The Hawaiian gazette., 1868-12-02

| y
Soon after Columbus discovered the New
World, one Pierre d'Etienne took the sugar
cane TO Hispaniola, afterwards called San
Domingo, and now, Hayti. A Catalonian
named Michael Ballestro, was the first who
| expressed the juice from it, and Gonzales de
| Velosa the first who concentrated this into
sugar. The latter built a mill on the river
Nigua, at his own expense, and sent for
| workmen from the island of Palms Zone Of
the Canaries) TO manufacture the sugar. The
cane hourished extremely well in st. Do
mingo, for In 1918 there were tweiity-eight
manufactures on the island, and the produce
was so considerable that the port duties on
the sugar imported into Spain from st. Do
mingo, furnished the funds for building the
magnificent palaces of Madrid and Toledo,
which were erected in the reign of Charles V.
Antwerp, about 1860, received sugar from
Spain, which had il from the Cenaries, and
also from Portugal, the latter country deriv
ing It from St. Thomas, and other islands
on the African coast and from Madeira.
Sugar was also an article of import from
| Barbary.
Early in the seventeenth century the sugar
trade in the island of st. Thomas appears to
| have been in prosperous condition, for the
Portuguese had sixty-one sugar works on
the island just before the Dutch DESTROYED
them in 1910; and few years later it is stated
that forty ships were annually laden with
sugar from this island, for the production of
which there were seventy sugar-houses, each
employing from 200 to 500 slaves.
! In 1911, sugarcanes were transplanted from
Brazil to Barbados, but the sugar made
there was at first so bad, that it was consid-
cred scarcely worth exporting, being full CT
molasses. few years afterwards, however,
valuable information was received from Bra
I'll respecting the process Of manufacture;
from that time the sugar was much improved
In 1850, the British planters in Barbados
were realizing large profits by the raising of
sugar, and in 1875 the trade so increased as
to be capable of employing 400 vessels, aver
aging $50 tons burden.
About the same period the sugar-cane
was transplanted from Brazil to Barbados,
and probably ii was also carried TO the Span
ish West India islands, to the Spanish domin-
ions in Mexico, Peru, Chile, and lastly to the
French, Dutch and Danish colonies.
The precise period when sugar began to
be used in England is not authenticity
known. In Marin's SoTid del Commerce. de
Reneziani, there is an account of a shipment
made at Venice for England, in 1919, of 100
GOO pounds of sugar. and during the four
teenth centurie 1t appears to have been i'm
ported in small quantities. As with the
ancients il was at first regarded in this coun-
try as only fit for medicinal purposes. When
it came to be first employed in sweetening
food and beverages, its consumption was in |
considerable, being made use of only in the |
houses of the rich and great. In 1868, Haw |
kins, the navigator, brought sugar to Eng
land from the island of ST. Domingo, but il |
was not till the introduction of tea and cof |
fee that sugar came into general demand.
Having now traced the steps by which raw |
sugar was introduced into the different parts /
of the world, it will be necessary before pro- |
ceeding further to give little insight into /
the history of sugar refining.
I,rppox,r,,r>,ro ~ Srro.p M,u,xo l,rr,,-r,, |
SUGAR, Ere.
The art of refining or crystallizing sugar
appears to have been due to the Chinese, who l
at a very early period are said to have obtain
ed sugar in the greatest purity under the reg |
ular crystalline form, similar to sugar-candy /
of the present time.
The Saracens seem to haYe practised the
boiling down the juice of the cane to pro-
duce sugar in Spain in the eighth century
The method employed in Arabia and Egypt /
to clarity the cane-juice seems to have been
unknown. The merchants who introduced
the cane from India certainly neglected to
bring also the necessary instructions as to
the methods of preparing the juice; and the
difficulties which the Arabian cultiyators ex-
perienced doubtless induced them to try the
use of all kinds of ingredients for Its purifi
cation, and probably to invent conical vessels
for cleansing and crystallizing the sugar.
The Venetians are believed to have been
the earliest sugar refners in Europe, whence
originated the term "paips de Venise," {. e.,
Venetian loaves, meaning loaves of sugar;
and it is said that Venetian received 100
900 crowns for the invention. This was to-
wards the end of the fifteenth century.
According to Slows Survey of London,
sugar refining was commenced in England
about 1914. There were then two sugar
houses in London, but they yielded little
profit, because there were many sugar rein
aria A,fx NIB foh Il
sugar to England better and cheaper than ii
could be made at home. Subsequently, the
commerce between Antwerp and England
being stopped, these two ar-houses sup
piled all England for twenty years, and be-
came so wealthy, that many other persons
embarked in the business. In 1896, Sir
Thomas Mildmay, on the pretext that frauds
were being practiced in refining sugar, petit
toned Queen Elizabeth for license for an
exclusive right TO refine sugar for a term of
years, for which monopoly he offered to pay
an annual sum. His petition was, however,
rejected.
Soon after this, sugar refineries were estab-
llshed in all the commercial cities of Europe,
and multiplied with such wonderful rapidity,
so that this article, which but a short time
before was unknown, became one of the
most important articles of commerce.
One of the earliest and most important
inventions in connection with the manIrfac-
ture of sugar, was that of the Clarifer, for
the separation of the feculent matter associa-
ted with sugar in cane.juice. The merit OF
this introduction was due to Mr.. Samuel
Sainthill, and an exclusive patent to secure
his claim was granted to him in 1878 by an
Act of the Assembly of Jamaica.
About the same time, Mr.. Proculus Baker,
l barrister of Jamaica, wrote a treatise, in
which he suggested a means of ascertaining
he proper boiling heat for sugar. He saws:
8 Provide small thin name of clear crnWn.
glass, set in frame; on this let fall one or
.wo drops of the sugar, and carry it into the
open air; observe the subject, and more par
icularly whether it grains freely, or whether
| small edge of molasses separates at the
1ottom."
Dutrone, a French chemist, subsequently,
great improvements into the art
If manufacturing sugar, and his method and
of the building are still adj
lered to and preferred by some of the most
cientIfic planters.
According TO Sir Hans Sloane, the peculiar
method of manufacturing elayed sugar was
irst discovered in Brazil, accidentally, by
len with clay on her feet going over pot of
ugar, which was found under her tread to
'e whittier than elsewhere.
In 1924, Mr.. James Smith took out a pat
Mt for a method of heating boilers by-high-
Tessure steam, which has the advantage of
ot burning any material submitted to its ac-
ion; and few years later, another patent
f similar nature was taken out by Mr..
William Fawcett, of Liverpool
In 1925 Mr.. J. 7. Beale and Mr.. G. R. Pot
sr obtained an invention for new mode of
heat
From this period numerous inventions
ave been introduced, and doubtless the art {
susceptible of still further improvements !
With regard to Refined Sugar, one of the I
lost important Improvements was that Of i