346 



COCOA 



CHAP 



As to the further gathering (Fig. 112), what 

 Olivieri l says about it may be quoted here : 



The gathering of the picked pods is generally performed by 

 women and boys, who follow the pickers and gather the pods in 

 small disseminated heaps, either along the roads or in other 

 accessible spots, where the sudden swelling of rivers and ravines 

 will not carry them away. Often these small heaps are collected 

 into larger and less disseminated ones ; but in all cases, so as to 



Photo. Jacobson. 

 FIG. 112. Piling up and shelling pods in Trinidad. 



obtain good results of fermentation, the breaking of the pods 

 ought never to be retarded beyond the week during which their 

 picking has been started. The pods are broken and opened with 

 a short, heavy and rather blunt cutlass, a work which is performed 

 with great dexterity by holding the pod with the left hand and 

 cutting part of the rind through a semi-crosswise manner. The 

 chop is accompanied by a twisted jerk of the cutlass which wholly 

 or partly opens the pod. In this way the pod is put before the 

 shellers, who either with the fingers or a small wooden pallete, 



1 Olivieri, Treatise, pp. 85-86. 



