Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1890. 
Aloes  in  Curacao. 
507 
too  thick  during  the  dry  season,  and  too  watery  immediately  after 
the  rains.  The  aloes  plant  is  about  18  inches  highland  its  leaves 
spread  in  all  directions.  In  the  island  of  Bonaire  the  plants  are  cut 
by  women,  who  gather  the  leaves  at  the  top  with  one  hand  while 
with  the  other  they  give  a  deep  circular  incision  at  the  base  of  the 
crown,  thus  lopping  off  all  the  larger  leaves,  but  leaving  a  few 
young  shoots  to  sprout  afresh.  In  Aruba,  on  the  other  hand,  where 
the  work  of  cutting  is  done  by  men*  the  entire  crown  is  cut  away. 
In  various  parts  of  the  aloes  field,  within  easy  reach  of  the  cutters,  are 
placed  wooden  troughs.  The  cut  leaves  are  placed  perpendicular  in 
the  trough,  and  a  small  tin  receptacle  is  put  at  the  opening.  The 
tins  used  for  this  purpose  are  generally  empty  butter  or  lard  tins — 
those  commodities  being  imported  in  the  West  India  islands  from 
the  States.  A  brown  colored  juice  flows  abundantly  from  the  leaves 
without  any  further  manipulation,  and  the  tin,  when  full,  is  emptied 
out  into  a  wooden  cask.  The  dry  leaves  are  thrown  away  or  used 
as  cattle  food. 
In  some  of  the  aloes  fields  there  is  a  brick-built  furnace  provided 
with  a  large  copper  boiler,  into  which  the  contents  of  the  cask  are 
emptied  and  boiled  over  an  open  fire  under  constant  stirring. 
While  still  hot  the  boiled  juice  is  poured  into  the  wooden  cases,  in 
which  it  is  shipped  to  the  States  and  Europe.  Aloes  boiling  is 
perceptible  at  a  long  distance  by  the  peculiar  odor  given  off  by  the 
juice,  an  odor  which  is  popularly  reputed  to  be  very  conducive  to 
health.  In  many  cases  the  field  possesses  no  furnace,  and  the  juice 
has  to  be  carted  to  a  common  boiling  place.  One  of  the  largest  of 
these  works  is  situated  in  the  neighborhood  of  Oranjestad,  the 
capital  of  Aruba.  Here  the  operation  is  done  by  steam,  and  not 
over  an  open  fire,  as  in  the  fields.  The  proprietor  of  these  works 
makes  a  certain  charge  for  boiling,  and  occasionally  he  purchases 
the  raw  juice  on  his  own  account,  and  leaves  it  unboiled  until  a 
large  supply  has  accumulated.  While  the  aloes  market  was  yet  in 
a  more  satisfactory  condition  carts  were  sent  out  from  the  works  to 
collect  the  juice  in  the  fields  ;  but  that  is  not  done  now.  The 
method  of  making  incisions  in  the  leaf  and  evaporating  the  juice  in 
the  sun,  described  in  certain  hand-books,  is  never  followed  in  the 
Dutch  Indies,  as  it  takes  much  more  time  than  that  actually  in  use, 
while  the  quality  of  the  juice  obtained  is  not  necessarily  superior. 
The  produce  of  the  islands  of  Bonaire  and  Aruba  is  shipped  to 
