( 14 )
Next morning the bundles are restacked, trampled, and pressed and left in
stack an hour or two. About 10 o'clock the stuff is unstacked again ; this time
the bundles are placed in a double row, their heads inwards and overlapping, _
along the mats ; two or three men now trample this row with some force.
When they are done the bundles are turned and the process repeated.
After being trampled on both sides the bundles are now taken up and the
lengths forming them separated from each other ; these are gently beaten on the
mat to get rid. of more leaves and seeds, and spread out in the sun. The men
now take the individual lengths and dress them one by one with their feet as the
bundles were dressed the previous day. When this is over the twigs are
gathered up and gently shaken. All the large leaves by this time have fallen.
Most of the small leaves have also been lost, and the greater part of the seeds.
The flower-tops are now quite hard and firm and the manufacture is complete.
The lengths are now most usually formed into the bundles known as 'large
flat ' gánjá; they may, however, be further converted into 'flat twig' gánjá, or still
further broken into chúr. Hardly any chúr. is obtained in manufacturing 'flat'
gá njá. Most of the heads that fall off during the first day's operations get tram-
pled into the mass; most of those that fall off during the second day are thrown
away and burned. The waste caused in this way is, however, infinitesimal.
The place of manufacture of round gánjá is usually a rice field situated
some distance from the homestead, The part selected as the chátor is levelled
and cleared of weed and stubble, while shelter huts are run up for the accom-
modation of the labourers.
The plants in this case are reaped in the afternoon and are laid out in the
cháitor yard under the open sky till next morning, when the initial sorting
already described takes place. For round gánjá, however, the lengths into
which the plant is cut are shorter than for flat, and far more woody tissue is
rejected from the beginning of the manufacture. After being selected, the
pieces are exposed to the sun till near noon, when the real manufacture begins.
For this a long horizontal bamboo is firmly tied four feet from the ground
to a row of strong posts; mats are spread along each side of this bar, and
a number of men, in a row along each mat, laying hold of the bar with both
hands for support, proceed each to press and roll under his feet a bundle
of lengths similar to the bundles mentioned under flat gánjá, though usually con-
taining more pieces. Generally the stem end of such a bundle is tied loosely with
string, but an expert roller can manage his bundle untied. After about ten
minutes' rolling the bundle is taken up and its leaves shaken off. By the time
this rolling (ekmalái) is finished—the time taken varies with the number of plants
in the bundle—the flower-tops have assumed the rounded shape that distin-
guishes this sort of gánjá. The bundles are then exposed to the sun for about
t went y mi nut es, aft er whi ch t hey are rol l ed agai n ( d o m a l á i ) ,
o n l y t h i s t i m e f o r a
shorter time. When the second rolling is over, the men sit down and press and
roll the twigs as hard as possible with their hands. The twigs are then separated
and spread in the sun for half an hour ; again taken up and rolled and pressed ;
and once more spread in the sun. Late in the afternoon the twigs are collected.
and tied in large bundles, which are laid on mats and covered. for the night.
Next morning the bundles are undone, and the twigs spread to dry as
before till midday, when they are collected in small bunches and, if dry enough,
are pressed between the hands as on the previous afternoon ; if not quite dry,
rolled once more under foot. By two o'clock this part of the work is completed,
and the twigs are now tied into the small bundles already described as charac-
teristic of round gánjá, the woody ends being cut off so as to reduce as much
as possible the amount of wood in the gánjá. In the evening the bundles are
built in two rows with their tops meeting, covered with mats, subjected to some
pressure, and left for the night.
Next morning, as soon as the dews have disappeared, the bundles are spread
in the sun, where they remain till about 2 o'clock. They are then examined once
more for leaves by being taken up bundle by bundle and rolled and shaken on
the mat. If necessary, the process is repeated next day, but as a rule, when
this has been done once, round' gánjá is ready. The use of the hands to so
large an extent in this process ensures that the percentage of leaf is some-
what smaller in round' than in 'flat ' gánjá, if for no other reason than that
while it is being dressed' the gánjá is closer to the eye of the manufacturer.