388 



ANNOTTA, OR ARNOTTO. 



facture of tlie extract are of the most primitive description. A 

 shallow cast-iron pan, about 3 feet across, is built into an earthen 

 fireplace. Water is poured into the pan, a fire is kindled, and the 

 leaves and young shoots, freshly plucked, are scattered in and boiled 

 for about an hour. At the end of this time they are thrown into a 

 capacious steeping trough, the lower end of which projects into the 

 pan, and squeezed with the hand so that the absorbed liquor may run 

 back into the boiler. The decoction is then evaporated to the con- 

 sistency of a syrup, and baled out into buckets. When sufficiently 

 cool, it is subjected to a curious treatment. Instead of simply stirring 

 it round, the workman pushes a stick of soft wood in a 'sloping direc- 

 tion into every bucket, and placing two such buckets before him, he 

 works a stick up and down in each. The liquor thickens round the 

 stick, and the thickened portion being constantly rubbed off, while at 

 the same time the whole is in motion, it gradually sets into a mass, a 

 result which the workman affirms would never be produced by simply 

 stirring round. Though we are not prepared to concur in the work- 

 man's opinion, it is reasonable to suppose that his manner of treating 

 the liquor favoui'S the crystallization of the substance in a more con- 

 crete form than it might otherwise assume. The thickened mass, 

 which is said by another writer to resemble soft, yellowish clay, is 

 now i^laced in shallow, square boxes, and when somewhat hardened, 

 is cut into cubes and dried in the shade. The leaves are boiled a 

 second time, and finally washed in water, which water is saved for 

 another operation. A plantation with five or six labourers contains 

 on an average 70,000 to 80,000 shrubs, and yields from 50 to 60 lbs. 

 of gambier daily. (' Pharmacographia.') 



The following have been the imports of gambier into the United 

 Kingdom : 





Tons. 





Tons. 



18G6 



12,845 



1872 .. . 



.. 21,155 



18G7 .. , 



13,237 



1873 . , 



,. 22,514 



18G8 . 



20,239 



1874 ,, 



.. 16,728 



1869 , 



10,267 



1875 



, 23,299 



1870 



19,050 



1876 ,, 



.. 21,721 











Annotta, or Arnotto. — The culture of the plant producing this 

 dye-stufl' is cliiefly carried on in the French colonies of Guadaloupe 

 and Cayenne, where it is known as roucou, and in other parts of 

 South America as achiote. It is washed off from the seeds of a small 

 tree or shrub, the Bixa orellana, a native of the warm parts of South 

 America, the East and West Indies, and Africa. The plant is grown 

 in the Deccan and other parts of India and the Eastern Archi- 

 pelago, in the Pacific Islands, Brazil, Peru, and Zanzibar. The fruit 

 is like a chestnut, a two-valved capsule covered with flexible bristles, 

 and contains a certain number of seeds smaller than peas. These 

 seeds are covered with a soft, viscous, resinous pulp, of a beautiful 

 vermilion colour, and unpleasaot smell like red lead mixed with oil, 

 and it is this substance which constitutes annotta, or arnotto. The 

 modein which it is obtained is by pouring hot water over the pulp 

 and seeds, and leaving them to macerate, and then separating them by 



