396 



On the Sfafis/ics of Dnkhun. 



[ArniL 



within the province of the woinon : the implement:* used may* be culled 

 the pestle and mortar ; thi^ mortar is called the ookul, and the pestle, 

 moosul. The mortar in the Mawuls is froqiiently very rudo in form, 

 being a rough stone with a hole scooped in the middle of it to receive 

 the grain. In the Desh, Ihnvever, the mortar is of wood, of a good form, 

 and sometimes carved. 'V\\e m >vsul, oy pestle, is always of wood, four 

 or five feet long, tipped with iron, and in thiidcness and weight suitable 

 to the strength of the person to use it. The final ])rocess is the grind- 

 ing the corn ; this also is the duty of the women, and two of them are 

 usually employed at the mill. Christ s;»ys, There shall be two women 

 grinding at the mill ;* one shaU be taken and the otlier left." 



Hand Mill. — The mill is iiortable, antl is cal^e l Jutuh : it coiisists of 

 two tlat circular stones, fouftecn or eighteen inches in diameter, ))laced 

 one on the other ; thelower one has an uptight \v'g in it, the upper one 

 has a hole in the centre through which the peg of the lower stone 

 passes, and the upper stone is made to perform an horizontal rotatory 

 motion round the peg by means of another upright peg near its maroin. 

 The grain is put in at the hole in the ceutre. This form of mill must be 

 verv ancient, for I saw remains of such mills in the ruins of Pomjjeii, 

 and one nearly perfect in the ruins of the Roman villa of Sir Will iam 

 Hickes's estate near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. 



Baw Sufjar MiH. — Vndei' the head of ifn icullure it will be necessary 

 to speak of the Gool, or raw sugar-mill. Sugar cane is not so inu( h culti- 

 vated as it might be, and it is seldom found but at ptjpulou.s villages. I 

 have seldom seen more than two mills at a village ; and as the screws 

 and accompaniments are somewiiat expensive for the circumstances of a 

 cultivator, the mills are seldom found belonging to him, but he is a renter 

 of them for the term requisite. The mills are in the open air, and con- 

 sist of two vertical screws which are sunk in a square chamber excavat- 

 ed in the earth ; one of them is moved by a double lever so much elevat- 

 ed above the level of the field as to admit of bullocks being attached to 

 the ends of the lever. The cattle go round incessantly in a circle and 

 work the mill. The bits of sugar cane are passed twice between the 

 screws, and the juice runs out into a wooden or copper vessel placed to 

 receive it. The Sre-place (Choolangun) and great iron pan (Kurhuee), 

 to boil the juice in, are close at hand ; a ladle to stir and skim tdie juice as 

 it boils, and some circular boles in the ground to receive the juice when 

 sufficiently thick, complete the material and close the process. The 

 v.'ork is continued night and day till the cane-field is exhausted. Sugar 

 is not rcP.ned in the Dukhun. 



*Matth. xxiv. 41. 



