CHAPTER IX. 

 INDIGO IN BENGAL. 



N the Lower Bengal indigo factories, whose lands 

 are yearly flooded over by the rise of the river 

 Ganges, the system of sowings is entirely differ- 

 ent to the Tirhoot mode. No drills whatever are 

 used in Lower Bengal, either for October or February 

 sowings ; the seed in all factories is sown broadcast, 

 either in wet or dry sowings. The wet sowings are 

 done as follow : On the subsidence of the overflow 

 of the river Ganges, about the ist of October, men 

 are sent out along the banks of the rivers, and parti- 

 cularly to the churs or islands formed in the river's 

 course, and wherever a likely deposit of thick, soft 

 mud has formed (alluvial deposit), the seed is there 

 scattered broadcast by the sowers, each of whom is 

 provided with a long bamboo to help him through 

 the mud which is often waist and occasionally 

 neck-deep and a bag, or, more frequently, a cane- 

 work basket of indigo seed, to scatter. These bas- 

 kets are replenished from time to time by the amun 

 or head-factory servant, in attendance in a small 

 boat called a panchorey or dinghy (see illustration) ; 

 this servant is responsible for the sowings being 



