4 SUGAR 



that time very much in the habit of working almost 

 entirely the raw sugar that came from the island of 

 Jamaica. Our West India Islands made only what is 

 called muscovado sugar, the nature of which will be 

 explained when we come to the subject of sugar pro- 

 duction. The muscovado sugar from Jamaica was very 

 superior to that from most of the other islands, and was 

 much sought after by the more fastidious of the London 

 refiners. But, of course, the time came, as consumption 

 increased, when the refiner had to add some of the inferior 

 qualities and to maintain his average by using higher 

 grades of raw sugar from Havana or Mauritius, and 

 subsequently, when the Dutch monopoly of the Java 

 crop ceased, the fine qualities from that favoured 

 island. 



In the streets of the East End could be seen, at all 

 hours of the day, great wagons, drawn by the finest 

 specimens of the cart-horse breed, each containing six 

 hogsheads about five tons of British West Indian sugar 

 destined for one or another of the twenty flourishing 

 refineries of the district. A visitor to those busy streets, 

 if he followed one of these wagons, would find himself 

 opposite a large factory, a hive of bustling industry. 

 On one side of it would be a row of similar wagons, their 

 freight of raw sugar being hoisted to the top floor of a 

 lofty building where the refining process began. On 

 the opposite side of the works he would find a much 

 longer line of smaller wagons or carts taking delivery of 

 the refined sugar to go to the consumer. Such was the 

 life of the East End in those days. To-day it is called 

 " The Workless City." 



The London refiner made five products : loaf sugar, 

 white crushed sugar, yellow crushed sugar, and a small 

 quantity of very brown sugar, from which followed the 

 final product treacle. Even this treacle was a nice 



