Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1849-08-04

worth voyage to the island. In regart
to this my expectations suffered no disap
pointment. 1h -'Jr tss
Before me lay deep valley, surrounded
on all sides by hills and mountains, with
the little river Yumuri twinirg at the bot.
tom. Smooth round hllocks rose from the
side next to me, covered with clusters ol
palms, and the sleeps of the southeastern
corner of the valley were clothed with q
wood of intense green, where | could
almost see the leaves glisten in the sun
shine. The broad fields below were wa
wing with cane and maize, and cottages of
the monferos were scattered among them.
each with its tufi of bamboos and its little
grove of plantuins. In some parts the
cliffs almost seemed to impend over the
| valley but to the west, in a soft golden
haze, rose summit behind summit, and over
them all, loftiest and most remote, lowered
the mountain called the Pan de .lfatansas.
We stopped for moment at country
seat on the top of the Cumbre, where this
beautiful view lay ever before the eve
Round it. in garden, were cultivated the
most snowy plants of the tropics, but my
attention was attracted 10 little plantation
OF damask roses blooming profuselv. They
were scentlcss the climate which supplies
the orange blossom with intense odors ex-
hausts the fragrance of the rose. At night
fall-the night falls suddenly in this lati-
tude-we were again at our hotel. ..,
We passed our Sunday on sugar estate
at the hospitable mansion of planter from
the United States about fifteen miles from
MatanzaS. The house stands on an emf
nence, once embowered, in trees, which
the hurricanes have levelled, overlooking
broad valley, where palms were scattered
in every directions for the estate had for
merly been coffee plantation. Tn the
huge buildings, containing the machinery
and other apparatus for making sugar,
which stood at the foot of the eminence,
the power of steam, which had been toll
ing all the week was now at rest. As the
hour of sunset approached, a smoke was
seen issuing from its chimney, presently
pufs of vapor issued from the engine, its
motion began to be heard, and the negroes,
men and women, were summoned to begin
the work Of the week. Some fed the fire
under the boiler with coal others were
seen rushing 10 the mill with their arms
full ofthe stalks of the cane, freshly cut,
which they took from huge pile near the
building; others lighted fires under row
OF huge caldrons, with the long stalks of
cane from which The juice had been crushed
by the mill. 1t was spectacle of activity
such as / had not seen in Cuba.
The sound Of the engine was heard all
night, for the work or grinding the cane,
once begun, proceeds day and night, with
the exception of Sundays, and some other
holidays. was early next morning at the
mill A current of cane juice was flow-
ing from the mill in long trunk to vat
in which it was clarified with lime, it was
then made TO pass successively from one
caldron to another, as it obtained thicker
consistence by boiling. The negroes, with
huge ladies' turning on pivots, swept it
from caldron to caldron and finally passed
it into trunk, which conveyed it to shall
low tanks in another apartment, where it
cooled into sugar. From these another set
of workmen scooped it up in moist masses,
carried it in buckets up a low flight of
stairs, and poured it into rows Of hogsheads
pierced with holes at the bottom. These
are placed over large tank, into which
the moisture dripping from the hogsheads
is collected and forms molasses.
This is the method of making the sugar
called Muscovado. 1t is drained few
days, and then the railways take it to Ma
tanzas or TO Havana. We visited after
wards plantation in the n-ighborhood, in
which clayed sugar Is made. Our host
furnished US with horses to make the excur-
sion and we took winding road, over hill
and valley, by plantations and forests, till
we stopped at the gate of an extensive pas
ture ground. An old negro, whose hut
was at hand, opened it for us, and bowed
low as we passed. A ride of halt mile
further brought us in sight OF the cane fields
of the plantation called Saratoga, belonging
to the house OF Drake s. Company, of Ha-
vana, and reputed one of the finest of the
island. 1t had different aspect from any
plantation we had seen. Trees and shrubs
there were none, but the canes, except
where they had been duly cropped for the
mill, clothed the slopes and hollows with
their light green blades, like the herbage
ofa prairie. r
We were kindly received by the admin
istrator of the estate, an intelligent Bisca-
yam, who showed us the whole process of
making clayed sugar. II does not differ
from that of making the Muscovado, so far
as concerns grinding and the boiling
When, however, the sugar is nearly cool,
it is poured into vessels of conical shape,
with the point downwards, at which is an
opening. The top of the sugar is then
| covered with sort of black thick mud,
which they call clay, and which is
several times renewed as il becomes dry
The moisture from the clay passes through
the sugar, carrying with it the cruder por-
tions, which form molasses, in few days
the draining is complete. ad aeum}
We saw the workpeople of the Saratoga
estate preparing for the market the sugar
thus cleansed, II we apply the word to such
process. With a rude iron blade they
cleA the large loaf Of sugar just taken from