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but the planes being flender and thinly garnifhed with 

 leaves, which were fmall, they did not furniih a 

 quantity of Indigo in proportion to their bulk, fo of 

 late this fort has not been much cultivated there; 

 though the account which I received with the feeds 

 was, that it was what the bcft Indigo of India was 



made from. 



The whole prccefs in making the Indigo being ex- 

 aftly defcribed by Pere Labat in his voyages, I thought 

 it would not be unacceptable to the Englifh reader, 

 to tranflate his account in this place, which is as 



follows : 



There was formerly a great deal of Indigo made in 

 the parifh of Macauba: ''there is not a ftream nor 

 river in it, where one does not meet with Indigo 

 works, that is, backs or vats of ftone-work well ce- 

 mented, in which the plant that yields the dye is put 

 to digeft : there are ufually three of thefe vats one 

 above another, in the manner of a cafcade ; fo that 

 the fecond, which is lower than the bottom of the 

 tirft, may receive the liquor contained in the firft, 

 when tlie holes which are made in the bottom of the 

 firft are unftopped •, and that the third may in its 

 turn receive what was in the fecond. 

 The firft, largeft, and higheft of thefe vats is called 

 ' the fteeper or rot ; it is ufually made twenty feet long, 

 twelve or fifteen feet wide, and three or four feet 

 deep. The fecond is called the battery, it is almoft 

 half as fmall again as the firft : and the third, which 

 is much lefs than the fecond, is called the devilling. 

 •The names of the two firft perfectly agree with their 

 vics^ for the plant is laid to fteep in the firft, where 

 it ferments, is macerated, and becomes like rotten 

 dung: after that the fairs and fubftance of the leaf 

 arid rind are difFufed in the water by the fermentation, I ' " look finer and whiter than that which is whole, which 



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a great many people call it barely Guatinulo. It is 

 made alfo in the Eall-Indics, particularly in the do- 

 minions of the Great Mogul, the kingdom of Gol- 

 conda, and other places thereabouts, as Mr, Tavernier 

 relates in his voyages. This fort is in Europe oftencr 

 called India than Indigo or Anil, people taking for 

 its proper name the name of the place it was made at. 

 Some authors, and among others. Father du Te/tre 

 of our order, having fancied that the Indigo which 

 comes from the Eaft-Indies is more beautiful, finer 

 and dearer, than that which comes from the Weft- 

 Indies, which they call flat Indigo, while they call 

 that from the Eaft barely India. They would have 

 Ipoken more properly, if they had called the latter 

 round India ; for, by their leave, all the difference 

 between the two Indias, or Indigos, is, that that made 

 in the Eaft-Indies is fhaped like half eggs, and that 

 of the Weft like cakes-, for as for goodnefs and 

 beauty, the one will not be a whit fuperior to the 

 other, if both are wrought with equal care and fi- 

 delity. 



The ftiape of the Oriental Indigo obliges the mer- 

 chants who would carry it into Europe to pound it, 

 that they may put the more into the chefts, or barrels 

 they put it up in. It is certain, that being dius 

 pounded, its grain having been broken under the 

 peftle, ground, and reduced to powder, makes it 

 • finer than the Weft-Indian ladlgo, which coming in 

 cakes juft as it was dried, ftiews its grain entire, and 

 confequently muft appear coar-:^; but what is that 

 to the intrinfic goodnefs of the co.-nmodity •, I main- 

 tain it is the fame in both, though there feems to be 

 a difference. ,.5.> 



To be convinced of this truth, take a lump of fu- 

 gar equally white throughout, break it in two, poijnd 

 one' part of it, and reduce it to powder; this will 



which the heat and ripencfs of the plant has excited 

 " in it. " It is in the fecond tliat they agitate and beat 

 'thisVatef,'impfegnared and loaded with the falts of 

 "the plant,' till having coUeded, re-united, and, as it 



^^ were, coagulated them ^with one another, they form 



,;; the particles whicK'^com'poIe' the dye, ^^ 



' As for the name of the third, I do hot fee how it 

 -^ 'agrees with it, Qnlefs it be becs^ufe this vat is deeper 

 coloured than the others^ for 'the Indigo already 

 -formed remaining in it, confequently dyes and co- 

 lours it much deeper than the.others/ 

 To which I ftiduld add, that it is only at St. Donlingo 

 that they make u(e of this name. In the Windward 

 Iflands they call this laft vat the fettler, and this name 

 fulcs'it perfectly well, becaufe it is in this, that the 

 "Indigo begun in the fteeper, and perfected in the 

 ~ .'battery unites, grows into a mafs, feparates itfelffrom 

 the particles of w^ter which remained in it, leaves 

 ' [ them" at' top," and fettles at the bottom of the vat^ 

 whence it is taken out to "Be put into little bags, and 

 - - then into the boxes, as I ftiall mention hereafteK 



Nothing ought to be omitted in the building and 



., making thefe vats fubftantial y the ftrength of the fer- 



/ mentation is To great, that uhleTs the ttone-worKand 



~ ptaftef te very^ well done7 ^^d the mofta? icarefully 



choferi^^and -wrought, they jprack;' and a very mo- 



,^ derate crack is fufficient to let out a vat of Indigo, 



" andf caufe a cbnfiderable lofs to the owner.* '- ■ v 



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When 



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the following is an 



'?afy" and infallible remedy, which I can dnfwer for, 



Us having experienced it.\. Take fome fea ihells of 



V ;anj kind whatever, pound them without burning 



' 'tTiefn,' powder them, arid fift them through a fine 



, ., fieve. Take an equal quantity of quick lime and 



"'^jQft ir^taix thefe together with water enough to make 



^ V^^ftiff mortar, and as quick as you can, ftop the 



\! cracks of your vats with it. This mixture incorpo- 



rzi^iy fticks, and dries in a m6ment,'arid immediately 



' preventslhe 'matteKs running out of the vat. 



Every body does, or ftiould know, that Indigo is a 



' dye ufed to dye wool, filk, cloths, and ftuffs, blue : 



the Spkniarcts call it Anilo ; the fineft they make, i. e, 



in New Spain, "comes from Guatimala, which makes 



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proceeds only from this, that the grain of the one has 

 " . been feparated and divided into a greater number of 

 partsV which, though very fniall, and almoft infen- 

 Jible, yet have a greater number "of furfaces, arid con- 

 fequently refleft more light ; whereas the other re- 

 maining entire, prefenting to the fight only a large 



^ grain, which has but little furfacc, of courfc reflefts 

 lefs light, and by a necefliary confequence muftap- 



. pear lefs white ; which is the fame as appearing k& 

 beautiful, fince the beauty of fugar confifts in its 

 whitenefs. Methinks we may reafon in the fanic 

 manner upon Indigo, and fay, that casteris paribus, 

 the Weft-Indian Indigo is as beautiful as the E^ft- 

 Indian, when they are both wrought alike: < t^;-^' 

 I think I ftiould add, that the American Indigo is 



. bettei- for ufe than the other; for who does hot fee, 

 that there is no pounding this dye, without the tnoft 

 fubtle parts being diflipated in the air, as Mn Ta- 

 vernier allows ? And who can doubt that thefe parts 

 are tTie beft, and thofe that go fartheft when it is 



ufed? ' . , V i ;d l^'^-y* ■ 



I grant that the Indigo which comes from the Eaft- 

 Indies, is dearer than that wliich is made in the Weft- 



^ Indies; the reafon is plain, it comes farther, runs 

 greiater rifles; and thofe who bring it would not find 

 their account in felling it, at the fame price with that 

 which comes from a much nearer place; bufftat 

 .does not at all prove it to be more beautiful, or 

 better. • ' ■. ■ *; / ' ^' ' 



' ' Indigo is compofed of the fait and fubftance of the 



; ' leaves and rind of a plant of the lame name ; fo that 

 one may fay, it is a dilfoludon or digeftion of the 

 plant, caufed by the fermentation it has excited m 

 the water it was laid to fteep in. Ilcnow fom? W"^^^ 

 pretend, that the fubftance of the leaves d6es not pro- 

 duce the Indigo, which (as they would have it) is 



' only a vifcous tinfture, or colour, which the fermen- 



' tation of the plant difflifes in the water: but before 1 



take their words for it, I 'defire they would tell nae 



what becomes of the fubftance of the plant; ^ 



.. when it is taken out of the fteeper, it is certain, that 

 it has no longer the fame weight, confiftencc, nor 



colour, it had before. The leaves, which were vety 



plump* 



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