INTRODUCTORY. 



T is proposed, in the following Sketches of Indigo- 

 life in Tirhoot and Lower Bengal, to give those 

 at Home and others who have never witnessed 

 the manufacture of indigo, or seen an indigo factory 

 in this country, an idea of how the finished, market- 

 able article is produced, together with phases and 

 incidents of an Indigo Planter's life, such as may 

 be interesting, instructive, and, it may be, amusing 

 to friends at Home, and serve as a record of 

 what an Indigo Planter's usual life now-a-days is. 

 This book does not profess to deal with the scienti- 

 fic production of indigo, nor the various theories and 

 processes of late years put forward for the increase 

 of produce from the plant, or the production of 

 higher -class colour by chemical means. The old 

 simple, unadulterated, original process of manufac- 

 ture is generally adhered to. Planters also, espe- 

 cially " old hands," have a rooted objection to any 

 t( doctoring " stuff ; they thoroughly and firmly be- 

 lieve in the real old original " true " blue, with no 

 admixtures, soda crystals, spirits of ammonia, or 

 any other potent chemicals. 



K,, In. A 



