68 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



chimneys, pouring out dense volumes of black smoke. 

 By the road Avas a dwelling-house, and the " fabrik " 

 was in the rear. The canes are cut in the field and 

 bound into bundles, each containing twenty-five. 

 They are then hauled to the factory in clumsy, two- 

 wheeled carts called pedatis, with a yoke of sap is. 

 On this plantation alone there are two hundred such 

 carts. The mode adopted here of obtaining the 

 sugar fi'om the cane is the same as in our country. 

 It is partially clarified by pouring over it, while yet 

 in the earthen pots in which it cools and crystallizes, 

 a quantity of clay, mixed with water, to the consist- 

 ency of cream. The water, filtering through, washes 

 the crystals and makes the sugar, which up to this 

 time is of a dark brown, almost as white as if it had 

 been refined. This simple process is said to have 

 been introduced by some one who noticed that 

 wherever the birds stepped on the broAvn sugar mth 

 their muddy feet, in those places it became strange- 

 ly white. After all the sugar has been obtained that 

 is possible, the cheap and impure molasses that drains 

 off is fermented \vith a small quantity of rice. 

 Palm-mne is then added, and from this mixture is 

 distilled the liquor kno^vn as " arrack," which conse- 

 quently differs little from rum. It is considered, and 

 no doubt rightly, the most destructive stimulant that 

 can be placed in the human stomach, in these hot 

 regions. From Java large quantities are shipped to 

 the cold regions of Sweden and Norway, where, if it 

 is as injurious, its manufacturers are, at least, not 

 obliged to witness its poisonous effects. 



After the sugar has been dried in the sun it 



