Sugar cane distillation, Madagascar, historical artwork. The indigenous worker is using a series of stills to distil an alcoholic spirit from fermented sugar cane. Wood-burning fires are boiling the fermentation product, and bottles are being filled by the distillate produced from each still. The concentration and purity of the alcohol increases with each stage of the distillation. The sugar cane in the background is being grown as part of a sugar plantation, one of the world's major cash crops at that time. This artwork is from a book published in 1881.