Coffee Cultivation in Berbice. 279 
as the different qualities had to be sorted and shipped 
separately. This took a good deal of time, as every 
single bean had to be separated by hand. This was 
done by women, who sat down on the floor of the 
logie in long lines, each having her allotted task 
before her in a sieve. The coffee was carefully hand- 
picked, the good beans being put into one calabash, 
those broken into another, and the inferior, discolour- 
ed beans (the effect of "heating") into a third calabash, 
to be thrown away. 
The "broken coffee" was as good as the "whole" in 
quality, but inferior in appearance, and was called "triage" 
by the London brokers, and sold at a lower price. 
There was always a proportion of pearl-coffee in every 
crop, and this was considered the best of all. When a 
berry instead of having two beans, had only one, it took a 
rounded form instead of being flat on one side, as usual ; 
this was the so-called pearl-coffee. If the proportion of 
pearl-coffee was considerable, it was separated from the rest 
and shipped by itself. It sold high in the London market, 
fetching 120/ per cwt. when other coffee sold for 80/ 
or 85/. But the quantity of pearl-coffee shipped was not 
great. 
The coffee when cleaned and prepared for shipment 
was put away in a large air-tight compartment, called 
the coffee-chest, which was of sufficient dimensions 
to hold the whole crop ; for this had to be kept on hand 
until the ship that was to take it arrived. These coffee- 
chests were built of dark wood and were kept care- 
fully polished ; for the planters were very proud 
of them. They were made perfectly air-tight, 
MM J 
