At Minieh, the next halting-place, they had an opportunity to visit a sugar-mill, and eagerly embraced it. Minieh is the centre of the sugar culture in Egypt, and the first sugar-mill in the country was erected here and is still in operation. Of late years some very large mills have been built, employing hundreds of people, and during the height of the season they present a busy scene.
The mill visited by our friends was one of the largest. It was so constructed that, from the time the cane enters the crushers till the dry sugar is taken out, there is no lifting or handling of the material, except in a few instances. The machinery is all of French manufacture, and very expensive. A large amount of sugar is manufactured here every year; but there is no profit in the business, partly owing to the great cost of the mills, and partly, it is whispered, in consequence of the frauds of the managers.
VIEW ON A SUGAR PLANTATION.
The sugar culture is in the hands of the Khedive, and about two hundred and fifty thousand acres of land are devoted to it, chiefly on the west bank of the Nile between Cairo and Sioot. There are more mills than are really needed for the amount of sugar made, and there is a large quantity of machinery which has never been put up, but lies neglected and rusting on the banks of the river. There is a system of railways for bringing the cane to the mills, and connected with the line of railway from Cairo up the Nile. The labor on the sugar estates is very poorly paid, and more frequently is not paid at all. The laborers are gathered from the villages along the river, and compelled to work three months on the sugar estates when they should be cultivating their own fields at home.
Frank and Fred could not understand this mode of conducting business till the Doctor explained it to them after their return to the steamer.
"You observed," said the Doctor, "that the laborers included both sexes, and all ages from five years old to fifty or sixty."
"Yes," answered one of the youths; "and I saw that they did not take much interest in their work, and appeared to be half starved."