DESICCATED COCONUT INDUSTRIES 151 



remains in the kernels they are liable to turn yellow. 

 Native choppers from long practice become very 

 expert in their work, though at first their wrists 

 swell in a painful manner, which continues until 

 the muscles become accustomed to the strain of 

 the work. When the choppers have completed 

 their task the nuts are passed on to women, who 

 pare or shave off all the red rind, leaving only the 

 pure white kernels. For this purpose, we are told 

 by the Hon. J. Ferguson, in his Coconut Manual, 

 the women use an ordinary carpenter's spokeshave, 

 which has to be constantly sharpened. 



Having been carefully washed, the nuts are trans- 

 ferred to the disintegrating machine, and ground 

 to a pulp. This is then removed in trollies to the 

 desiccators, often known as siroccos, where it is 

 dried at a temperature of 160 degrees. From this 

 machine the product emerges quite hot ; after 

 being cooled down, it is sorted by sifters or by hand 

 sieves into three grades fine, medium, coarse 

 and, although still warm, is immediately packed. 

 In Ceylon, whence practically all of our desiccated 

 coconut is imported, ordinary tea chests, lead and 

 paper lined, are used for this purpose, about 130 Ib. 

 net being the quantity packed in each case. The 

 parings, rich in oil, are afterwards dried in the sun 

 and sold to the oil-crushing firms. Other grades 

 of desiccated coconut are sold, including chips and 

 strips, which are cut by special machinery, a great 



