356 



The World's Commercial Products 



Photo by Sir Hatry Johnston, K.C.M.G., K.C.B. 



By permission of Messrs. Hutchinson 



MANGROVE AND PANDANUS SWAMP 



liquid changes in colour from yellow to blue owing to the gradual production of the dye-stuff, 

 which separates as a fine powder. When the action is complete the indigo is allowed to 

 settle to the bottom, the water is run off and the dye-stuff collected, and while still wet and 

 pasty made into little cubes." 



Indigo. as produced from plants is by no means a pure material. It contains even under 

 the best conditions only eighty per cent, of pure indigo, or as it is technically called indigotin. 

 The impurities present are water, mineral matter, indigo-red, and other substances. The 

 purest natural indigo is that produced in Java. Indian indigos rank next in quality. 



Cutch 

 This material, also known as " black catechu," as distinguished from " white catechu," 

 or gambier was formerly prepared almost entirely in India from the heart- wood of Acacia 

 catechu or Acacia suma, but recently several of the East Indian islands and the European 

 Protectorates on"' the East Coast of Africa have commenced the preparation of a similar product 

 from mangrove bark, which is known as " mangrove cutch." 



RED DYE-WOODS 



Logwood 

 ■ * ..... . 



Th,is material is the heart- wood of Haematoxylon campeachianum, a spreading tree of moderate 

 size_ seldom exceeding forty feet in height, native to the Bay of Campeachy, Honduras, etc. It 

 was introduced into Jamaica in 1715, and is now largely grown there. The principal producing 

 countries in order of importance are Mexico, Hayti, San Domingo, Cuba, Honduras, Jamaica, 

 and the smaller islands, Guadaloupe, St. Lucia, and Grenada. 



