into my arms.

"Oh! I will always obey you," he cried, with emotion; "but do allow me
to give all the money in my purse to this little boy."

"Give him a piastre, my boy; we shall meet with others in want, and you
must reserve something for them."

"Oh! young gentleman," said the poor mutilated lad, looking with wonder
at the coin which represented sixteen days' work, "we will all pray for
you!"

And he hurried to clear out the bag, which was already too full.

The process adopted in the sugar-mill we speak of was of most primitive
simplicity. The European manufacturers employ iron cylinders turned by
steam or water power; also lift and force pumps, which quickly convey
the sap into the basins in which it is to be clarified by fermentation.

But for comprehending easily all the operations required in the
extraction of sugar, Antonio's _hacienda_, in which every thing was done
before our eyes, was much preferable to any of the modern mills provided
with all kinds of improved apparatus.

When our young traveller saw the thick, muddy, and turbid liquid, which
was being stirred up by a gigantic "agitator," he could hardly believe
that it could ever produce the beautiful white crystal with which he was
so well acquainted.

"But where's the sugar?" he eagerly asked.

"There, in front of you," replied Sumichrast. "The sugar-cane, like all
other vegetables, contains a certain quantity of liquid, in which the
sugar is held in a state of solution; if this is removed, prismatic
crystals immediately form. Look now! the contents of the copper are just
beginning to boil, and are covered with a blackish scum, which is
carefully skimmed off; for in three or four days, when it has fermented,
it will produce, by means of distillation, the ardent spirit which
l'Encuerado is so fond of. The cloud of steam which is rising above the
copper shows that the juice is evaporating; in a few minutes more it
will be converted into sirup, and will ultimately form crystals. Come
and see the result of the last operation."

We entered a large gallery, in which a number of moulds--made of baked
earth and shaped like reversed sugar-loaves--were ranged in lines under
the beams, like bottles in a bottle-rack. Into these, which had been
previously moistened, some laborers were pouring the boiling sirup. A
little farther on we were shown what had been boiled the day before, and
was crystallizing, assisted in the process by an Indian, who stirred i