No. 5. — 1850.] SUGAR MANUFACTURE. 



239 



in two months, is much more likely to be the rate, but then 

 some trees grow much faster than others. One of my trees 

 matured and would have burst six pdlaikal between August 

 28 and November 20 ; the other tree only four in that time. 



The sap, or peni, with bark infused, gives a much 

 whiter jaggery than that which is limed, the latter, as made 

 by the native method, being nearly black and full of 

 impurities. Very few of the natives, however, take bark 

 toddy, as they consider it more troublesome and expensive, 

 though the jaggery makes amends for that by fetching a 

 higher price. 



The difference between the preparation of jaggery and 

 sugar is merely this. For jaggery the liquor is boiled 

 till it is extremely thick, and it is kept boiling and well 

 agitated with the ladle to prevent its burning till it is 

 quite inspissated, so as to *be merely kept in a semi-fluid 

 state by the heat : it is then turned into moulds (generally 

 cocoanut shells), when it immediately cools into a hard 

 concreted mass without any distinguishable grain ; whereas 

 sugar (after being properly clarified) requires only to be 

 boiled very carefully, yet quickly, till it attains a certain 

 degree of tenacity, which is known to the experienced boiler 

 as the " point." It is then taken off, " skipped " into 

 another vessel called the cooler, in which it ought to part 

 with its heat gradually : so they are generally made of wood, 

 and this ensures its forming a good strong grain. It does 

 not, however, become quite dry till it is transferred into a 

 second vessel, constructed so as to drain off the superfluous 

 syrup which will not grain ; and this is termed the molasses. 

 This will sometimes grain on being boiled again, and it is a 

 curious fact that the molasses from cocoanut, or coco sugar, 

 even when the liquor has been very highly, perhaps 

 excessively, limed, grains much more freely than that from 

 cane sugar ; and this process may even be repeated several 



