72 SUGAR 



darkness, and overhead countless stars are blinking 

 and winking and twinkling in the moon-bathed vault. 



A cane-laden train is just coming into the station. 

 One great siding is crowded with cane-laden trucks — 

 they look like four-legged tables turned topsy-turvy 

 on trolleys, and piled up with golden sheaves. Another 

 big siding is crowded with empty trucks, which are 

 waiting until the morning to be coupled up to an engine, 

 and taken to fetch more sugar-cane. The railway 

 line, which extends for about six miles up country, 

 was built by Gunthorpes, and is used solely for 

 cane traffic between the contracting estates and the 

 factory. 



We walk across the mill-yard to the discharge plat- 

 form, alongside the cane carrier. Here we find a staff 

 of eight men, working under the directions of the 

 " Cane Carrier Boss." Two trucks at a time are un- 

 loaded ; three men stand in each, throwing canes down 

 to the carrier, and as they fall higgledy-piggledy 

 therein, two of the gang arrange them a little more 

 conveniently for safe transit to the rollers. The 

 carrier works on the "sliding staircase" principle, 

 and is capable of bearing a load of twelve tons. 



On entering the spacious factory, we are immediately 

 struck by the highly picturesque effect of the brilliant 

 light playing on the faces of the darkie workpeople. 

 As we follow our leader through the building, we soon 

 begin to realize that the Gunthorpes method of making 

 cane-juice into sugar is practically the same as that 

 which we saw at Factory Diamond, Demerara. But 

 whereas Diamond makes yellow crystals for the con- 

 sumer, Gunthorpes turns out grey crystals for the 

 refiner ; the difference is accounted for at the clarifica- 



