"To precipitate the impurities."
The action of the lime was plainly visible, and after it had been allowed to settle, the clarified portion was drawn off, and the process of boiling down was proceeded with. As fast as one of the vessels was boiled down, more of the cane was crushed, the juice being dipped from one vessel to the second one, until the entire load was crushed and the juice boiled down to a thick consistency.
Here was molasses, at any rate a good substitute for honey, and it was so homelike to get the real article. That night they had molasses candy. It felt like old times. It was a real candy pulling, and no one enjoyed it more than Angel. From the moment he had the first taste of the pulp of the cane, he was the most interested one of the party. But the fun came the next morning, when George brought out, for his benefit, some of the taffy which had been set out to harden. The chuckle which he emitted, when he tried to pry off a piece of the sweet morsel, was too amusing for words.
When the entire amount of juice had been boiled down and it had readied the point where it had the appearance of granulating, the fire was withdrawn, and the whole mass stirred until it was cooled, and the result was a fine sample of beautiful brown sugar which weighed forty-three pounds.
Nevertheless food was an important item in their preparations, the necessities for doing everything in their power to insure the success of the maritime enterprise. One of the most valuable adjuncts for sailing is a compass. No attempt had been made to produce the implement, and when the needs of the expedition were being discussed, Harry was curious to know the reason why the compass always pointed north and south.
The Professor was very much interested in all electrical phenomena and replied: "The earth is a huge magnet, and any body which is magnetized has a north and a south pole. The needle which is also a magnetized body has, in like manner, a north and a south pole."
"But in what manner does that make the needle point in one way only?"
"Electricity is a very curious thing. While the current unquestionably moves from one end to the other of a conductor, it also exhibits itself in the form of rings around the wire. This may not be understood in the absence of a sketch. For that purpose I make a drawing (Fig. 17) which shows a conductor (A), through which a current is passing, and this current is represented by the spiral line (B) which goes around the conductor."