82 
HISTORY OF THE [book. v. 
latlng in his closet, would seem sufficient to deter 
a wise man from adventuring in this line of cultiva¬ 
tion, it is chiefly owing, that so much money has 
been expended in it: I mean the fluctuating nature 
of its returns. The quality of sugar varies occasion¬ 
ally to so great a degree, as to create a difference 
in its marketable value of upwards of ten shillings 
sterling in the hundred weight, the whole of which 
is clear profit, the duties and charges being pre¬ 
cisely the same on Muscovado sugar, of whatever 
quality. Thus, fine sugar has been known to yield 
a clear profit to the planter of no less than ,£. 1,500 
sterling on 200 hogsheads of the usual magnitude, 
beyond what the same number, where the commo¬ 
dity is inferior in quality, would have obtained at 
the same market. To aver that this difference is 
imputable wholly to soil and seasons in the West 
Indies, or to the state of the British market, is to 
contradict common observation and experience. 
Much, undoubtedly, depends on skill in the manu¬ 
facture ; and the process being apparently simple, 
the beholder (from a propensity natural to the busy 
and inquisitive part of mankind) feels an almost 
irresistible propensity to engage in it. In this, 
therefore, as in all other enterprises, whose success 
depends in any degree on human sagacity and pru¬ 
dence, though perhaps not more than one man in 
fifty comes away fortunate, every sanguine adven¬ 
turer takes for granted that he shall be that one. 
Thus his system of life becomes a course of ex¬ 
periments, and if ruin should be the consequence 
of his rashness, he imputes his misfortunes to any 
