I'he Cultivation of the Suc/ar-Cane. S3 



Many of the early writers, even so far hack as the father of history, 

 Herodotu?, make allusions to "honey made by the hands of man," and 

 " tlie sweet juice of an Indian reed, much used for drinking," which t^liny 

 calls Sacchorn ; but of its precise nature, place of production, &:c., the 

 Inost vague opinions were held. 



There is little doubt that China and India were the original places of 

 production of this article, whence it would seem to have traveled by slow 

 degrees towards Persia, Arabia, and vSyria ; and thence became known to 

 many nations of Europe, throuajh the Crusaders, who carried back with 

 them the knowledge of many useful arts. 



Chemically speaking, sugar, or the saccharine principle, is met with in 

 many products of the vegetable and animal kirigdom. It has been ex- 

 tensively manufactured from beet-root in France and Germany ; while, in 

 the United Slates, sugar is produced from the juices of the maple tree. 

 la Ceylon, and some parts of continental India, sugar is also produced 

 from the juices of the cocoa-nut and jaggery palms. The sugar, howev- 

 er, of which I am now about to write, is the ordinary sugar of commerce, 

 the production of the sugar cane. 



Tracing the spread of the sugar-cane culture from Arabia, westward, 

 to the Islands of the Mediterranean, Italy, and Spain, we gather that the 

 Portuguese carried the cane to the Island of Madeira ; and about the fif- 

 teenth century the Spaniards imported it into the Canaries and the Bra- 

 zils. Europe continued to be supplied with sugar by the Spaniards and 

 Portuguese; and it was not until the following century that the English 

 colonists of Barbadoes cotnmenced the first of the West India plantations, 

 which afterwards formed such a lucrative -occupation to many of the col- 

 onists in that part of the world. 



The climate of the Mauritius is very genial, although tropical. Its soil 

 is most fertile, and the vegetation of the island rich slnd varied in the ex- 

 treme. Excellent roads stretch from the principal town and seat of Gov- 

 ernment, Port Louis, through the most fertile districts in every direction. 

 At some distance from the shore, lofty and abrupt ranges of hills rise 

 from the luxuriant plains, clad to their summits with the most abundant 

 and beautiful foliage. Dotted along the slopes of green hills and pleas- 

 antly situated amidst the cool shade of palm topes and mingo groves, may 

 be seen many delightful villas, the rustic dwellings of the wealthy Mau- 

 ritians. 



Farther from the town than the above are the bungalows of the plant- 

 ers, surrounded by out-houses, stores, cattle-sheds, and dwellings of their 



