These Sprouts Are Cut Down And Burnt By The Slaves,
And Their Ashes Are Used As Manure For The Sugarcanes.
If planted in
January, the canes are ready to be cut in June, and those which are
planted in February become ripe in July; and in this manner they keep up
a succession throughout the whole year.
In March and September, when the
sun is vertical, the great rains set in, accompanied with cloudy and
thick weather, which is of great service to the sugar plantations. This
island produces yearly above 150,000 arobas of sugar, each containing
thirty-one of our pounds, of which the king receives the tenth part,
which usually produces from 12,000 to 14,000 arobas, though many of the
planters do not pay this tythe fully. There are about sixty _ingenios_
driven by water, for bruising the canes and pressing out the juice, which
is boiled in vast chaldrons, after which it is poured into pans in the
shape of sugar-loaves, holding from fifteen to twenty pounds each, in
which it is purified by means of ashes. In some parts of the island,
where they have not streams of water, the canes are crushed by machines
worked by the Negroes, and in others by horses. The bruised canes are
given to the hogs, which hardly get any other food, yet fatten
wonderfully, and their flesh is so delicate and wholesome as to be
preferred to that of poultry. Many sugar refiners have been brought here
from Madeira, on purpose to endeavour to manufacture the sugars of St
Thomas more white and harder than its usual produce, but in vain. This is
alleged to proceed from the extreme richness of the soil injuring the
quality of the sugar; just as with us, wines produced in soils of too
great fertility are apt to have a peculiar flavour. Another cause of this
is supposed to proceed from the climate of the island being too hot and
too moist, except in the month of June, July, and August, at which season
a fresh dry wind blows from Ethiopia to this island; and they then make
their best sugars.
The planters are obliged, to ship off their sugars as soon as they can
procure shipping, because they would become liquid if attempted to be
kept for a length of time. At present, not above two-thirds of the island
are appropriated to the cultivation of sugar; but any person who comes to
this island for the purpose of settling, whether from Spain or Portugal,
or any other country, may procure from the royal intendant as much land
as he is able to cultivate, and at a moderate price. The esculent root
which is known in the Spanish islands by the name of _batata_, is here
named ingame by the Negroes, and is their principal food, either boiled
or roasted under the ashes. There are different kinds of this root
produced on the island, but that which is known by the name of _igname
cicorero_ is preferred by the merchant vessels, all of which purchase
considerable quantities as a sea-stock for their homeward voyage, and the
Negroes cultivate them largely for the express purpose of supplying the
ships[11]. This island is distinguished by a high mountain in the middle,
thickly covered by tall, straight, and verdant trees, and its summit is
continually enveloped in clouds, whence water is diffused in numerous
streams all over the island.
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