Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/140

Rh embrace. I have here also greatly enjoyed the balmy air and the wonderful beauty and novelty of the vegetation. There are some beautiful avenues—gundarajahs, as they are called in Spanish—on this plantation, one of king-palms, another of mango-trees, and so on. In the evenings we have music—for the whole family is musical—and sit with open doors whilst the delicious zephyrs sport round the room.

I could go through the whole process of sugar-making, from its very commencement to its close, that is to say, if I had sugar-cane and a sugar-mill. The process is so simple and so agreeable to witness that I think you will not be displeased to see it here on paper as I have seen it in Mr. C.'s well-kept sugar-mill. We must first, however, see the cutting of the sugar-cane.

The sugar-cane is waving there in the field, like a compact, tall, green reed; the stems, about as thick as a stout walking-stick, are yellow, some with flame-coloured stripes or spots, or with various characteristics of the cane, such as longer or shorter distances between the joints, each according to its species, for there are here many species of sugar-cane, as the Otaheitian-cane, ribbon-cane, and so on.

The cane is cut off near the root, with a sharp reaping-hook, or short, crooked scythe, one or two canes at a time; the green top is cut off, and the cane cast to one side. The negroes perform this operation with great speed and dexterity, and, as it seems, con amore. It is said that they like to destroy, and I could almost believe that it was so; there is a crashing and crackling among the vigorous canes; it is cheerful work, and those black figures, with their broad chests and sinewy arms, look well so employed. The shorn canes are loaded upon wagons drawn by oxen and conveyed away to the sugar-mill; where, as soon as it reaches the open door, it is unloaded by women, who throw the canes into a broad, raised, long trough, which