Indigo in Bengal, 77 



When the indigo seed is thrown on the alluvial 

 deposit, it sinks from two to three inches by its own 

 weight, and, in the course of a week or so, the plant 

 springs forth. Cheetanee sowings are easily and cheap- 

 ly done, so far as the sowing of the seed itself only is 

 concerned, but they are most expensive to weed, as 

 with the indigo plant spring up countless varieties of 

 jungle plants, weeds, and creepers, and specially a 

 sort of jungle called j'how, something like a small kind 

 of fir or pine, which is very hard to eradicate from the 

 ground ; in fact, it is next door to impossible to get 

 quite rid of it, relay after relay springs up as one lot is 

 cut and piled into heaps, in never-ending succession 

 the plants appear, and they are a source of infinite 

 trouble and expense to the planter to get rid of. 

 When the hot, dry months come round in April and 

 May, these churs or alluvial deposits crack in every 

 direction, and are most dangerous to ride or hunt 

 over, as, a horse getting his foot into one of them will 

 fall to a certainty, or throw his rider, perhaps severely. 

 The best pace to go over them, if they must be tra- 

 versed, is a quick-march step, a sharp walk, like a cat 

 on hot tiles and the feelings of the cat in that pre- 

 dicament and the rider across a very " cracky " chur 

 must be much alike, so far as we may compare human 

 feelings of uncertainty and alarm with those of the 

 lower animals. 



