Wanderings of a pilgrim in search of the picturesque, Volume 2 (of 2)

by Fanny Parkes Parlby

“It is supposed that sugar has been known and used in India and China from the earliest ages; and historians say that it was not introduced into the western world until after the conquest of Alexander the Great. This construction of mill is common in many parts of India; and, rude and simple as it is, it is found to succeed in expressing the juice from the sugar-cane more perfectly than the rude cylinder mills which are used in other places. The villagers knew nothing more of its origin than that their fathers and grandfathers had used the same mills without alteration, except the occasional renewing and repairs of the wood-work, as required.

“Some writers,—and amongst the rest, Colonel Sleeman,—in describing this construction of mill, term it the “Pestle and Mortar sugar mill:” but this name is improperly applied, for the vertical beam has no reciprocating up-and-down motion, as the pestle of a common mortar has, but merely turns round in the cavity of the bed, as the bullocks walk round in their circular course. The bed of the mill is formed of a large mass of stone, of as hard a nature as can be procured in the locality, and free from any mixture of limestone, on which, probably, the action of the acid of the expressed juice of the cane might be injurious.

“The beds are cylindrical, ornamented externally with figures, emblematical or religious, which are cut in relief.

“The upright beam of the mill is generally selected from a tree, the wood of which is heavy, hard, tough, and durable; and for this purpose the trunk of the babūl, which is indigenous in these parts, is well suited, and is generally chosen.

“The bark is stripped off, one end is rounded, and the other is cut to a point; the rounded end works in the hollow bed of the mill, and on the pointed end is hitched the end of a stay, properly formed for the purpose, the other end of which is attached to a horizontal beam, generally formed from a strong crotched piece of wood, which is cut at the crotched end to fit into a groove cut on the outside of the bed in which it traverses round, and the bullocks are yoked to the end of this beam. The stay leading from the top of the vertical beam is generally made of two pieces, which are capable of adjustment, so that the horizontal beam to which the bullocks are yoked may be kept at a proper distance from the ground.

“The short pieces of cane, as they are supplied by a native, are bruised and squeezed against the internal sides of the mortar as the vertical beam moves round, the expressed juice running off by the channel which is cut from the bottom, opposite to which is an earthen pan let into the ground to receive it, a small piece of bamboo generally serving to connect them.

“The driver sits on a frame or seat upon the end of the horizontal beam, his own weight increasing the bruising power of the mill, which is also assisted by adding a weight of stones, if necessary. As the process of bruising the cane takes place in the cold season, in December, the driver sometimes keeps himself warm by a pan of hot embers placed on the frame.

“To each of these mills at Belaspore there were six bullocks, forming three reliefs: they work night and day as long as the cane is cutting, three hours at a time; and in three hours about four seer or eight pounds of juice are expressed. The juice, as the pan fills, is immediately taken to the hut, whence the smoke is seen escaping at the door; and there, in a boiler fixed on a rude furnace, the process of boiling the juice to concentrate it is carried on; it is boiled down until it becomes a substance called goor, much thicker than treacle; and in this state is carried to the neighbouring market of Mirzapūr, where it is sold at the rate of eighteen seer for the rupee. Sixteen seer, or thirty-two pounds of goor are obtained from one maund of cane (eighty pounds).

“In the foreground of the sketch are three heaps of sugar-cane, cut into pieces of six or eight inches long, ready to be supplied to the mill. A native carries the pieces of sugar-cane in a basket, and charges the mill by occasional supplies, as represented in the drawing; and he also takes out the bruised cane, from which the juice has been sufficiently expressed, and carries it to the hut, to assist, with a mixture of oplā (dried cow-dung) in making the fire for the boiling process. The sugar-cane is slightly wetted when put into the mill, about two pints of water being used to moisten about eighty pounds’ weight of it. The goor is purchased by the sugar-refiner, who dissolves and refines it again in the process of making sugar. But goor is also used for several purposes,—as in preparing tobacco for smoking, and by masons, to mix with lime in forming hard cements for floors, terraces, baths, &c., for which the Indian masons are celebrated.

It is impossible to contemplate the scene in the drawing without being struck with the strong contrast it bears to any mechanical process in our own country. The sketch was taken from life, and there was a quietude and apathy in all the persons engaged, which was remarkable: even the bullocks are urged round at a very slow pace, hardly two miles an hour, by the voice, more than by the short whip occasionally used by the driver. Thus it is ever in climates where the necessaries of life, shelter, food, and clothing are cheap, and easily procured; in more severe climates the expenses attendant on the social state call forth the more active energies of human nature. ‘God gives sugar to him who eats sugar[53],’—i.e. He provides for His creatures in proportion to their wants.”