IITDIGO. 



463 



it is inferior, the heavier the worse ; so if it wholly dissolves in 

 water it is good. Another way of proving it, is by the fire ordeal ; 

 if it entirely burns away it is good, the adulterations remain 

 untouched." 



Indigo to the extent of 220,000 lbs, per annum is grown in Egypt. 

 The leaves are there thrown into earthen vessels, which are buried 

 in pits and filled with water ; heat is applied, and the liquid is 

 boiled away until the indigo becomes of a fit consistence, when it 

 is pressed into shape and dried. Many Armenians have been 

 invited from the East Indies to teach the fellahs the best mode 

 of preparation, and, in consequence, nine indigo works have been 

 established belonging to the government. 



The indigo plant is found scattered like a weed abundantly over 

 the face of the country in the district of Natal, Eastern Africa. 

 It is said that there are no less than ten varieties of the plant 

 commonly to be met with there. Mr. Blaine submitted, in 1848, 

 to the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, a small specimen of 

 this dye-stuff, which had been extracted by a rude process from a 

 native plant, which was pronounced by good authority to be of 

 superior quality, and worth 3s. 4d. per pound. Mr. W. Wilson, 

 a settler at Natal, in a letter to the editor of the Natal Witness, 

 thus speaks of the culture : — 



" My attention was first forcibly drawn to the cultivation of indigo by some 

 seed imported by Mr. Kinlock, from India. This seed, on trial, I found to 

 grow luxuriantly ; and after a few experiments I succeeded in manufacturing 

 the dye. The success which thus attended my first attempts has encouraged 

 me to try indigo planting on a more extensive scale. For this purpose I am 

 allowing all the plants of this season to run to seed, and intend to plant equal 

 quantities of Bengal and native indigo. 



While my attention was engaged in these preliminary experiments, I ob- 

 served that the country abounded in a variety of species of indigo, and by a 

 series of experiments found it rich and abundant, and have since learnt that it 

 is known and in use among the natives, and called by them Umpekumbeto. 



This of course induced further inquiry, and on consulting different works I 

 find that the Cape of Good Hope possesses more species of indigo than the 

 whole world besides. Now I take it for granted that if Providence has placed 

 these materials within our reach, it was evidently intended that we should, by 

 the application of industry, appropriate them to our use. It becomes, then, a 

 matter of necessity that indigo must thrive, this being its native soil and 

 climate ;■ and the experiments I have successfully made, go to support me in 

 the opinion that the cultivation of indigo will bring an ample reward. Indeed 

 it seems contrary to the laws of nature that it should be otherwise. 



I have obtained from the 140th part of an acre the proportion of 300 lbs. of 

 indigo per acre. That the plant will cross successfully, I have also ascertained." 



Cultivation in India. — During the nine years which preceded the 

 opening of the trade with India in 1814, the annual average pro- 

 duce of indigo in Bengal, for exportation, was nearly 5,600,000 lbs. 

 But since the ports were opened, the indigo produced for expor- 

 tation has increased fully a third ; the exports during the sixteen 

 years ending with 1829-30, being above 7,400,000 lbs. a year. 



The consumption in the United Kingdom has averaged, during 

 the last ten years, about 2,500,000 lbs. a year. 



