i2i 
£hap. IV.] WEST INDIES. 
coffee, is considered by the London dealer as a 
proof that it has not been sufficiently cured. From 
both methods, however, the coffee may prove very 
good with the powerful assistance of its great im¬ 
prover, age. 
Hitherto, I have described the pulping mill on¬ 
ly. There yet remains the operation of grinding 
off the parchment skin, or membrane which im¬ 
mediately envelopes the bean, and is left after the 
pulp is removed. It is done by a machine which 
will also separate, at the same time, the dried pulp 
(if the former mode of curing has been adopted) 
much more expeditiously than the pestle and mor¬ 
tar. 
The grinding mill consists of a perpendicular 
axis, surrounded at some distance by a circular 
trough, into which the coffee is thrown, and about 
a foot above the level of the surface of the trough, 
there are commonly four horizontal arms or sweeps, 
tenanted into the axis, and stretching some feet 
beyond the trough, and on them are four rollers, 
fitted to run in the trough on the arms being turn¬ 
ed round with the axis, which is done by mules 
yoked to the extremity. The rollers, which are 
generally of considerable weight, moving round in 
the trough, bruise the skins of the coffee, so as to, 
render them separable by the fan, though there is 
always a proportion left untouched, 'When it ap¬ 
pears sufficiently bruised, it is taken out of the 
trough and put to the fan, which clears the coffee 
Vo). HI. 
Q 
