SUGAR. 



"Sugar, in the form with which we are most familiar — the 

 so-called " Cane Sugar" — has been known and used from the 

 most remote ages in India and China, the very name com- 

 ing down to us through the Arabic or Persian language, and 

 it is known as " Sukkar" in Arabia at the present day. The 

 *' Calamus," and " Sweet reed" of the Bible are also supposed 

 to refer to the Sugar Cane. 



The manufacture of Sugar came slowly into Europe, en- 

 tering by way of Venice in the 10th century. Strabo, 

 Arrian, Pliny and others had already mentioned in their 

 historical accounts of the nearer Orient, the occurrance of a 

 plant — undoubtedly the Cane — which yielded a syrup that 

 was eaten as honey with bread, and was brought originally 

 from India and Ethiopia. 



Pliny says further that it was called " Sacoharum," and 

 that sometimes when allowed to flow from the bruised plant 

 it would form a white, solid substance resembling salt, which 

 was used as a medicine. The early crusaders found the 

 Syrians indulging in a sweet juice " extracted from a Cane 

 which they broke up in mortars, and sometimes allowed 

 this extract to stand in the sun and evaporate, when a 

 whitish substance separated out, which was eaten with 

 bread." The crusaders got some of the seed, and bringing 

 back samples of the Cane, they introduced its cultivation 

 into Rhodes, Sicily and Crete in the 9th century. Thus 

 spreading from the Levant as a starting point, the process of 

 manufacture reached Venice in 996, Spain and Portugal 

 coming next, and finally in 1319 Sugar became an article of 

 importation into Great Britain in considerable quantity. 



