AN OLD INDUSTRY. 651 



1741. It was destroyed by a frost ; but in April the experiment 

 was repeated, the second crop being also cut down by a worm. 

 Nothing daunted, the persevering young lady planted for the 

 third time, and the effort proved successful. 



When Governor Lucas heard that the plant had seeded and 

 ripened, he sent from Montserrat, at high wages, an indigo- 

 maker, named Cromwell, to show Eliza the process. He built 

 vats on the Wappoo, and made some indigo of indifferent quality. 

 Having^ repented of his engagement as likely to injure the in- 

 dustry in his own country, he also made a mystery of the pro- 

 cess, and tried to deceive by throwing in too much lime. But 

 Eliza, who was watching carefully, detected the deception, and 

 at once engaged a Mr. Deveaux to superintend further attempts 

 at indigo-making. 



Not long after these experiments Eliza Lucas married Charles 

 Pinckney, afterward Chief Justice of South Carolina. A gen- 

 eration later, their son Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was an 

 illustrious figure in the affairs of the State and nation. 



Eliza Lucas brought to her husband as part of her dowry the 

 fruit of her own industry, in the form of all the indigo raised on 

 the plantation. It was saved for seed, and a part was planted 

 the next year on Mr. Pinckney's plantation at Ashepoo. The rest 

 was given to friends, who began making experiments in indigo. 

 Most of these proved successful, and the manufactured product 

 soon became an important article of export. 



Miss Lucas, though best known as the introducer of indigo, 

 and the mother of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, is said to have 

 possessed literary talent as well as executive power. Her letters 

 were afterward privately printed, and one of them, under the title 

 A Love Letter of the Last Century, has been included in Stedman 

 and Hutchinson's Library of American Literature. 



The success attending the experiments with imported indigo 

 turned the minds of the people again to the native plants. A Mr. 

 Cattell brought to Mr. Pinckney some of the wild indigo from the 

 woods. Experiments were made, and it was found capable of 

 yielding good indigo, but was less productive than the other. 

 From this time, indigo for home use and for exportation was 

 extensively made from both kinds of plants. Of the women of 

 the Revolution we are told, " Indigo either tame or wild enables 

 them to give a beautiful blue to their homespun." 



In 1747 a considerable quantity of indigo was sent to England, 

 which induced the merchants trading to Carolina to petition Par- 

 liament for a bounty on Carolina indigo. This petition of the 

 English merchants was followed by another from the planters. 

 Parliament examined the matter, and found that indigo was one 

 of the most beneficial articles of French commerce; that the 



