COCOA-GROWING COUNTRIES 465 



The pods are thrown into heaps by the pickers, and 

 generally women perform the work of breaking or 

 shelling, which is done by means of the ordinary 

 cutlass. The beans are put into baskets, which are 

 conveyed by boats along the main drainage trench or 

 along the transport trench to the fermenting house. 



First, however, the amount is measured in boxes, 

 specially made for this purpose, 65 cm. long, 45 cm. 

 broad, and 50 cm. high. Every inch in depth in- 

 dicates an amount of fresh seeds of about 8 kilograms 

 (yielding about 2^ kilograms marketable cocoa). 



The beans are subjected in Surinam to a long 

 fermentation, lasting from five to eight days. When 

 the beans are subjected to a shorter and less thorough 

 fermentation they remain leathery and tough instead 

 of getting brittle, the seed-coat remains adhering to the 

 cotyledons instead of being brittle and easily removed, 

 while the colour of the seeds is brownish violet instead 

 of brown. 



For fermenting usually a special house is built 

 provided with six or eight sweating boxes. The house 

 is about 10 to 15 m. long and 3 to 4 m. high. Each 

 box is about 5 to 6 feet broad, 6 to 7 feet deep, and 

 5 to 6 feet high, and is wholly made of timber ; also 

 the walls of the house are made of timber by prefer- 

 ence of the "bolletree" (Mimusops balata), (Fig. 67). 



The boxes are separated by double boards, which 

 can easily be removed ; the loose planks, forming the 

 front of the boxes, can be drawn out, thus making it 

 easy to clean the boxes when necessary. 



The bottom of the boxes, which contains holes to let 

 the fermenting fluid flow away, is, for this same purpose, 

 inclined forwards ; this is also the case with the part of 

 the cemented floor of the house which lies about 10 to 20 

 cm. under the bottom of the boxes. In this way the 

 fermenting fluid flows into an open gutter, made in the 

 cemented floor of the house, along which it flows away. 



The fresh cocoa-beans are put into box No. 1, and 

 covered with fresh banana leaves. Generally the beans 



2 H 



