what is termed a "_monte jus_" into a tank above the "clarifier," which
is a copper boiler, with iron jacket and steam between. A proper
proportion of lime is introduced, sufficient to neutralize the acidity.
When brought to the boiling-point the steam is shut off, and the liquid
subsides. This operation is one of the most important in the whole
process; from the clarifier it is run through an animal charcoal
filterer, which, by its chemical properties, purifies it; from the
filterer it runs into a tank, whence it is pumped up above the
condensers, i.e., tubes, about fifteen in number, laid horizontally,
one above the other, and containing the steam from the vacuum pans. The
cold juice in falling over these hot tubes, condenses the steam-therein,
and at the same time evaporates the water, which is always a
considerable ingredient in the juice of the cane; the liquor then passes
into a vacuum pan, which is fitted with a bull's-eye on one side, and a
corresponding bull's-eye with a lamp on the opposite side, by which the
process can be watched. Having boiled here sufficiently, it passes
through a second filtration of animal charcoal, and then returns to a
second vacuum pan, where it is boiled to the point of granulation; it is
then run off into heaters below, whence it is ladled into moulds of an
irregular conical shape, in which it is left to cool and to drain off
any molasses that remain; when cooled it is taken to the purging-house.
The house where the operations which we have been describing were going
on, was two hundred yards long, forty yards broad, and built of solid
cedar and mahogany.

In the purging-house, these moulds are all ranged with the point of the
cone down, and gutters below. A layer of moist clay, about two inches
deep, is then placed upon the sugar at the broad end of the cone, and,
by the gradual percolation of its thick liquid, carries off the
remaining impurities. When this operation is finished, the cones are
brought out, and the sugar contained therein is divided into three
parts, the apex of the cone being the least pure, the middle rather
better, and the base the most pure and looking very white. This latter
portion is then placed upon strong wooden troughs, about six or eight
feet square. There, negroes and negresses break it up with long poles
armed with hard-wood head, trampling it under their delicate pettitoes
to such an extent as to give rise to the question whether sugar-tongs
are not