456 



DYES A]S"D COLOEI^fG STUFFS. 



The indigo of Central America is not put into moulds -when 

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

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

 for baling and esportation. 



Tlie bales are generally made up in 150 lbs. each, and the 

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

 of the quality called <?o5re5 in Europe; 'Nob. 4 to 6 of that called 

 cortes, and l^fos. 7 to 9 of that called^ores ; K'os, 1 to 6 do not at 

 present pay the expenses of mamifacture, 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 ^^ores ; 

 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 will 

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

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

 Angostura. 



The following particulars were contributed to my " Colonial 

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



The species generally cultivated is the /. tinctoria., which. req\iires a rich moist 

 soil and warm weatner. 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 fiowers, when it is fit for cutting, which is done with a 

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

 the indigo field when plants first shoot throui'h 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, v/here 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 fiat 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 off 

 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 cotton bags 

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



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

 many suppose it preferable to the Salvador, It consists in steaming the fer- 

 mented mass in large pipes enclosed in h^ige boilers. I am inclin^^d 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,CC0 seroLS of indigo 

 are exported annually; while San Miguel, Chalatenaugo, Tejulta, Secatecolnca, 

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

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

 Advertiser stated, some time since, that the value of this dye from one State in 

 1839 produced 2,000,000 dollars^ the minimum of an immense sum ■vhich has 

 been most unjustly and unv/isely wrested from the peoijle of Jamaica, and the 

 "West India islands. 



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

 of an indigo plantation, saj's, " 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 highest price. Ii continued the sta2)le of Jamaica till an intolerable 

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



