t. They now go
to breakfast, and in one hour and a half the leaves are ready for
the pan. The pans being heated by wood placed in the oven, so as to
feel hot to the hands, are filled to about two-thirds, or about
three seers of leaves are thrown in at a time--the quantity which a
manufacturer is capable of lifting with both hands. With the hands
the leaves are kept moving with a rotatory motion in the pan, and
when they become very hot, the motion is kept up with a pair of
forked sticks. This process is continued for three or four minutes,
depending on the heat of the pan, or until the leaves feel hot and
soft. They are then, with one sweep of a bamboo brush, swept into a
basket, and thrown on to the rolling-table, which is covered with a
coarse mat made of bamboo. Each manufacturer then takes as much as
he can hold in both hands, and forms a ball and commences to roll it
with all his might with a semicircular motion, which causes a
greenish yellow juice to exude. This process is continued for three
or four minutes, the balls being occasionally undone and made up
again. The balls are then handed to another party at the extremity
of the table, to undo them and spread the leaves out thinly on flat
baskets and expose them to the sun, if there is any; if not they are
kept in the manufactory. After all the leaves have gone through this
process, the first baskets are brought back, and the leaves again
transferred to the pan, worked up in a similar manner for the same
length of time, re-transferred to the table, and again rolled. This
being done, the leaves are again spread out on large flat baskets to
cool. On being cooled the leaves are collected together and thinly
spread out on flat wicker-worked sieve-baskets, which are placed in
others of a deep and of a double-coned shape. The choolahs being
lighted for some time, and the charcoal burning clear, they are now
ready to receive the coned baskets. The basket is placed over the
choolah and kept there for about five minutes. The leaves are then
removed, re-transferred to the flat baskets, and re-rolled for a few
minutes. This being done, the leaves are again brought together,
placed in the conical basket and kept over the charcoal fire for
about two minutes. The contents of the conical baskets are then all
collected together in a heap, and