Digital Grainger

An Online Edition of The Sugar-Cane (1764)

5

  • WHERE’ER the clouds relent in frequent rains,
  • And the Sun fiercely darts his Tropic beam, [25]
  • The Cane will joint,1 ungenial tho’ the soil.
  • But would’st thou see huge casks, in order due,

der on the Pyrenean mountains. It was also successfully cultivated in Egypt, and in many places on the Barbary-coast.2 From the Mediterranean, the Spaniards and Portuguese transported the Cane to the Azores, the Madeiras, the Canary and the Cape-Verd islands, soon after they had been discovered in the fifteenth century: and, in most of these, particularly Madeira, it throve exceedingly.3 Whether the Cane is a native of either the Great or Lesser Antilles4 cannot now be determined, for their discoverers were so wholly employed in searching after imaginary gold-mines, that they took little or no notice of the natural productions. Indeed the wars, wherein they wantonly engaged themselves with the natives, was another hindrance to physical investigation. But whether the Cane was a production of the West-Indies or not, it is probable, the Spaniards and Portuguese did not begin to cultivate it either there or in South America (where it certainly was found), till some years after their discovery. It is also equally uncertain whether Sugar was first made in the Islands or on the Continent, and whether the Spaniards or Portuguese were the first planters in the new world: it is indeed most likely that the latter erected the first sugar-works in Brazil, as they are more lively and enterprizing than the Spaniards. However they had not long the start of the latter; for, in 1506, Ferdinand the Catholic5 ordered the Cane to be carried from the Canaries to St. Domingo,6 in which island one Pedro de Atenca soon after built an Ingenio de açucar, for so the Spaniards call a Sugar-work. But, though they began thus early to turn their thoughts to sugar, the Portuguese far outstripped them in that trade; for Lisbon soon supplied most of Europe with that commodity; and, notwithstanding the English then paid the Portuguese at the rate of 4 l. per C. wt.7 for muscovado,8 yet that price, great as it may now appear, was probably much less than what the Sugar from the East-Indies9 had commonly been sold for. Indeed, so intent was the Crown of Portugal on extending their Brazil-trade, that that of the East-Indies began to be neglected, and soon after suffered a manifest decay. However, their sugar made them ample amends, in which trade they continued almost without a rival for upwards of a century. At last the Dutch, in 1623, drove the Portuguese out of all the northern part of Brazil; and, during the one and twenty years they kept that conquest, those industrious republicans learned the art of making sugar. This probably inspired the English with a desire

  1. As sugarcane grows, it forms segments called joints. Grainger is thus referring here to the growth of sugarcane. ↩︎

  2. Mediterranean coastline of North Africa that runs from modern Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean and includes parts of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. ↩︎

  3. The Azores, Madeiras, Canary Islands, and Cape Verde Islands are groups of islands in the eastern Atlantic Ocean relatively close to the coasts of Europe and Africa. They often served as waystations for Europeans voyaging from Europe or Africa to the Americas. As Grainger remarks, sugarcane was introduced by the Spanish and Portuguese to these islands in the fifteenth century. The sugar plantations that were established there became models for the ones that were subsequently established in the Caribbean. ↩︎

  4. The “Errata” list at the end of The Sugar-Cane indicates that “lesser” (or “Lesser”) should read “less” (or “Less”). The term Antilles refers to the islands of the Caribbean and is often used as a substitute for West Indies. The Greater Antilles are the large islands on the northwest end of the archipelago and include Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles (further split into the Windward and Leeward Islands) are the islands ranging from the Virgin Islands in the north to Grenada in the south. St. Kitts is one of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles. ↩︎

  5. King Ferdinand V of Castile and León and II of Aragon (1452-1516), husband of Queen Isabella of Castille and patron with Isabella of Columbus’ 1492 voyage. ↩︎

  6. Hispaniola. ↩︎

  7. Four pounds per hundredweight. A hundredweight (equivalent to 112 lbs) was a standard measure for commerce. £4 had the purchasing power of approximately forty days of wages for a skilled tradesman. See the National Archives’ currency converter. ↩︎

  8. A dark brown, unrefined sugar that was typically the end product of the sugar-making process in the Caribbean. Often described as unrefined since it was usually processed further in Europe and lightened in color before being sold to consumers. ↩︎

  9. Historical term for the whole of Southeast Asia to the east of and including India. ↩︎