Skrtch of tht Hiftory of Stiiar. i-^g 



Albertu'S Agnenfis (a)* relates, that about the fame period, " the Crufaders found fweet 

 " honeyed- reeds in great quantity, in the meadows about Tripoli, in Syria, which reeds 

 " were called Ziicra, Thefe the people (the Crufaders army) fucked, and were much 

 *' pleafed with the fweet tafte of them, with which they could fcarcely be fatisfied. This 

 " plant (the author tells us) is cultivated with great labour of the hufhandmen every 

 " year. At the time of harveft, they bruife it when ripe in mortars ; and fet by the 

 " {trained juice in vefl'els, till it is concreted in form of fnow, or of white fait. This, 

 •' when fcrapcd, they mix with bread, or rub it with water, and take it as pottage ; and it 

 " is to them more wholefome and pleafing than the honey of bees. The people who were 

 *' engaged in the fieges of Albaria Marra and Archas, and fuffered dreadful hunger, were 

 " much refreflied hereby." 



The fame author f, in the account of the reign of Baldwin, mentions eleven camels, laden 

 with fugar, being taken by the Crufaders, (b) fo that it muft have been made in confiderable 

 quantity. 



Jacobus de Vitriaco mentions J, (c) that "in Syria reeds grow that are full of honey, by 

 *' which he underltands a fweet juice, which by the preflure of a fcrew-engine, and con- 

 *' creted by fire, becomes fugar." This is the firft account I have met with of the employ- 

 ment of heat or fire in the making of fugar. 



About the fame period § {d) Willermus Tyrenfis fpeaks of fugar as made in the neighbour- 

 hood of Tyre, and fent from thence to the farthefl parts of the world. 



Marlnus Sanutus mentions {e) ||, that in the countries fubjeft to the Sultan, fugar was pro- 

 duced in large quantity, and that it likewife was made in Cyprus, Rhodes, Amorca, Marta, 

 Sicily, and other places belonging to the Chriflians. 



Hugo Falcandus (f) f , an author who wrote about the time of the Emperor Frederic Bar- 

 barofla, fpeaks of fugar being in his time produced in great quantity in_Sicily. It appears to 

 have been ufed in two ftates -, one wherein the juice was boiled down to the conGftence of 

 honey, and another where it was boiled farther, fo as to form a folid body of fugar. 



(a) Calamellos ibidem mellitos, per camporum planiciem abundanter repertos, quos vocant Zucra, fuxit po- 

 pulus illorum falubri fucco laetatus ; et vix ad faturitatem praedulcediae explere hoc guftato valebant. Hoc 

 enim genus herbae, fummo labore agiicolarum, per fingulos excolitur annos. Deinde, tempore meffis, matu- 

 lum mortariolis indigena;<:ontundunt, fuccum colatum in vafis fuis reponentes, quoufque coagulatus induref- 

 cat, fub fpecie nivis vel falis albi. Qucm rafum cum pane mifcentes, aut cum aqu^ tcrentes, pro pulmento 

 fumunt ; et fupra favum mellis guftantibus dulce ac falubre effe videtur. His ergo calamellis melliti faporij, 

 populus in obfidione Albarise Marrae et Archas multum horrenda fame vexatus, eft refocillatus. 



Geft. Dei per Francos, p. 270. 



(b) Gefta Dei, p. 353. 



(c) Sunt autem calamelli, calami pleni melle fucco dulciflimo, ex quo quafi in torculari oompreffo, et ad ig- 

 nem condenfato, prius quafi mel pofthaec quafi Zuccara efficitur. Geft. Dei, p. 1075. 



(d) Per inftitores ad ultimas orbis partes deportatur. Geft. Dei, p. 835. 

 ("() Marin. Sanut. L. I. Part I. Cap. 2.— in parte fccunda Geft. Dei. 

 (f) In Prxfatione ad Libr. de Calamitatibus Siciliae. 



* 1108. t mo. +"14. § i"4' 111306. fl 1170. 



T 1 have 



