There was very little in regard to coffee-raising that the children did not learn, for their inquisitive little noses were poked into every shed and room to see what was going on. Their Uncle Hilario went with them one day and explained it all fully while they listened eagerly. "First the coffee goes to this large shed and is dumped into the great vat," he said. "The iron thing in the centre of the vat is the pulping machine. You see it is round like a cylinder and covered with teeth, and there are holes in the bottom. The teeth are covered on one side with a curved sheet of metal. When the cylinder revolves, water is turned into the vat, and as it flows through, the seeds are carried through the holes in the cylinder into tanks where the remaining matter is washed away. "Then they go to the drying terrace," he said as they left the building and went toward a large piece of ground exposed to the blazing sun and covered with cement. "Here it is. After the pulp has been removed from the seeds there is left a thin skin. The seeds are spread in thin layers upon the ground and left to dry thoroughly in the sun, while workmen constantly turn them over and over with rakes to hasten the drying." "How long does it take to dry them?" asked Martim. "Several weeks," said his father. "On some _fazendas_ they use steam heat, but we like the sun-dried coffee much the best. After the seeds are thoroughly dried they are taken to another building and passed through heavy rollers and the chaff separated and blown away. "Now we will go to the sorting room," and they entered a long, low building where a number of women and girls were working at long tables piled with heaps of coffee berries. Men were constantly bringing in baskets full of the berries, which the women and girls sorted into different grades according to their quality. "How fast their fingers fly," said Maria. "I don't see how they do it." "They have done it so often and practice makes perfect," said her uncle. "As they sort the seeds they put them in sacks and the men carry them to another ware-house, where they are packed in sacks and weighed ready to be shipped." "Uncle, what are those girls doing who are flying about everywhere with sieves in their hands?" asked Lola. "They gather up all the berries which the men scatter as they carry the coffee about," he answered. "You see we do not want to waste anything. "Do you see those wagons being loaded? The coffee in those sacks is ready to go to Sao Paulo, and thence to Santos to be shipped to North America. Our coffee goes to every part of the world, for the coffee of the _Fazenda Esperança_ is considered especially good. "Now you have followed the coffee berry from the tree to the market and I hope you will try to remember all about it, for the coffee industry is one of the greatest in the country." "It's ever so interesting, uncle," said Maria. "And thank you for telling us about it."