110 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



these engage themselves for the time only, but a certain number 

 remain on the estate more or less permanently. I have already 

 explained in Part I. the difficulty there is in obtaining sufficient 

 labour, and the means employed in keeping it when obtained. 

 The berries by various processes, as soaking in water, churning, 

 drying in the sun, and rolling afterwards, are deprived of their 

 outer and inner coverings ; afterwards they are passed through 

 large sieves worked by machinery, thereby separating the small 

 from the larger berries, and finally packed in sacks for export. 

 The husk is made use of for firing, the pulp and skin for manure. 

 The proprietor of a coffee estate is the absolute master of the 

 labourers employed upon it. They are in his debt, and as long 

 as that is not discharged, his property; he dispenses justice, 

 looks after them when ill, and finds wives for any one matri- 

 monially inclined. A man desirous of entering the holy bonds 

 finds a lady to his liking and applies to her nearest relative, 

 who fixes a certain sum as her price. This, of course, the 

 amorous swain cannot pay ; he therefore goes to the owner of 

 the finca and states his case. The relative of the girl is sent 

 for, the price at once reduced as exorbitant, which it generally 

 is, and finally, after some bargaining, the master pays over the 

 sum decided upon, and the wedding soon takes place amid 

 much dancing, drinking, and marimba music. The proprietor 

 is minus so much money, which is added to the debt of the 

 Indian who has gained a wife, but lost his liberty more than 

 ever it may be in more ways than one. 



PART III. THE COLD ZONE. 



At lunch in the verandah of a village school of Toliman. We 

 are both very hungry after our hot morning's march of fifteen 

 miles, and lucky it is that we are, and that hunger is the best 

 sauce, for otherwise the curious stew procured from a neighbour- 

 ing hut, and the entree of eggs and chillies swimming in hog's 

 fat, would have been most uninviting. One of the mule trunks 

 is our table, our chair the other ; behind us a score or so of 

 boys are noisily spelling through some simple sentences, all at 

 the same time, like so many parrots. The village pedagogue 

 every now and then leaves his charges to smoke a cigarette with 



