TAEIOUS MODES Or STEEPING. 



" It will be remembered that the hemp is often four 

 yards long, and more, even after the top is cut off, because 

 the fibre which that part would give is nearly worthless* 

 This great length is necessarily accompanied by a certain 

 degree of thickness, which makes it impossible to break 

 the steins by means of ordinary scutches, like those used 

 for flax, unless they were made of such a size and weight 

 as would render their use impracticable in any other- 

 hands than those of a giant. Eecourse is therefore had 

 to the following method : An upright wooden block is 

 fixed in the earth, about a foot broad, and three feet long 

 at its upper surface, which is cut out in such a way as to 

 leave it of the form of a hollow crescent. Moreover, the 

 edges of this rude crescent are smoothed and rounded so 

 as to present to the fibre a completely even and regular 

 surface. A workman then takes the bunches one after 

 the other, and, beginning by presenting them by the 

 thicker end, he lays them on the block arid pushes them 

 forward, so as always to have six or seven inches of un- 

 broken stalk beyond the block. Meanwhile, a couple of 

 women, armed with hard thick sticks, especially clumsy 

 towards the end, something in the style of clubs, beat 

 the end of the bunch as the workman pushes it forward. 

 A single blow is sufficient to crush it, so that if the 

 bunch is twelve feet long, it requires about ten blows 

 from each w r oman to crush it, the upper extremity which 

 the workman holds in his hand not being subjected to 

 the operation. If the people are expert in this work, a 

 minute will be more than time enough to crush three 

 such bunches. As soon as the man who holds the bunch 

 has advanced it nearly to the end, he leaves hold of it 

 with one hand to seize another, in order to substitute it 

 for the former one the moment he has finished it, and to 

 continue the operation without interruption. Before 

 laying down the beaten bunch, the workmen either shakes 

 it himself with one hand, to get rid of the chips and chaff 

 which have not already fallen in front of the block, or he 

 passes it on to a woman who performs the operation, and 

 disposes the fibre in a bundle. That the workman who 

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