n c 2 



THE MII,L. 



improvement of the " circular piece of frame- 

 work called in Jamaica the dumb-returner" 

 has not been introduced. Two men and two 

 women are employed in feeding the mill with 

 cane ; a bundle of it is thrust in between the 

 middle roller and one of the side rollers, and 

 being received by one of the women, she passes 

 it to the man who stands close to her, for the 

 purpose of being by him thrust between the other 

 side roller and that of the centre. This operation 

 is continued five or six times until the juice 

 has been extracted. There appears to be some 

 mismanagement in this part of the work ; for 

 in the British colonies a second compression 

 " squeezes them completely dry, and some- 

 times even reduces them to powder ;" and the 

 same occurred in Labat's time in the French 

 islands. The dumb-returner tends very greatly 

 to prevent accidents, which occasionally occur 

 in Brazil through the carelessness or drowsiness 

 of the slaves. The negroes who thrust the 

 cane in between the rollers have sometimes 

 allowed their hands to go toe far, and one or 

 both of them having been caught, in some in- 

 stances, before assistance could be given, the 

 whole limb and even the body has been crushed 

 to pieces. In the mills belonging to owners 



have been sent from England, and are much approved of, 

 particularly tor mills that have the advantage of being turned 

 by water. 



