112 PREPARATION OF COIR IN LACCADIVES. 
is then forced upon the point, which passes through the fibres, 
and thereby separates the rind from the shell. In this man- 
ner, Mr. Marshall says, a man can clear 1000 nuts daily. The 
husk, cut transversely, is frequently used for polishing furniture, 
scrubbing floors, and as a substitute for brushes and brooms. 
Mr. Robinson describes the method of making Coir in the 
Laccadives, as follows: “ As the husk gets hard and woody if 
the fruit is allowed to become quite ripe, the proper time for 
cutting it is about the tenth month. If cut before this, the 
Coir is weak; if later, it becomes coarse and hard, and more 
difficult to twist, and requires to be longer in the soaking pit, 
and thus becomes darker in colour. When cut, the husk is severed 
from the nut and thrown into soaking pits. These, in some 
of the islands, are merely holes in the sand, just within the 
influence of the salt water. Here they lie buried for a year, 
and are kept down by heaps of stones thrown over them to 
protect them from the ripple. In others, the soaking pits are 
.. fresh-water tanks behind the crest of coral. In these, the 
water not being changed becomes foul and dark coloured, 
which affects the colour of the Coir. When thoroughly soaked 
the fibrous parts are easily separated from the woody by beating. 
If taken out of the pits too early, it is difficult to free the Coir 
from impurities. If left in too long, the fibre is weakened, as 
is said to be the case also with that soaked in fresh water.” 
These different modes are also practised in Ceylon. “ At Cal- 
pentyra and the Akkara-pattoo, the natives separate the Coir by 
burying the husks along the border of the extensive salt-water 
lake, and when, after six months or more, they are dug out 
very clean, the fibres easily separate from the cellular tissue of 
the husk. This mode of preparing the fibre prevents the 
offensive smell emanated by macerating the husk, so common 
along the road from Colomba to Matura.” (Ondatjee.) 
The Coir from the islands of Kadamat, Kiltan, and 
Chetlat, in the Laccadives, is said to be of the best description. 
The manufacture into cordage of the Coir is entirely in the 
hands of the women of the Laccadives. When soaked suffi- 
ciently long, it is taken out of the pit and beaten with a heavy 
mallet. Subsequently, it is said to be rubbed with the hands 
until all the interstitial cellular substance is separated from the 
fibrous portion. ‘ When quite clean it is arranged into a 
