238 TROPICAL VEGETABLE DYES 



All the intermediate shades of violet and purple may be 

 obtained from the mixture of red and blue, varying according 

 to the different proportions wherein these colours are applied. 

 There are, however, some few vegetable substances which yield 

 a violet or purple dye, without being combined with another 

 colour, and of these logwood is the most important. The 

 stately tree which furnishes this valuable article of commerce 

 is a native of the western world, having been first discovered in 

 the swampy forests of Yucatan, and in the low alluvial grounds 

 that girdle the Bays of Campeachy and Honduras. 



Logwood was known as early as the reign of Elizabeth, but 

 its use was forbidden by act of parliament, in consequence of a 

 similar prejudice to that which prevailed against indigo, and 

 the prohibition was rigorously enforced until the year 1661. 

 Logwood now became in gTeat request ; and as the indolent 

 Spaniards failed to supply the market, several English adven- 

 turers, without first asking permission, settled or squatted on 

 the uninhabited coast of Yucatan, and made the woods near 

 Laguna de Terminos ring with the sound of their industrious 

 axe. 



Many years passed without the Spaniards taking any notice 

 of the intruders ; but as these, growing bolder by sufferance, began 

 to penetrate farther into the country, to build houses and 

 form plantations, as if they had been masters of the soil, their 

 jealousy was at length aroused, and in 1680 the English settlers, 

 after suffering much annoyance, were forcibly ejected. This 

 triumph on the part of their adversaries was, however, but 

 transitory ; and a few months after our sturdy countrymen were 

 again cutting their logwood as busily as ever, in spite of the 

 enmity of man and the innumerable hardships of their laborious 

 occupation. 



Their mode of life is thus quaintly described by the famous 

 Dampier in his Voyage to the Bay of Campeachy : — " The log- 

 wood-cutters inhabit the creeks of the lagunes in small com- 

 panies, building their huts by the creeks' sides for the benefit 

 of the sea-breeze, as near the logwood groves as they can, and 

 often removing to be near their business. Though they build 

 their huts but slightly, yet they take care to thatch them very 

 well with palmetto leaves, to prevent the rains, which are there 

 very violent, from soaking in. 



