I12 The Fermentation of Cacao 
resorted to.’ In the Cameroons an attempt 
was made to overcome this difficilty, first by 
using the Mayfarth dryer already mentioned, 
and later the Guardiola drying drums. A 
serious drawback to the latter was the fact that 
some kind of mechanical driving power is 
required, although this is, of course, of less 
importance where the drying-houses can be 
constructed in such a manner that water power 
may be used. A further drawback is that the 
beans have to be partially dried before they 
are placed in the drums or they will adhere in 
clumps. A third drawback is that by the time: 
the process is completed the beans are apt to 
break, or at least their shells crack.? 
In the early days in San Thomé, large 
drying-houses, or, to be more accurate, drying- 
barns, 5 to 7 m. (16 to 23 ft.) high, were 
erected. Small trays, which could be easily 
handled by one man, were placed in these, 
one over the other, on ledges at intervals of 
20 cm. (8 in.), whilst hot air from a stove was 
conducted through pipes to the floor of the 
barn ; but the whole method was very trouble- 
some and complicated, besides which the beans 
’ I must, however, point out that in the same country 
the rainy periods and the amount of rainfall frequently 
vary to such an extent (this is the case, for instance, in 
the Cameroons and San Thomé) that sun-drying may 
be quite possible in one district, at least for the greater 
part of the crop, and absolutely impossible in another. 
2 This is not so now, I am told, at any rate not 
with the ‘“ Gordon” drier.—H. H. S. 
