour have 

 produced a value of $58.50, or one coolie day, costing, say one 

 dollar, -has brought in $2.65 of nett revenue, less cost of cultivation. 



This figure ^\'K)uld do credit to a crack rubber estate ; the more 

 so as we are dealing with a process which, although constituting 

 a great progress on the old native method of fermenting the fruit 

 in heaps, is still very crude and capable of great improvement, 

 (with consequent increased yield of oil), without the aid of any 

 very complicated machinery. 



But can we accept the above account of work as representing a 

 nonnal and regular daily output of a coolie-day ? 



Here we have a very high oflficial inspecting a crack palm-stand 

 of 30,000 trees, kept up to the topmost state of cultivation obtain- 



