146 SPECIES OF SUGAR-CANE. 



from his sickness, and even in a state of more than common 

 health. With eagerness, they inquired for the medicine he 

 had so successfully used, upon which he acquainted them 

 that he had subsisted, from the time of their departure, solely 

 upon the sugar-cane. Attracted by such a powerful recom- 

 mendation, the precious plant was carefully transplanted, and 

 cultivated in their own country.* 



HENRIETTA. 



Thank you, Esther, for your story. Is there more than 

 one kind of sugar-cane? 



MRS. F. 



Yes; there are several species or varieties, of which the 

 old Creole cane, the cane of Otaheite (or Bourbon cane), and 

 the Violet or Batavian cane, are the principal. 



ESTHER. 



By the old Creole cane, I suppose, mamma, you mean that 

 which was introduced from Sicily to Madeira, the Canaries 

 and the West Indies. f 



MRS. F. 



Exactly so; for the cane of Otaheite, we are indebted to 

 the voyages of Bougainville, Cook, and Bligh. It is consi- 

 dered as one third more productive than the common cane; 

 is taller, thicker, and altogether more luxuriant in its vegeta- 

 tion. Bougainville transported it to the Isle of France, 

 whence it passed to Cayenne, Martinique, and since 1792, to 

 the other Antilles. The third kind is the violet cane, and is 

 purplish in its foliage; it is a native of Java, and is, I believe, 

 chiefly preferred in the fabrication of rum. 



ESTHER. 



It is not surprising that the ancients should have thought 

 sugar to have been a concretion on the outside of a tree, for 



* Porter on the Sugar Cane, from which work the above account 

 is chiefly taken. 

 t Humboldt. 



