ft22 .fipRTUS JAMAICENSr-S. iNBtao 



.corpor^ed ; to perform which operatton, a variety, of machines have been invented.* 

 ,l.j Jamaica they formerly suffered ihe hquor to stand twenty-four hours in this second 

 .vat, and tlien churned it for three or foia- hours with paddles or pieces of hoard, drilled 

 full ot iioles, and fastcnetl on the end of loiig j<oles. The French made use of a kind 

 ,ct huckets, without any bottom, fixed to poles, which rested on pivots, and were pulled 

 -Tip anjilet fall again, alternately,, with a jerk. ^ But far more contenient machines are 

 now. constructed, with a cog-wheel,, which moves the levers or beater.svvith greater re- 

 .gularity, and saves the lahouroi' mar,y negroes ; the whole being ke^it in motion with 

 41 single horse or mule ; and one of them will perfoini more work in half an hour, than 

 .si.K negroes arc able to da in jjix hours ; so that ihey fully answer the expeuce of erect- 

 ing them, and frequently reduce an imperfect tincture into grain, which could hardly 

 otiierwise be brougJic-abDUt. Wiien the liquor has, by means cf such a machine, or 

 ,tuiy other method, beeavvell churneol for the space of fifteen or twenty minutes, a lit- 

 tle of it being taken up in a plate will appear urdled, or as if full of a small grain. A 

 quantity of clrar Jime- water, always kept ready for the occasionj is then gradually let 

 in, to augment and precipitate the yuTif/rt; the stirring and beating the indigo w.ater 

 ,being stdl continued, and tiie colour and appearance of the yipcw/a being carelully ex- 

 amined from time to time, as the work advances; for the grain passes, by degrees, 

 from a greenish ca:jtto U'iine blue, which is tiie proper colour when the liquor has been 

 ..sufHciently worked. Too small an agitation will leave the grain coarse and green, 

 whilst too long continued a beating causes it to turn almost black. By examining it, 

 therefore, re})eate^!!y duuing the precess-iii a, silver cup, or a soup-plate, the operator 

 ,n;ay soon learn to distinguish whether to have iiis indigo of a deep copperish blue, or 

 of a paler complexion, as he chuses. When the liquor wherein the j'a'cula swim is 

 quite clear, he nmy l>e satisfied it has lime-water enough. Ihe lime-water must be 

 perfectly clean, or otlierwise.tiie indigo will be very niuch speckled; nor should too 

 large a quantity of it be let in, .which wojild render the indigo too hard, and of a grey- 

 ish cast. Wlien the indigo water has acquired a strong purple colour, and the grain 

 has become scarcely perceptible, it must be left to settle, which it will do in eight or 

 ,ten hours. , Tlie clear. Vviacer is then very gently drawn off, out of the beating vat, 

 through the plug holes,- fixed for that purpose a few inclkcs above the floor at bottom ; 

 and me sediment remains behind, which is carefully strained through a horse-hair 

 sieve, to render the indigo perfectly clean, and then put into bags of osnaburg, or 

 .other coarse linen, eighteen inches long and twelve wide, which are suspended for 

 about five or six hours in the shade, to drain out the water. Tiie mouths of the bags 

 are then well fastened, and put into a press, to be entu'ely freed from an}- remains of 

 .v.ater, which would huit the quality of the dye. The press is a Iwx of five feet in 

 length, two and a half width, and two de]ith, having holes at one end, to let off die 

 drained water. In this box the bags are piled one ujiun another, until it is quite full; 

 a plank, fitted just to go into it, is laid at toj), and loaded with a sufficient number of 

 weights, which, by a gradual constant pressure, entirely squet:ze out the water, and 

 the indigo becomes a fine stiff paste. It is tlien taken out of the bags, spread upon a 



plank, 



* Some liave used the following simple contrivance on tliis occasion with success. A small square stick, 

 -painteii wlutc, and graduated with black lines, of si.x or tight to an inch (the inches being minierically 

 'marked from the hottimi), i.s fixed couveuieutly within the steeper in a perpendicular position. This is care- 

 f'.Wy obsenid, tiimi time to time, to note with exactness the highest rise of the scum; and immediately^ 

 \\hcn it begins to sv.b.^iiie, the plug i.s to be drawn out, and the lif|iior discharged into the next vat. A -'\mu 



!ai nicthorl is practised in Egypt, to discover the ii)cie.ise or fall of the KUc by a graduated column, calljed 



iUe mvkkias; frum wheace, perhaps, the hiht was taken. 



