The meal or pith is steeped
in water for several days, until it is completely blanched; it is
then once more dried by the fire or in the sun, and passed under a
large wooden roller, and through a hair sieve. When it has become
white and fine, it is placed in a kind of linen winnowing-fan, which
is kept damp in a peculiar manner. The workman takes a mouthful of
water, and spurts it out like fine rain over the fan, in which the
meal is alternately shaken and moistened in the manner just
mentioned, until it assumes the shape of small globules, which are
constantly stirred round in large, flat pans until they are dried,
when they are passed through a second sieve, not quite so fine as
the first, and the larger globules separated from the rest.
The building in which the process takes place is a large shed
without walls, its roof being supported upon the trunks of trees.
I was indebted to the kindness of the Messrs. Behu and Meyer for a
very interesting excursion into the jungle. The gentlemen, four in
number, all well provided with fowling-pieces, having determined to
start a tiger, besides which they were obliged to be prepared for
bears, wild boars, and large serpents. We drove as far as the river
Gallon, where we found two boats in readiness for us, but, before
entering them, paid a visit to a sugar-refining establishment
situated upon the banks of the river.
