84 SUGAR 



being mechanically unloaded from railway trucks and 

 barges, and carried mechanically to the furnaces via 

 underground passages. 



We pass into the Factory, and climb up and up to 

 the top-jfloor, where at length we find ourselves in the 

 receiving depot for raw sugar. As the cranes deposit 

 the bags at the entrance, a gang of factory hands un- 

 loads the slings at lightning speed ; and with equal 

 rapidity the bags are passed into the warehouse, 

 sampled, and weighed. You notice that the warehouse 

 floor, inlaid with large iron plates, looks like a chess- 

 board on an enormous scale ; these plates cover 

 openings into the floor beneath, which is occupied by 

 capacious bins. When the raw sugaj* has been weighed 

 and sampled, you see it shot through one or other of 

 these openings, into the storage quarters below ; in 

 the bottom of the bins are holes, through which the 

 sugar can be let down into the melting-pots as it is 

 required for refining. 



For refining purposes, raw sugar is converted into 

 a syrup ; that is, it is dissolved in water. But there 

 are certain impurities which will not melt, so the next 

 business is to remove these by filtering the liquor 

 through cotton cloth. And next, the filtered solution 

 is passed through animal charcoal, which completes 

 purification by removing the natural colouring matter 

 of the sugar-juice. 



You will be specially interested in the "Char- 

 Koom " of the Refinery, because it presents sugar- 

 making scenes with which you are unfamiliar. But 

 you will not want to stay there long, for not being 

 suitably attired for the " climate," you will find the 

 atmosphere uncomfortably hot. We descend from 



