322 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



joining higher ground. The contents of the larger 

 jar, when three-quarters full, are agitated with a split 

 bamboo extended into a circle, having a diameter 

 from thirteen to twenty inches ; this hoop is twisted 

 with a sort of coarse straw, with which the manu- 

 facturer proceeds to beat or agitate the extract until 

 a granulation of the fecula takes place. This opera- 

 tion occupies nearly three-quarters of an hour. A 

 precipitant compound of red earth and water*, about 

 four quarts, is poured into the jar. The whole stands 

 during the night; in the morning the supernatant 

 liquor is drawn off through apertures in the side of 

 the jar, the lowest reaching to within five inches of 

 the bottom, thus leaving just sufficient space to retain 

 the fecula, which is taken out and dried in bags|. 



The method by scalding has only been very par- 

 tially adopted among the English in the East ; the 

 dyers of this country not reporting favourably of 

 Indigo thus made. It is said that it contains much 

 less colouring matter than that obtained by fermen- 

 tation, and that the dye produced is not so permanent. 



The indigo factories in the East Indies are con- 

 ducted very differently from those in the West, on 

 account of the dissimilar circumstances of the popu- 

 lation of the two countries. In the West Indies the 

 indigo plantations, and the works connected with its 

 preparation, are all the same property and under the 

 same superintendence. In Bengal and other of the 

 British possessions in India the cultivation is exclu- 

 sively left to the Ryots, or native farmers, who are 

 provided with seed by the factor, and bound to deliver 



* This red earth and water debase the indigo. In the northern 

 parts of the coast of Coromandel the natives use a cold infusion 

 of the bark of thejambolong tree (jamboliferapedunculata), which 

 is a very powerful astringent to precipitate their indigo. This 

 indigo is of a very good quality. Dr. .Roxburgh. 



f Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. 



