158 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



gathering, the herb must be gingerly dealt with, so 

 that the blueish farina, which covers the leaves and is 

 said to add much to the richness and beauty of the 

 color, may not be rubbed off; nor should the plant 

 be bruised, for if so, its heavy juices spoil the delicacy 

 of the color, which must be got merely by fermenta- 

 tion of the unmangled plants steeped in water. To 

 this end, they are carefully placed in a vessel, the 

 1 steeper,' 10-15 ft. long and 4 ft. deep, the plants 

 lying 12-15 inches, deep, over which water is poured; 

 according to the state of the weather; after 12-18 

 hours the plants begin to warm of themselves, swell- 

 ing and fermenting; the time of the greatest and most 

 complete fermentation must be carefully observed; 

 the method in use is to place a thin stick over the 

 mass which rises as it rises, but should the mass fall 

 below the point where the staff is propped at the sides 

 of the vessel, it is then time to let off the water into 

 another vessel called the ' beater.' In this vessel the 

 water, charged with the color-particles thrown off in 

 the steeper by fermentation, is by a peculiar process 

 beaten until it begins to foam and rise over the sides, 

 which happens according to the warmth of the 

 weather in 25-30 minutes, more or less. To check a 

 too vehement overflow of the material a little oil is 

 poured on, which has an immediate quieting effect. 

 This beating of the water furthers the association of 

 the color-particles contained in a dissolved state ; so as 

 not to miss the point of time when this begins to take 

 place, a few drops of the beaten water are at intervals 

 taken on the finger-nail, on a tin plate, or in a glass, 

 and so soon as a blue shimmer is observed, or blueish 

 particles show themselves, this process also must be 



