Weeding, Cutting, Carting, Manufacturing. 57 



according to the time required for fermentation, the 

 liquor is drawn off into the beating vat, and beaten 

 or thrown up into the air as much as possible with 

 wooden paddles or staves, by ten or twelve men in 

 two rows of six each, beating towards each other in- 

 wards. The sides of the beating vats are curved 

 inward at the top to prevent the liquor splashing 

 out. Steam machinery beating or paddle - wheels 

 are now used in very many factories for doing this. 

 The beating occupies about from two to two and a 

 half hours or a little longer, according to the 

 weather being fine, warm, and sunshiny, or cold, dull, 

 and wet. 



After beating, during which the liquor changes 

 from bright to dark green, then to purple, and then to 

 dark purple-blue, when the indigo grain is formed, 

 the grain is allowed to settle. The beaters run 

 round inside the beating vat several times to give the 

 liquor a rotatory movement, and then jump quickly 

 out, leaving the indigo in the vat to settle to the 

 bottom. When this is accomplished, in two or three 

 hours, the bad or refuse water is run off, as shown in 

 the sketch, and only the indigo remains at the 

 bottom of the vat. This is then washed down by 

 two men, and lifted out of the vat by buckets and 

 drained into the reservoir under the boiler pump. 

 With this pump, the indigo is then pumped up into the 



