COFFEE. 61 



tion is continued till all the coffee is stripped of the pulp, and the 

 parchment beans are in the basket. When the parchment coffee 

 is thus separated from the outer skin, it is thrown into the washing 

 troughs, and remains there for twenty-four hours ; this drains from 

 ifc the slimy substance adhering to it. After being thus steeped, 

 it is washed with pure water two or three times in the basket, so 

 that it bacomes quite free from slimy matter. The parchment 

 coffee is then spread out on drying frames, and exposed for six or 

 eight days to the heat of the sun, till the outside is perfectly dry. 

 To do this equally it must be stirred about every hour. These frames, 

 which serve also to dry the coffee in the pulp, are made as follows : 

 A. bamboo roof is set up, resting on four wooden pillars, and 

 sloping considerably ; it is covered closely with reeds ; its length 

 is ten feet, its breadth six feet ; the pillars are from nine to ten 

 feet high ; a wooden framework is attached to this, about thirty 

 feet long, or three times the length of the space covered by the 

 roof. On this frame are brought out three platforms, one above 

 the other, which are pushed out by means of little rollers under 

 them ; they are ten feet long by six broad, and six inches deep. 

 The borders are of wood, and the bottom of platted bamboo. In 

 rainy weather, or when the drying cannot go on, the three plat- 

 forms are pushed under the covered space. These drying places 

 are set up near the overseer's dwelling, where they stand free, and 

 are not shaded by trees or buildings. After this first drying on 

 platforms, the parchment coffee is again dried inside the house, and 

 bamboo huts are for this purpose erected on each side of the out- 

 house of the planters. These huts have trays, divided into two or 

 three compartments, one above the other, to keep the coffee sepa- 

 rate, according to the time of its having been picked. The parch- 

 ment coffee is spread out as thin as possible, and turned over with 

 a small wooden rake every hour. In proportion to the dryness of 

 the weather, from one to two months are required to dry the coffee 

 fully. In drying inside the houses, the greatest care must be 

 taken to prevent heating the coffee ; this is the great object of the 

 "West Indian system, as such heating is very prejudicial. On this 

 account the huts in which the platforms are placed must be very 

 airy, so that the wind may have good play among the trays, on 

 which the coffee must be thinly spread and frequently turned. 



Pounding. Coffee in the pulp, as well as that in the parch- 

 ment, must, before being pounded, be exposed for some hours to 

 the sun to make it crisp and hard ; but it must be allowed to cool 

 again before the pounding begins, or the beans will be liable to be 

 broken. 



The pounding is done in small baskets of a conical form, two 

 feet high, at the top eighteen inches in diameter, and at the bottom 

 one foot. These baskets are, up to one-third of their height, 

 thickly woven round with coir, and fastened on the ground be- 

 tween four thick bamboo poles, and with the bottom half an inch 

 in the ground itself. The coffee is pounded by small quantities 

 at a time with light wooden pestles ; the baskets must not be 



