One crew of men will discharge from 1300 to 1500 sacks of sugar per hour from each hatch of a steamer, or a minimum of 731 tons per day of nine hours. As three hatches are usually worked at the same time, it will be seen that from 2200 to 2500 short tons are taken out every day. [Illustration: STEAMER DISCHARGING RAW SUGAR AT REFINERY DOCK] [Illustration: SUGAR STORED IN WAREHOUSE—TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND TONS SHOWN IN THIS PICTURE] From the scales the sugar is deposited on a depressed conveyor in the floor and carried directly into the melt house of the refinery, except the sugar that must of necessity be stored in the warehouse for future use, in which case it is dumped from the trucks on piling machines that elevate it to any height desired, and it is arranged neatly and compactly by the piling crew. The wharves and docks of a sugar refinery are, as a rule, scenes of unusual activity and interest. Besides the large number of men engaged in hoisting, trucking, weighing, sampling and piling the sugar, there are the sailors, whose calling always possesses a certain fascination for the landsman. A motley crew they are, bronzed by wind and sun, gathered from all countries and climes. There is the simple, kindly native of Hawaii, gentle-eyed, soft of speech and born with a love for the sea; he prides himself upon his skill in swimming and diving, and when the day’s work is done, entertains his shipmates by singing the plaintive melodies of his native land, accompanying himself on the ukulele, the stringed instrument of the South Seas. Should there be a number of his fellow islanders among the crew, the evening’s program is almost certain to be varied by the native hula hula dance, which generally brings marked applause from the onlookers. Presiding over the galley, or ship’s kitchen, is the almond-eyed Chinaman, now shorn of his queue; an excellent cook who loves to gamble after his pots and pans are washed and put away in place; a shrewd gamester, but scrupulously honest. Beside him stands a fierce-looking Malay, sullen, morose and taciturn, whose sharp, white teeth carry a sinister suggestion of the good old days of cannibalism. His neighbor is a Filipino, short in stature, keen-eyed and alert, while in the background are one or two individuals who from their appearance might be direct descendants of the buccaneers who ravaged the Spanish Main in Sir Henry Morgan’s time. The average sailor is fond of pets, and here there is no lack of them, parrots and monkeys for the most part, and the sayings of the former clearly indicate a total absence of Sunday-school training. Sugar ships bring rare fruits and vegetables from the tropics, and the employés of the refinery have plenty of opportunities to enjoy such luxuries as fresh pineapples, bananas, guavas, papaias, alligator pears, breadfruit and mangoes.