Caribbean sugar mill, historical artwork. Slaves using horses to power a mill on a sugar cane plantation in the Caribbean. The grinding stones (lower centre) have cutting blades on them, which are used to chop and shred sugar cane. The shredded canes will then be mixed with water and crushed between rollers to extract the sweet, sugary juices. Further refining is then carried out to produce the sugar. The peak in the extent and size of the slave-worked sugar plantations was reached in the Caribbean in the 18th century. Annotated in French, this cutaway diagram and artwork is from a book published in 1759.