60 



Though the coffee has been sufficiently dried on the plan- 

 tation to enable it to reach Colombo in safety, it is not suffi- 

 ciently hard to part with the silver pellicle which envelops 

 each berry under the parchment skin, and to resist the pres- 

 sure of the peeler, without some additional drying in the 

 more powerful sun at Colombo. 



It is, therefore, again exposed on the barbecue, until it 

 reaches a crisp dryness. (Plate 9 shows the barbecue or dry- 

 ing-floor on Messrs. Worms' estate, Puselawa, in Ceylon, 

 and the native labourers spreading the coffee to dry.) It is 

 next submitted to the pressure of the peeler, which breaks 

 the berry out of the parchment covering, and sets the silver 

 skin at liberty. It may be noticed that the silver skin, 

 though perhaps not adding two ounces to the weight of 

 112 Ibs., gives the coffee an appearance considered to be un- 

 sightly in the London market, and, therefore, depreciates its 

 value ; its adherence to the coffee, though the cause is not 

 known in the market, is supposed to be generally the result 

 of bad drying on the plantation, being allowed to remain too 

 long wet, or being permitted to heat after it is taken from 

 the cisterns. 



Several processes have to be gone through before the 

 article known in commerce as coffee is produced. In the 

 first place, the pulpy exterior of the berry, as we have seen, 

 has to be removed by the process of pulping, which separates 

 the seed and its thin covering, called the parchment, from 

 the husk. "When this pulping process is completed, we have 

 the parchment by itself in a cistern, and the next process 

 consists in getting rid of the mucilage with which it is 

 covered. For this purpose the water is drained from the 

 cistern, and fermentation is allowed to take place, which it 

 readily does after a period of twenty-four hours, or even less 

 on a low estate, where the climate is warm, though forty- 

 eight hours are generally required on the highest estates. 



