SUGAR CANE. 209 



like manner to their growth near the mouth of the 

 Mississippi, and Jean de Laet, to their spontaneous 

 production in the island of St. Vincent. It is not 

 for the plant, therefore, hut for the art of refining 

 sugar, that the "West Indies are indebted to the 

 Spaniards and Portuguese, and these to the nations 

 of the East. 



The canes, when fully ripe, are cut down nearly 

 to the root, and being then divided into convenient 

 lengths and made into bundles, are conveyed to the 

 mill. The expressed juice, which is obtained by 

 passing the canes twice through the cylinders of 

 the mill, is received into a cistern, and exposed to 

 the action of heat, in order to prevent it from 

 becoming acid. A certain quantity of lime or lime^ 

 water is then added, to promote the separation of 

 the grosser particles contained in the juice, and the 

 liquor is subjected to a rapid boiling, in order to 

 evaporate the watery particles, and to bring the 

 syrup to such a consistency as to granulate in 

 cooling. When the liquor is sufficiently cooled in 

 shallow trays, it is put into hogsheads, the bottoms 

 of which are perforated; these hogsheads are then 

 placed over a large cistern, into which that portion 

 of saccharine matter called molasses, rapidly drains, 

 and leaves the raw sugar in the state in which it 

 reaches us. The casks are afterwards filled up, 

 headed, and sent on board the vessels. Rum is the 

 produce of molasses ; of the saccharine matter that 

 will not crystallize, as well as of the impurities 

 which collect upon the surface of the boiling liquor. 



"We regard sugar as a pleasant addition to the tea 

 table, as a means of preserving the juice and sub- 



