INDIGO. 475 



maunds. 



Bengal 84,500 



Tirhoot 24,500 



Benares 9,500 



Oude 6,500 



125,000 



In 1790 the general object of cultivation in Mauritius was 

 indigo, of which from four to five crops a year were procured. 

 One person sent to Europe 30,000 Ibs., in 1789, of very superior 

 quality. 



CEYLON. Indigo, though indigenous in Ceylon, is still imported 

 from the adjoining continent, but its growth in this island would be 

 subject to none of the vicissitudes of climate, that in the course of 

 a single night have devastated the most extensive plantations in 

 Bengal, and annihilated the hopes and calculations of the planter 

 at a time when they had attained all the luxuriance of approaching 

 maturity. 



The district of Tangalle, in the southern province, is the best 

 adapted to the culture and manufacture of indigo for various reasons, 

 such as the abundance of the indigenous varieties of the plant, 

 the similarity of the climate to that of the coast of Coromandel, 

 where the best indigo is produced ; facility of transport by water 

 to either of the ports of export, Galle or Colombo, during the 

 south-east, or to Trincomalee by the south-west monsoon ; every 

 necessary material is at hand for building a first rate indigo 

 factory, including drying yards, leaf godowns (stores), steeping 

 vats and presses, except roof and floor tiles which may be ob- 

 tained in any quantity from Colombo, during the south-west 

 monsoon, at a moderate rate, compared with their cost at home. 



In 1817 an offer was made to the Grovernment to introduce 

 the cultivation of indigo, on condition of a free grant of the 

 land required for the purpose and freedom from taxation for thirty 

 years, after which the usual tax was to be levied ; and in case the 

 cultivation were abandoned, the land was to revert to the Crown. 

 But whether from the disturbed state of the colony at the time 

 or from incredulity on the part of the Government, as to the 

 capability of the colony in this respect, the application was un- 

 heeded. " A subsequent proposal, emanating from a Swedish 

 gentleman of great ability, skill and enterprise, was defeated by 

 his death, although a company was on the point of formation to 

 carry out the scheme. It would not be difficult, says Mr. Barrett, 

 to select 500,000 acres, the property of the Crown, which at a 

 comparatively small expenditure might be brought into a proper 

 state of cultivation for the reception of indigo seed ; for very 

 little would be required to be done beyond clearing the land of 

 weeds, burning the grass, and then lightly ploughing and levelling 

 the ground ; and whenever manure might be requisite, the fecula 

 of the leaf affords one of the richest that could be .employed. 

 Ceylon produces two other plants from which a very valuable blue 

 dye may be obtained by a similar process to that of making in- 

 digo. The Singhalese head men of the Tangalle district have 



