VI 
CINNAMON 
219 
with a small chopper, and opens the cut to see whether 
the bark separates readily or not. If it does not he 
leaves it for a future time. Some shoots never arrive 
at a fit state for peeling. 
The shoots fit for peeling are cut down and the tops 
and branches cut off, and the sticks collected, tied in 
bundles, and carried to the peeling shed. The bits 
left on the ground should not be removed, but used 
with a mulch of weeds, etc. to manure the ground, as 
already described. 
PEELING ^ 
This is done with a specially made knife, small and 
round-pointed, with a projecting point on one side for 
ripping the bark off. The peeler, sitting down on the 
ground beside the bundle of sticks, takes one in his left 
hand and makes a longitudinal slit from end to end, 
working the knife between the bark and the wood till 
he has raised it ^ in. wide. Then turning the stick he 
makes a parallel slit, and working the knife on that side 
detaches the slip of bark. Sticks that do not peel freely 
he rubs with a piece of hard wood. 
From time to time the slips are packed together, 
the convex side of one to the concave side of the next, 
till about 8 or 9 in. wide and about 1|- ft. long. The 
packs are piled in a small enclosure of sticks, and when 
the day’s work is done the heap is covered with scrapings 
and a mat is tied over it. This is called “ fermenta- 
tion ” by some people, but hardly amounts to that. The 
object is to keep the bark moist for the next operation. 
PIPING 
On the morning of the second day three sticks are 
driven into the ground at such an angle that they will 
cross each other about 1 ft. high, and tied firmly at the 
point of crossing. They are used for supporting one 
end of a fourth stick, the other end of which rests on the 
ground. The operator sits down on the ground, places 
