MODE OF DYEING. 157 



A quantity of crude indigo, made up in balls of 

 about three inches diameter, is thrown into a 

 pit, about four feet wide, and eight feet deep. 

 This pit is filled with water, and a ley of wood 

 ashes being added, is allowed to ferment : when 

 the fermentation has subsided, a board is put 

 down into the pit, the sediment is pushed on 

 one side, and the blue liquor remains. The pit 

 has a small gallows erected over it, and the 

 piece of cloth to be dyed is suspended from it 

 by a string, and let down and hauled up by the 

 dyer until he considers the dye to be sufficiently 

 deep. 



The beauty of their dye consists, I think, in 

 the freshness of the indigo, and the quantity they 

 use. The price of dyeing a tobe, which if well 

 made contains from eleven to fourteen square 

 yards, is two thousand cowries, or two shillings 

 sterling. There were about fifteen or sixteen of 

 these pits on the hill, each with a separate pro- 

 prietor. 



It being market-day, the town altogether pre- 

 sented a lively scene of trade and industry. In 

 the market we found palm-oil, shea butter, four 

 or five kinds of grain, Cayenne pepper, calavances, 

 yams, &c. exposed in considerable quantities for 



