INDIGO. 323 



at a certain rate of price the whole of the plants pro- 

 duced from these seeds. The cultivators, in conse- 

 quence of failures in crops, or other accidents^ too fre- 

 quently require advances from their employer ; and 

 thus, though nominally free, they are in reality sub- 

 jected to him, and compelled to raise the indigo 

 exclusively for the supply of his factory. These fac- 

 tories are generally on a very large scale, by which 

 a much greater quantity of colouring matter is pro- 

 duced, than would result if natives were employed in 

 its preparation as well as in its cultivation. It is calcu- 

 lated that in the European method one man can bring 

 to issue one vat, containing fifty bundles of indigo 

 plants, which, according to quality, will afford from 

 ten to thirty pounds of indigo ; whereas by the 

 Indian method one man employed during the same 

 time will produce only one pound of indigo*. 



The extensive indigo factories are nearly always 

 remote from the seat of the English presidencies. 

 The superintendence of an establishment is seldom 

 intrusted to any but one of its proprietors; who, 

 entirely excluded from the society of his countrymen, 

 consents to many privations, with the hope that in a 

 few years he may reap sufficient wealth to ensure to 

 his future life those enjoyments for whose possession 

 he has been willing to sacrifice, as it were, a part 

 of his existence. As soon as he has accomplished 

 this end, he usually resigns his situation to a junior 

 partner, who pursues the same course. 



These expectations are not, however, always ful- 

 filled. The profits of an indigo property are in some 

 seasons greater than those afforded by almost any 

 other investment. One acre of rich land, by proper 

 cultivation and management, may be made to yield 

 annually 500 pounds of indigo, and in some years 

 indigo of the best quality has in England been as 

 * Asiatic Researches. 



