Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/284

266 this process is completed, the berries are put into sieves, to be cleared from dust; after which they are finally taken to another large shed, where from two to three hundred women are employed in sorting those that are good from those that are black, or bad. All that remains to be done after this is the packing into large bags, a specified portion being set aside for Government.

I have before alluded to the jodang in which our meals were brought from the Wodono's; but as it is quite a curiosity in its way, a slight description of it may not be amiss. It is a painted box, suspended from bamboo poles, and carried on the shoulders of two men. It was quite amusing to see the dishes handed one after another out of this Pandora's box—for such it must have appeared in the eyes of my wife, who regarded all these strongsavoured Oriental dainties as so many distasteful compounds, while Hope, which lay at the bottom, appeared to her in the shape of a plain roast fowl,