THE  SUGAR  OF  THE  FUTURE. 
153 
kind  of  sugar  termed  there,  as  the  words  used  by  my  fellow- 
countryman  and  friend,  Dr.  J.  E.  de  Vry,  the  sugar  of  the 
future.  In  reply  to  a  note  from  me  addressed  to  Dr.  de  Vry, 
I  received  the  following  letter,  which  I  translate,  und  request 
you  to  insert  it  in  your  next  impression,  as  it  may  contain  some 
matter  of  interest  to  some  of  your  readers. 
Dr.  A.  Adriani. 
Dr.  de  Vry  writes  as  follows : — "  When,  in  the  year  1857,  I 
proceeded  on  my  journey  from  Holland  to  Java,  I  stayed  a 
month  in  Ceylon,  and  while  there  I  became  acquainted  with  the 
Borassus  flabelUformis,  vulgarly  called  by  the  Ceylonese-British 
inhabitants  palm  of  Palmyra ;  and  among  other  products  of 
native  industry  my  attention  was  called  to  the  sugar  sold  by 
the  natives  under  the  name  of  Jaggery.  The  large  number  of 
the  trees  alluded  to  gave  rise  that,  in  conversation  with  parties 
in  Ceylon,  I  uttered  the  idea  of  the  possibility  of  applying  the 
said  palm  trees,  by  regular  cultivation,  as  a  means  of  obtaining 
sugar  on  the  large  scale.  As,  however,  my  stay  in  Ceylon  was 
only  temporary,  and  as  I,  moreover,  had  neither  time  nor  im- 
plements and  apparatus  for  anything  like  a  proper  investigation, 
the  matter  was  left  at  rest  until,  after  having  got  settled  in  the 
interior  of  Java,  my  attention  was  aroused  by  the  large  quantity 
of  sugar  which  is  obtained  by  the  Javanese  inhabiting  the  Pre- 
anger  Regentschappen  from  the  Aren  palm  (Arenga  sacchari- 
fera.}  It  is  true  that  the  late  Professor  Reinwardt*  had  as- 
serted that  the  juice  of  this  kind  of  palm  yielded  a  sweet  mate- 
rial, but  he  had,  as  was  perceived  by  me  at  once,  erroneously 
stated  that  this  was  simply  glucose ;  for  I  found  that  the  sugar 
obtained  by  the  natives  in  a  very  rude  and  primitive  manner 
contains  even  yet  then  a  large  proportion  of  cane  sugar."  Dr. 
de  Vry  describes  the  mode  of  preparation  of  sugar  from  the 
Aren  palm,  as  carried  on  by  the  Javanese,  as  follows: — "As 
soon  as  the  palm  commences  blooming,  a  portion  of  the  stem 
carrying  the  blossom  is  cut  away  ;  "there  exudes  from  the  wound 
so  made  a  juice  containing  sugar,  which  juice  is  collected  in 
tubes  made  from  bamboo-cane  previously  exposed  to  smoke,  with 
*  Dr.  C.  G-.  Reinwardt,  late  Professor  of  Botany  and  Chemistry  of  Ley- 
den  University,  was,  from  1816  to  1825  (nifallor,)  in  Java  to  organise  the 
scientific  researches  there  to  be  made  by  botanists,  geologists,  &c,  &c. 
