284 Informatimi about the Coffee Trte. 



afterwards the plants are barely visible above the staves and rot- 

 ting wood ; but in twelve months the estate wears a cheerful 

 green look, and busy parties of wceders are to be seen going- 

 over the various fields with their heavy " Dutch hoes" and sharp- 

 edged " coontanies," witli which they grub up all obstinate 

 roots. 



While tliese early plants are growing, there is no rest for tlie 

 superintendent. If there are no more fields to be planted, there 

 are the coolies' lines or sheds to be erected in a permanent way : 

 his own bungalow to be seen to, on some elevated spot, where a 

 good look-out can be obtained over the working parties. Lastly, 

 there are the " works" of securing and preparing the coming 

 crop : a receiving shed, a pulping-house, a stove, and long range 

 of paved ground for drying the coffee on, occupy many months, 

 and occasion an outlay of a good many hundred dollars. These 

 should be ready for work by the time the plants have reached 

 their third year, for at that time they give a maiden crop. In the 

 hands of an active, clever manager, a coffee plantation, in its 

 third year, will present one of the most picturesque scenes ima- 

 ginable. The young bushes are then seen to perfection, before 

 they begin to straggle and need the pruning-knife ; and if they 

 have been judiciously selected and well ])lanted, they will be as 

 nearly as possible of equal size. 



The daily routine of a planter's life may be thus briefly summed 

 up : — Daybreak sees him up and accoutred ; and with a cu]) of 

 thick-looking, black coffee in his hand, he strolls into the veran- 

 da in front of his bungalow, if he happens to have one, where 

 the coolies are mustering, tools in hand, read}' for the day's work. 

 All hands being out, the " check-list," or muster-roll, is called over, 

 beginning with Mootoo Carpen, and ending with Verasamy. In 

 this process a quick and ready ear is needed, as it not unfrequent- 

 ly happens that those present cry out " all right" on behalf of 

 any absentees, who would otherwise be fined or short paid. Moo- 

 too considers it no offence to respond on the part of Tamby, and 

 vice versa. The list being made up, the people are told off' in work- 

 ing gangs of thirty or forty, under conganies or headmen, who re- 

 ceive from the manager the orders for the day's work. Whilst 

 these several parties, numbering together sometimes as many as 

 three hundred hands, proceed to the fields requiring them, t!ie 



