Indigo at Ambore. %jy 



Extraft of a Treatife on the Manufacture ^/"Indigo. 

 By Mr. De Cossigny, 



** A II A HIS experiment (the Indian prccefs) infallibly fhows, that Indigo 

 I " may be produced by different methods, and how much it is to 

 " be regretted that the European artifts mould remain conflantly wedded to 

 ** their method or routine, without having yet made the necefiary inquiries to- 

 " wards attaining perfection. Many travellers on the coaft of Coromandel 

 ** having been ftruck with the apparent fimplicity of the means ufed by the 

 " Indians in preparing Indigo, from having feen their artifls employed in the 

 " open air with only earthen jars, and from not having duly examined and 

 " weighed the extent of the detail of their procefs, apprehend that it is ef-- 

 " fected by eafier means than with the large vats of mafonry and the machi- 

 " nery employed by Europeans : but they have been greatly miflaken, the 

 " whole appearing a deluiive conclufion from the following obfervation, viz. 

 " that one man can, in the European method of manufacture, bring to ifTue. 

 ** one vat containing fifty bundles of plant, which, according to their nature 

 ** and quality, may afford from ten to thirty pounds of Indigo ; whereas, by 

 ** the Indian procefs, one employed during the fame time would probably on- 

 " ly produce one pound of Indigo : the European method is therefore the 

 " moil fimple, as well as every art where machinery is ufed inffead of ma- 

 u nual labour." 



NOTE. 

 Experience alone mult decide between the oppofite opinions of Colonel Martin and Mi- db 

 Cassis ny. 



