INDIGO 255 



heavily laden bullock-carts slowly wending their way from 

 various points towards the factory, is a busy and imposing 

 one.' 



The plants are stacked in the steeping vats in a more or 

 less upright position, and the vats are then nearly filled with 

 water. During the first hour or two nothing happens, for the 

 indigo plant is covered with little hairs and so is not easily 



CUTTING INDIGO INTO CAKES 



wetted, but later on the water is seen to rise in the vat and 

 the surface becomes covered with a thick foam. 



After about ten hours the steeping is finished and the 

 liquid is run off into the beating vats ; it is now of a bright 

 orange colour, which, however, quickly changes to olive- 

 green. When the beating is done by hand, as it still is in many 

 parts of India, coolies armed with long sticks go into the vat 

 and energetically beat the liquid. 



When machinery is employed, in each vat three great wheels, 



