A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



37 



employ iron cylinders turned by steam or water power ; also 

 lift and force pumps, which quickly convey the sap into the 

 basins in which it is to be clarified by fermentation. 



But for comprehending easily all the operations required 

 in the extraction of sugar, Antonio's hacienda/m which every 

 thing was done before our eyes, was much preferable to any 

 of the modern mills provided with all kinds of improved ap- 

 paratus. 



When our young traveller saw the thick, muddy, and tur- 

 bid liquid, which was being stirred up by a gigantic " agita- 

 tor," he could hardly believe that it could ever produce the 

 beautiful white crystal with which he was so well acquainted. 



"But where's the sugar?" he eagerly asked. 



" There, in front of you," replied Sumichrast. " The su- 

 gar-cane, like all other vegetables, contains a certain quanti- 

 ty of liquid, in which the sugar is held in a state of solution ; 

 if this is removed, prismatic crystals immediately form. 

 Look now ! the contents of the copper are just beginning to 

 boil, and are covered with a blackish scum, which is careful- 

 ly skimmed off ; for in three or four days, when it has fer- 

 mented, it will produce, by means of distillation, the ardent 

 spirit which l'Encuerado is so fond of. The cloud of steam 

 which is rising above the copper shows that the juice is evap- 

 orating ; in a few minutes more it will be converted into sir- 

 up, and will ultimately form crystals. Come and see the re- 

 sult of the last operation." 



We entered a large gallery, in which a number of moulds 

 — made of baked earth and shaped like reversed sugar-loaves 

 — were ranged in lines under the beams, like bottles in a 

 bottle-rack. Into these, which had been previously moist- 

 ened, some laborers were pouring the boiling sirup. A lit- 

 tle farther on we were shown what had been boiled the day 

 before, and was crystallizing, assisted in the process by an 

 Indian, who stirred it slowly. From a trough, open at the 



