[ 38* ] 



people prefer what looks pleasant and nice, sugar of this 

 sparkling appearance will command a higher price in the 

 market. 



578. " The object is attained by boiling in a vacuum pan, 

 that is to say, a large closed cistern from which a powerful 

 pump exhausts the vapour as it rises. The lower the atmos- 

 pheric pressure on the surface of any liquid the lower the 

 temperature at which ebullition takes place. The pump is 

 therefore regulated so as to diminish the pressure on the 

 surface to meet a point that the mass will boil at about 160 F. 

 and the apparatus being kept regulated to this point, all the 

 water is driven off by boiling by means of introduced steam, 

 without the temperature becoming higher than 160. 



579. ' It is out of place here to describe the mechanical 

 devices for filling and keeping rilled and employing and watch- 

 ing and testing the liquid within the closed cistern, or for regu- 

 lating the supply of heat and the action of the pump, which 

 is driven by steam. It is sufficient to pass at once to the 

 end of the vacuum pan stage, which lasts 8 hours, and to 

 say, that the mass in the pan is now run off into sugar-loaf 

 moulds, which are placed up side down, having a hole in 

 their vertex, placed above a pot. The molasses by its own 

 weight drops out by this hole and is caught in the earthen- 

 ware pot beneath. 



580. " The last of the molasses is washed out in the fol- 

 lowing manner. The uppermost inch of the sugar in the 

 mould is scraped off moistened, and put back. The moisture 

 sinks through the mass and carries with it the molasses. This 

 is done some three times and then the sugar having now 

 been 12 days in the moulds, the purification is considered 

 to be finished, and the loaves may be turned out of the 

 moulds. If the raw material used was the gur as it comes 

 from the cultivator, the result is a yellowish, sparkling loaf- 

 sugar , but if native refined dhulua sugar is the raw material 

 used, than the loaf is of brilliantly white sugar. 



