The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1839-05-04

and men Of universal learning, nor with toIera.
BILE precision except By the former. None 81
them alude 10 any artificial process in the pre-.
para.ion Of IL. Elian, about the middle o
The second century, is the first who mention.
the use OF mechanical art in the extraction ol
the juice Of the cane, and he Is likewise the
first who attempts to fix the seat Of it, culture.
He tells Us. that sugar is honey pressed from
reeds, which are cultivated by the Prasii, a
people dwelling near the mouth of the
Ganges."
The Jewish histories make no mention OF
sugar. The only sweet condiment, used by
the Hebrews, was honey. But il may have
been in part honey made by menu for The
Rabbins understand thereby not only the ho-
ney of bees, but also sirops, made from the
fruit of the pal,n-tree.
During several centuries succeeding the
Augustan age, no extention Of the know ledge
or use OF sugar appears to have taken place.
It Is occasionally spoken OF, but to the same
effect as by the Greek physicians Of that age
so late as the seventh century, Paul of E gina
calls i "lndia SALT and borows the descrip-
ton Of Archigenes.
Atthis time a new power appeared on the
theatre Of nations. The Saracens conquered
and occupied western Asia, northern Africa,
and southern Europe. Their empire was
scarcely inferior 10 that Of Rome, in the period
Of her greatest prosperity and rnpacty. They
pushed their conquests to the Garonne and the
Rhone, to Amalf, and the islands of the Lee
want and the Egean sea-
+ 10 these ingenius barbarians the world is
indebted for the modern manufacture and CON-
merce OF sugar. 1t is not known at what
time they themselves became acquainted with
1t. Some authors have asserted. that il was
not un'ii the thirteenth century, and that the
sngar-cane and the art Of extracting and
celebrating the juice were conferred upon the
Europeans by the crusaders, or by the mer-
chant adsentnrers, who penetrated the Indies
after the return of Marco Polo Each Of
these assertions has been vaguely received ;
but little attention will satisfy every inquirer
that neither Of them is true.
We have seen that several of the ancients
best acquainted with the subject, couple
Arabia Felix with India as a source Of sac
charnm Arabian writer's Of the ninth and
tenth centuries speak Of sugar as common in
their times. lnthe year 9O6, the sugar cane
was cultivated, and sugar manufactured, at
Ormuz in Caramania, a province of the east.
ern Calphate An Arabian author of the
western Caliphaie, who composed treatise
on agriculture about The year ll4O, and who
quotes another writer Of his nation Of the
year 1913, gives full and precise directions
Tor raising canes and manufacturing sugar
From all which Loudon concludes, that sugar
has been cultivated in Spain upwards Of seven
hundred years, and probably as much as one
thousand years. Salmasius declares, in 1860,
that the Arabs had made our modern sugar
more than eight hundred years.
One OF the Christian historians Of the Cru
sades, in the year 100, states that the soldiers
Of the Cross found in Syria certain reeds,
called cona-meles, Of which it was reported,
tina, kind Of wild honey was made. An
other, in llOs, says The crusaders found
of I'ripoli, in Syria, which reeds were called
sucra. These they sucked, and were much
pleased with the taste thereof, and could
scarcely be satisfied with il. This plant is
cultivated with great labor Of the husbandman
every year. AT the time Of the harvest they
bruise it, when ripe, in morars, and SET BY the
strained juice in vessels until it is concreted
in the form Of snow or salt" The same
historian relates, that eleven camels laden
with sugar were captured by the Christians,
similar adventure happened to Richard
CRur-de Lion, in the second crusade: A
third writer, in 1924, tells us, that Sin
Syria, reeds grow that are full OF honey;
by which is meant a sweet juice, which, by
pressure Of screw engine. and concreted by
fire, becomes sugar" These are the earliest
notices Of the methods of making sugar; and
they refer to an apparatus and TO processes
used in the Saracen empire, and not known
at that time, so far as European records show,
to be used anywhere else. At the same time
sugar was made at Tyre, in Syria, then SUBJ
iect 10 the Saracens and, in ! 100, that city
is mentioned as "famous for excellent sugar"
The island Of Sicily was the first spot upon
which the sugar.cane is known to have been
planted in Europe, though it is altogether
likely, that it was planted by the Moors full
as early, if not earlier, in Spain and Portu-
gal. That island was conquered by the Sara
Gems in the early part of the ninth century,
and was retaken by the Normans at the close
of the eleventh. Immediately after that event
we find tina, large quantities of sugar were
made there. According 10 records still ex-
tan,, William the second, king of Sicily, in
] l66 made donation to the convent of st.
Benedict, of" sugar mill, with all the work
men, privileges, and appurtenances thereto
belonging
"Mode Of mriting on Glass By Tie rays Of
the Sun-Dissolve chalk in aqua forts, to the
consistency Of milk, add to that a strong dis
al -