THE COIR FIBRE INDUSTRY 119 



within certain limits, and eminently suitable for 

 manufacture where lightness, cleanliness and great 

 indestructibility are requisite. It will stand water, 

 is almost impervious to wind and wave, damp and 

 rain, and it flourishes in the saline breezes of the 

 sea ; it does not harbour vermin, and emits no 

 unpleasant odour ; but it will not stand bleaching. 

 The methods of preparation vary in different 

 regions, it being generally recognised that in the 

 Laccadives, on the Malabar coast and in Ceylon, 

 the art has attained a greater perfection than 

 elsewhere. The usual plan is to remove the thick 

 fibre covering from the nut before it is fully ripe by 

 means of a stout, sharp spear-head, whose shaft is 

 embedded firmly in the soil to such a depth that 

 the spear-point projects above the ground rather 

 less than waist high. The native then holds the 

 nut in his hands and strikes it upon the spear- 

 point with a downward rotary twist and thus, 

 with apparent ease, removes the husk, which is 

 generally split into three portions. By this method 

 one good worker should split 1,000 nuts per day, 

 and records have been made of 3,000 nuts. The 

 work is, however, not only hard, but calls for 

 considerable dexterity and wrist strength. In 

 England husking has often been done by men 

 armed with two fine-pointed steel chisels, who, 

 with practice, can husk from 1,000 to 1,200 per 

 day each. 



