SUGAR. 239 



time prior to 1166, as in that year, William 

 the Second, King of Sicily, made a donation 

 of a mill for grinding sugar-canes, with all 

 its rights, members, and appurtenances, to 

 the monastery of St. Bennet.* 



From the shores of the Mediterranean, 

 this saccharine vegetable was conveyed to 

 Madeira, the Canary and Cape de Verde 

 Islands, soon after they were discovered. 

 Prince Henry, son to John the First of Por- 

 tugal, planted the vine in Madeira, in the 

 year 1420; and probably the sugar-cane was 

 first planted there about the same time. 

 From one of these Islands, it is supposed to 

 have found its way to the West Indies. 



After the discovery of America by Colum- 

 bus, in 1492, the Spaniards carried out plants 

 of the sugar-cane to the New World; but 

 they found the plant had been previously 

 cultivated in that hemisphere. They had 

 not long been seated in their new colonial 

 territories, Ibefore they made sugar a princi- 

 pal article in their agriculture and manu- 

 factures. 



The sugar-cane was first planted in Ja- 

 maica, when it was in possession of the 



* Lasitaus, History of the Portuguese discoveries. 



