940 



SUGAR 



beam without trouble. 



mouth of the cone is a circular cavity, which collects any of the juice that may run 

 over from the upper ends of the pieces of cano ; and thence a canal conveys this 

 juice down the outside of the mortar, to the spout. The beam d, is about 16 feet in 

 length and 6 inches in thickness, being cut out from a large tree that is divided by a 

 fork into two arms. In the fork an excavation is made for the mortar b, round which 

 the beam turns horizontally. The surface of this excavation is secured by a semi- 

 circle of strong wood. The end towards the fork is quite open, for changing the 

 On the undivided end of the beam si ts the bullock-driver, 



e, whose cattle are 

 yoked by a rope 

 which comes from 

 the end of the beam ; 

 and they are pre- 

 vented from drag- 

 ging out of the circle 

 by another rope, 

 which passes from 

 the yoke to the 

 forked end of the 

 beam. On the arms, 



f, a basket is placed, 

 to hold the cuttings 

 of cane; and between 

 this and the mortar 

 sits the man who 

 feeds the mill. Just 



as the pestle comes round, he places the pieces of cane sloping down into the cavity 

 of the mortar; and after the pestle has passed, he removes those away that have been 

 squeezed. 



The following describes the primitive rude mill and boiler used in preparing the 

 extract of sugar-cane, and which are usually let to the ryots by the day. The mill in 

 Dinajpur, fig. 1928, is on the principle of a pestle and mortar. The pestle, however, 

 does not beat the canes, but is rubbed against them, as is done in many chemical trit- 

 urations ; and the moving force is two oxen. The mortar is generally a tamarind tree, 

 one end of which is sunk deep in the ground, to give it firmness. The part projecting, 

 a, may be about 2 feet high and a foot and a half in diameter ; and in the upper end a 

 hollow is cut, like the small segment of a sphere. In the centre of this, a channel de- 

 scends a little way perpendicularly, and then obliquely to one side of the mortar, so 



that the juice as squeezed 

 from the cane, runs off by 

 means of a spout, b, into a 

 strainer c, through which 

 it falls into an earthen 

 pot that stands in a hole, 

 d, under the spout. The 

 pestle, e, is a tree about 

 18 feet in length, and 1 

 foot in diameter, rounded 

 at its bottom, which rubs 

 against the mortar, and 

 which is secured in its 

 place by. a button or knob 

 that goes into the channel 

 of the mortar. The mov- 

 ing force is applied to a 

 horizontal beam,/, about 

 16 feet in length, which 

 turns round about the 

 mortar, and is fastened to 

 it by a bent bamboo. 

 It is suspended from the 

 upper end of the pestle by 

 a bamboo, g, which has 

 been cut with part of the root, in which is formed a pivot that hangs on the upper 

 point of the pestle. The cattle are yoked to the horizontal beam, at abnut 10 feet 

 from the mortar, move round it in a circle, and are driven by a man who sits on the 

 beam to increase the weight of the triturating power. Scarcely any machine moro 



1028 



