of the Ifland i)fBarh3idots. 85 



they were planted there by the great Gardiner of the World. Yet^f 

 there is one brought thither as a ftranger, from beyond the Line^ 

 which has a property beydnd them all 5 and that is the Sagar-Cane, 

 which though it has but one fingle tafte, yet, that full fweetnels has 

 fuch a benign faculty , Ss to prelerve all the reft from corruption, 

 which, without it, wbuld taint and become rotten5 and not only the 

 fruits of this Ifland, but of the world, which is a fpecial preheminence 

 due to this Plant, above all others, that the earth or world canboaft 

 of And that I may the more fully and amply fct her off , I will give 

 you all the oblervations I made, frorn my firft arrival on the lOandj 

 when planting there, was but in its infahcy, and but faintly under- 

 ftood, to the time I kft the place, when it was grown to a high per- 

 fed[\on. ; : : 



At the time we landed on this liland , which Wa^ in 'the beginning 

 September^ 16 J. we were informed, partly by thofe Planters we 

 found there, and partly by our own obfervations, that the great work 

 of Sugar-making, was but newly pradifed by the inhabitants there. 

 Some of the moft indiiftrious men, having gotten Plants fronai Fcr- 

 a place in Brap^ and made tryil of them at the Bdrkddaes.:, 

 and finding them to grow, they planted inore and more, .as they 

 grew and multiplycd on the place , till they had fuch a confidfrable 

 number, as they were woith the while to fet up a very fniali Irtg^niOj 

 and fo make tryal what Sugar could berriade upon that foyl. . But , 

 the iecrets of the work being not well underftood^ the Sugars they 

 made were very inconfidcrable, and little worth * forstwo or thpee 

 yearSiBnt they finding their errours by theii-ddily prafticeg begania litr 

 tie to liiendj and.by new direftidns from 5r4/?/,fometimes by ftrangers, 

 and novv and then by their own people, (who being covetous of the 

 knowledge of a thing, which fo much concerned chemin their pairti- 

 culars, and fop the general good of the whole Ifland^ < Were content 

 fometimes to make a voyage thither, to improve their kribvvledge in 

 a thihg they fo much deflred. Being now made much abler to. make 

 their queries , of the fecrets of that my, fiery, by how much their often 

 failings, had put the..no oftenftopsand nonpluffcs in' the work>; And 

 fo teturning with moft Plants, and better Knowledge, they went; on 

 upon frcfti hopes, butftill ftiort, of what they fhould be more skilful 

 in : for, at our atrivdl there, We found them ighorantan three main 

 point?; that ninth conduced td the work^ t^za- The manner of Plan- 

 ting, the tirrie of Gathering, and the right placing of their Coppers in 

 thdr Furnaces 5 as alfo, the true way of cdvering their Rollers , with 

 plates or Bats of Iron ; AH which being rightly clone, advance much 

 in the performance of the main worki ; At the time of our arrival 

 there, wefotind many Sugar-worksfot up, and at work, but yet the 

 Sugars they made, were but bare Mufoavadoes, aftd few of them Mef- 

 ehantable commodities, fo moift, and full of moloflesj dnd fo ill eur'd, 

 as they Were hardly Vvofth the bringing home for fi^^Z-^/z^s^i But about 

 the time I left the Ifland, which wds in 1656. theyi wete much bet- 

 ter'd; for then they had the skill to kno\t when the Canes vverc ripe, 

 vvhich tvas not, till they were fifteen months old 5 and before, they 

 gathered them at twelve, which was a main diladvantage to the ma- 



Z king 



