42 SUGAR 



CHAPTER XI 



A VISIT TO A DEMEBARA SUGAE FACTORY- — Continued 



Taking us to the imposing-looking building which is 

 called the mill, our guide starts at the initial process 

 to show us the whole business of sugar-making. We 

 stand outdoors, fronting a vast trough that is fitted, 

 left and right, with long, wide, gruesome-looking rakes. 

 This trough is situated in the mill-dock, and is fed 

 from punts on each side ; but as the double-feeding 

 action consists of precisely similar left-hand and right- 

 hand manoeuvres, we concentrate our attention on the 

 near tactics. A cane-laden punt has been towed 

 alongside the trough. This punt is fitted with a net- 

 work of chains, slung underneath the canes ; to effect 

 the unloading, long, overhead chains are now attached 

 to the sling - bed ; there is a mysterious roar of 

 machinery; and in a twinkling our astonished eyes 

 behold the whole three-ton load of canes rising bodily 

 from the punt into the air. For a moment we see 

 them resting securely in a sling, the next moment the 

 whole load looks as if it were going to turn turtle, the 

 next it falls into place on the trough platform. The 

 cane-rakes are lowered, and begin their work of 

 gathering in fresh supplies wherewith to feed the mill, 

 while the empty sling falls back into the punt with a 

 fierce clatter of chains. 



The canes are raked down from the platform into a 

 carrier, practically a shding staircase, which takes them 

 up to the mill-rollers to meet their doom. 



We walk up a sloping platform, which follows the 

 loute of the carrier, climb some steps, and reach an 



