892 INDIGO 



vessels of a conical form, when it assumes a deep blue colour, and is then ready for 

 dyeing the fabrics which are plunged into it. 



The article known as indigo in the middle ages must have been very similar to the 

 indigo of the present day ; for though Marco Polo had described the manner in which 

 the substance was produced from the plant, it was for a long time considered as a 

 mineral ; and even in the letters patent obtained, in 1705, by the proprietors of mines 

 in the principality of Halborstadt, it was classed among minerals on account of which 

 works wore suffered to be erected. 



Indigo seems to have been first extensively used in Europe by the Jewish dyers, 

 who introduced it into the dye-houses of Italy. It was not, however, imported in any 

 largo quantities until the discovery of the passage round the Cape of Good Hope. 

 At the beginning of the 17th century, the Dutch commenced carrying on an exten- 

 sive trade with the East, and indigo was one of the articles which they imported in In r ) 

 quantities into European countries. Its use was found to be attended with so 

 advantages, that the employment of woad for the same purpose was gradually aban- 

 doned. The colour produced by it was more brilliant and far cheaper than the blue 

 from woad. On the other hand, it was asserted that the goods dyed with indigo faded 

 rapidly, and that the vitriol and other corrosive substances used along with it caused 

 them, after some time, to rot. At the same time the exportation of largo sums of 

 money in payment for indigo, and the rapid decline in the cultivation of woad, which 

 had previously furnished occupation to great numbers of people in various countries of 

 Europe, and had been the source of great wealth to individuals, caused so much alarm, 

 that the most stringent measures were adopted in order to prevent the use of indigo 

 in dyeing. A decree of the Germanic Diet held at Frankfort, in 1577, prohibited, 

 under the severest penalties, the newly-invented, pernicious, deceitful, eating and 

 corrosive dye, called the devil's dye, for which vitriol and other cheaper materials were 

 used instead of woad. This prohibition was renewed in 1594 and 1603. In the year 

 1650, the Elector of Saxony prohibited the sale and importation into his dominions of 

 all fabrics dyed with other materials in the place of woad. This was followed by an 

 Imperial mandate issued from Ratisbon, in the year 1654, forbidding the importation 

 and the use by dyers of indigo and other injurious substances, and threatening with 

 punishment and the confiscation of their goods all persons who should offer for sale any 

 cloth dyed with forbidden and deceitful dyes, instead of with the permanent colour of 

 woad. The people of Nuremberg even went so far as to compel their dyers by law 

 annually to take oath, not to employ indigo, and this was continued down to a very 

 recent period, though it was well known that its use was indispensable to them. In 

 France, the use of indigo was forbidden in 1598, in consequence of an urgent represen- 

 tation by the states of the province of Languedoc, and this prohibition was afterwards 

 repeated several times. But in the well-known edict of 1669, in which Colbert sepa- 

 rated the fine from the common dyers, it was stated that indigo should bo used with- 

 out woad; and 1737, dyers were left at liberty to use indigo alone, or to employ a 

 mixture of indigo and woad. In England the use of indigo was also forbidden, and 

 by an act passed in the reign of Elizabeth, searchers were authorised to burn both it 

 and logwood in every dye-house where they could be found. This act remained in force 

 for nearly a century. 



It has been doubted whether the plant which is employed in America for the 

 manufacture of indigo is a native of that continent, or whether it was introduced by 

 the Spaniards. It was remarked by the first voyagers on the new continent that the 

 natives coloured their bodies and dyed their stuffs by means of indigenous plants 

 which resembled the indigo-plant of Asia. Fernando Columbus, in the life of his 

 father, says, that this plant grew in a wild state in the West India Islands, and that it 

 was cultivated for the purpose of obtaining from it a blue pigment. Hernades mentions 

 it among the native plants of Mexico, and says, that the Americans used it for dyeing 

 their hair black. He adds, that they made from it a pigment, which they named 

 mohuitli and tleuohuitli, the same as the cceruleum of the Latins, and he describes al^o 

 the method of prepairing it. Nevertheless, it appears that the Indigqfera tlnctoria and 

 Anil were really introduced into America by the Spaniards, and were the plants em- 

 ployed by them for the manufacture of indigo in Mexico, Guatemala, and St. Domingo, 

 though some of the varieties produced by the influence of the climate and soil differ very 

 widely in appearance from the parent stock. The manufacture of indigo was at one 

 time carried on extensively in Central America and the West India Islands, and these 

 countries formerly supplied the chief portion of the article consumed in Europe. The 

 indigo of Guatemala at the same time surpassed all others in quality. In consequence, 

 however, of the political disturbances in America, and the great improvements which 

 have been effected in the manufacture of indigo by the zeal and perseverance of our 

 countrymen in the East, its production in America has diminished very much; and at 

 the present day, the indigo consumed in Europe is derived chiefly from India, and moro 



