456 DYES AND COLORING STUFJFB. 



The indigo of Central America is not put into moulds \V!HMI 

 drying, as that of Bengal, but is allowed to remain in the rough 

 shape in which it dries, and without further preparation is ready 

 for baling and exportation. 



The bales are generally made up in 150 Ibs. each, and the 

 quality is classed by numbers, from 1 to 9 ; Nos. 1 to 3 being 

 of the quality called colres in Europe ; Nos. 4 to 6 of that called 

 cortes, and Nos. 7 to 9 of that called fares ; Nos. 1 to 6 do not at 

 present pay the expenses of manufacture, and are never intention- 

 ally made. No doubt, with a little more skill in the manufacture, 

 the whole might, as in Bengal, be made of the quality called^ore* ; 

 but such improvements cannot be expected till a new race of 

 people inhabit Central America. At present about one-half of the 

 indigo produced is under No. 7, and as the cultivation is said not 

 to pay at the present prices and, indeed, hardly can be supposed 

 to compete with Bengal, a country where labor is so much cheaper, 

 and capital abundant it is probable, that the cultivation Avill 

 shortly be entirely abandoned, unless the price should again rise in 

 Europe." In 1846, 21,933 Ibs. of indigo were exported from 

 Angostura. 



The following particulars were contributed to my " Colonial 

 Magazine," by the late Dr. Edward Biuns, of Jamaica: 



The species generally cultivated is the I. tinctoria, which requires a rich moist 

 soil and warm weather. The seed, which is at first sight not unlike coarse 

 gunpowder, is sown three or four inches deep, in straight lines, twelve or fifteen 

 inches apart. The shoots appear above ground in about a week ; at the end of 

 two months the plant flowers, when it is fit for cutting, which is don6 with a 

 pruning knife. It must be mentioned that great care is requisite in weeding 

 the indigo field when plants first shoot through the earth. In the State of St. 

 Salvador, large vats made of mahogany, or other hard wood, are constructed for 

 the reception of the plant, where it is allowed to undergo maceration and fer- 

 mentation.' In a short time the water becomes greenish, and emits a strong 

 pungent smell, while carbonic acid gas is freely evolved. In about twenty-four 

 hours it is run off into large flat vessels, and stirred about until a blue scum ap- 

 pears, when additional water is added, and the blue flakes sink to the bottom. 

 The supernatant water has now acquired a yellowish tinge, when it is run oif 

 carefully, and the blue deposit or sediment put into bags to drain. It is subse- 

 quently dried in the shade, or sometimes in the sun, then placed in ccttoii bags 

 and carried to the indigo fair, or forwarded to the city of Guatemala. 



The East Indian mode of manufacturing the indigo differs materially, and 

 many suppose it preferable to the Salvador. It consists in steaminy the fer- 

 mented mass in large pipes enclosed in huge boilers. I am inclined to believe 

 this to be the most economical, if not the best way of manufacturing indigo. 

 From Guatemala alone, it is computed that from 6,000 to 8,010 seroLS of indigo 

 are exported annually; while ban Miguel, Chalatcnaugo, Tejulta, Secatecolnea, 

 St. Vincent, Sensuutepepe, not only, it is said, produce a larger quantity, but 

 the four last-mentioned places have the advantage as to quality. The Belize 

 ^liliTi-Hxer stated, some time since, that the value of this dye from one State in 

 1830 produced 2,000,000 dollars, the minimum of an immense sum -vhich has 

 been most unjustly and unwisely wrested from the people of Jamaica, and the 

 West India islands. 



l.ridges ("Annals of Jamaica," p. 584, Append.), speaking of the vast returns 

 of an indigo plantation, says, "The labour of a single negro would often bring 

 to his owner 30 sterling per annum clear profit,-- a sum which was at the time 

 the laborer's highe-1 price. Ii continued the .s/r////- of Jamaica till an intolerable 

 tax oppressed ^t, while its price was lowered by the competition of other colonies. 



