Identifier: narrativeofexped01perr (find matches)
Title: Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China Seas and Japan, performed in the years 1852, 1853, and 1854, under the command of Commodore M. C. Perry, United States Navy, by order of the government of the United States
Year: 1856 (1850s)
Authors: Perry, Matthew Calbraith, 1794-1858 Hawks, Francis L. (Francis Lister), 1798-1866
Subjects: United States Naval Expedition to Japan (1852-1854)
Publisher: Washington : A. O. P. Nicholson
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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but generally effective. The sugar mills consistof three cylinders of hard wood, supported in an upright position by means of a wooden frame.The cylinders are about a foot in diameter, and are arranged in a row, with a mortice betweenthem to regulate the approach and their pressure upon the cane. The central one has a woodenaxle or shaft extending through the frame which supports it, to which is attached a curved leverof fifteen feet in length, by which tlic mill is readily worked. This central cylinder has a rowof cogs of hard wood near its upper end, which play into mortices cut into each of the two othercylinders. A single bull or horse is generally used to work the mill, and the animal moves in acircuit of about thirty feet in diameter. The cane is placed first between the central and rightcylinders, and before its escape it is caught by the hand of the workman and, being twisted likea rope, is thrust in between the central and left cylinders, by which it is completely crushed and
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Sii^ar Mill in Lew Cliew. its juice expressed, which flows through gutters into a tub placed in a hole near by. Tlie juiceis then conveyed to neighboring houses, tcmjiorarily constructed for the purpose, and there boiledin iron pans containing about eight or ten gallons. What use is made of all the sugar it is difiicultto understand, as the common beverage, which is tea, is never sweetened.40 J 31-4 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. It proljably is kept as a delicacy for the palates of the higher classes, who delight in sweet-meats and other confections of sugar, or sent as an export or tribute to Japan. In spite of anabundant product, sugar is evidently a scarce article among the common people, for one of theinterpreters begged some from the Americans, as if he esteemed it a rare luxury. The refusecane, after being pressed, (baggass, as we call it,) is carefully dried and used as fuel. The LewChewans have also mills for tlie grinding of grain. These are made of excellent millstones,and are worked

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