Dijfertdthn on the Hi/lory of Sugar. rj 



and fome expreffions alfo of Strabo *, feem to prove that the 

 Indian reeds were of an iminenfc fize ; thougli fome doubt 

 may be entertained rcfpefting the opinion of V^arro, as the 

 words are faid to vary in different editions of the book. Nor 

 can there be any doubt but that there are many kinds of 

 reeds from which a fweet juice may be exprefled equal ia 

 fweetnefs to honey. But the principal reafon why I cannot 

 aflent to the opinion of thofe who believe that the liquor of 

 the Indians was made from our fugar cane is, that no recent 

 author has praifed the melleous juice of the roots, which are 

 (lender and not very fucculent. Nor did Rumph ever hear 

 in India, that a fweet and potable juice was exprefled there 

 from the roots of either reeds or trees. The antienl Indians, 

 had they known our plant, would, without doubt, have ex- 

 prefled from the trunk or ftem a potable liquor, as the nar- 

 row or fponoy part is fo full of juice that it mav be fucked 

 out with great eafe. But I do not fee how ihofe could be 

 refuted who might afl'ert that the antients were deceived in 

 this point by travellers, and falfely im'agined that the juice 

 exprefled from the ftem was contained in the roots. Nay, 

 this opinion might be confirmed by this circumftance, that 

 Rumph himfelf, who certainly examined and was well ac- 

 quainted with every thing relating to the nature of the lugar 

 cane, its form and fize, imagined that the tops of the canes, 

 which for the mofl; part incline towards the ground, might 

 have been confidered by the antients as roots f. And tliis 

 opinion acquires fome weight when it is known that the part 

 of the ftem neareft to the root or the earth contains the largeft 

 quantity of juice, as appears from the account of Rauwolf J 

 and others. 



This 



pinguis alicubi et tam feracis fcli, ut in ea mtlla frondibus deffliiant, lanas 

 iilvae ferant, arundinum fifTa internodia vtluti nevia, binos tt quaedam 

 ternos etiam vehant. 



* Strabo, lib. xv. ex Eratofthene : Toi'c 5e ru^ivcuj xap7rijuc> yimcQai -sjoK- 

 Xcuf, xtti Tttf pi^ac T«jv <}>ura)» zoi fxahii^a. raiv /jieyx'Kiiv xa.'Kajx'jiy j/XuxEia? xai <pie-H 

 xai i'J/io'Ei ;t^ia;vo;i*ev9u tou iJiro; rot; >i\iijic, revr EXTrcffTOVTOC E" Aicj, xai to» 

 •croTa/xiw. Fructus autem arboreos multos gigni, radices ftirpiuni, prs- 

 fertim magnarum arundinum et natura ct decoc^tionc dulces eire, aqua a 

 folibus tepcfafta, tarn ca;lcfti, quam jjluviali. — Thofe defirous of being ac- 

 quainted with tlie various kinds of reeds known to the antients may con- 

 fult T'heopbraft. Bodai a Slapel. p. 480. 



f Herbarium Amboincnle, vol. v. p. 188. 



+ Befchreibuiig dcr Reije Leoub. Rauwolffen; Frank. 15S2, 410. lib. I. 

 c- 4' P' 53* '^^^ author, fpeaking of Syria, fays: " Sugar cants grow 

 exceedingly well here, and in other places in the neighbourhood. The 

 caiiei in fize and height arc not unlike our cants, but the interior part of 

 them, and particularly at the bottom near the roots, v/here they have moll 



Ilrcngth, 



