VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 387 



way of writing 1^ (Hsing), "sweet-meats." A number of the 

 various products of the process are named, such as ^ ||p 

 (Ch'ing-t'ang), which is a pasty mass, produced by boiling and 

 partly clarifying; and several clarified and crystallized products 

 are called ;g' "^ (Shih-mi), 7X It (Ping-t'ang), and ff ^ 

 (T'ang-shuang). Figures of men, birds, and animals have 

 lonof been made of the coarse sug:ar for cliildren and for use 

 at feasts. A preparation made up with refined sugar and cow's 

 milk is called ^ if| (Ju-t'ang), and it much resembles in 

 appearance the sweetened condensed milk now on sale in 

 China. The refined sugar, which was called ^ ^ (Shih-mi) 

 and 1^ j^ |1| (Pai-sha-t'ang), is considered to be a remedy for 

 the spleen, and is prescribed in fevers, lack of secretion, dry 

 cough, and like difficulties. At the Yangtse ports sugar is 

 sometimes called '^ |^ (Yang-t'ang), from the fact that it is 

 brought in foreign steamers. 



The making of sugar in Szechuan has been much inter- 

 fered with by the cultivation of the poppy, so that the Yangtse 

 provinces which used to draw their supply from this source, 

 now receive sugar in large quantities from Swatow, Canton, 

 and Hongkong. The provinces of Hunan, Kueichou, and 

 Kiangsi are still able to supply the greater portiou of what 

 they consume, although the imported sugar is considered 

 better, and in the end cheaper. The sugar-cane is largely 

 cultivated in Chekiang for chewing, although the manufacture 

 of sugar is on the increase from year to year. It is to be 

 remembered that the embassies, of 1792 and 1816, which visited 

 this province, found sugar very extensively manufactured there. 

 According to Mr. Bowra's account in his Customs Report of 

 1869, intinerant sugar-boilers go about through the Chekiang 

 sugar districts, carrying with them an iron cauldron and a pair 

 of cylinders. The sugar mills are of the rudest kind, being 

 set up in the midst of the cane plantation, and are sometimes 

 rented out. "The juice having been boiled and partly clarified 

 is transformed into ^ H (Ch'ing-t'ang) or ^ ;^ (Wu-t'ang), 

 a green or black sugar of a pasty description." In some places 

 a good sugar is produced by the claying process. " iVs in the 

 case of black sugar, the cane is ground and the juice is partly 

 clarified, and having been boiled to a certain consistency, is 



