652 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



West India Islands supplied all the markets of Europe ; and that 

 Great Britain alone consumed annually six hundred thousand 

 pounds weight of French indigo, which at five shillings a pound 

 cost England the enormous sum of a hundred and fifty thousand 

 pounds sterling. It was also found that the English West Indies 

 were generally raising sugar cane instead of indigo. Accord- 

 ingly, in 1748, a bounty was given " of sixpence sterling on all 

 indigo raised in the British-American plantations and imported 

 directly into Great Britain from the place of its growth." 



Some years elapsed before the colonists learned the art of 

 making it as well as the French. The planters were blamed by 

 the English merchants for paying too much attention to the 

 quantity and too little to the quality of their indigo, and the 

 West Indian indigo brought a higher price in the market. But 

 each year the skill of the colonists increased, and in process of 

 time they brought indigo-making to such a degree of perfection 

 as not only to supply the mother country but also to undersell 

 the French in several European markets. 



In 1748 the amount of indigo exported from South Carolina 

 was 138,118 pounds, which was sold at 2s. 6d sterling ; in 1754 

 the export was 210,924 pounds ; and shortly before the Revolution 

 it had risen to 1,107,660 pounds. 



Various statements regarding the price of indigo are given 

 in the old records. The value varied greatly during the half 

 century of its production. A recent writer * says, " The finest 

 quality of the dye at one time sold in the market for as much as 

 four or five dollars a pound, and fortunes were made rapidly by 

 its cultivation." It is certain that between the years 1763 and 

 1775, when indigo was at the height of its importance, South 

 Carolina had a most unexampled period of prosperity. Ramsay 

 tells us that " indigo proved more profitable to South Carolina 

 than the mines of Mexico or Peru to Old or New Spain." 

 Wealth poured in upon the people, many of the planters doub- 

 ling their capital every three or four years. During the years 

 preceding the Revolution f it is said that " a larger number of 

 children were sent to England for education from South Caro- 

 lina than from any of the colonies, and this on account of the 

 greater wealth of the colony, owing to the superiority of her 

 products rice and indigo which gave abundant means." 



But the Revolution brought a change in industrial and com- 

 mercial conditions. During the war more rice was raised than 

 indigo, as was natural. After peace was declared, indigo culture 

 increased again for a little time. But the conditions of trade 

 were different. The English bounty was no longer available, 



* Scott's Random Recollections, etc., 1876. f See Ramsay's History. 



