142 COFFEE : ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



or on contract, with all their curious but effective 

 tools, and ready to undertake any amount of simple 

 house-building operations they may be set to. 

 Then, again, there often seems but little inducement 

 to manufacture bricks or prepare wattle and daub 

 when abundance of noble timber lies seasoning in 

 the clearings suggesting planks enough to build 

 an Armada ! 



If the risk of fire the chief objection to be urged 

 against wood is accepted, the first thing to be done 

 is to send for a gang of professional sawyers. These 

 men live by this work ; they are honest and trust- 

 worthy, since it will readily be understood that 

 double-dealings regarding pay, &c., would lead to 

 the gang obtaining a bad name, and consequent 

 loss of patronage. 



Hall says the professional sawyers of Southern 

 India have caste objections to any work other than 

 actual sawing. He found they would not even move 

 logs into place for their own use, requiring this to 

 be done by the estate coolies. Those who worked 

 for me never raised any objections of this kind. 

 They heard the manner and quantity of timber 

 required so much planking, so many posts, rafters, 

 &c. and then, selecting a suitable trunk in one of 

 the clearings, built an open platform of strong 

 uprights and reliable baulks on the lower side, 

 afterwards rolling the log lengthways on to it. 



While this work is going on and the piles of 

 red cedar planks, or orange-yellow jack " framings " 



