EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. 303 



procefs of making indigo-, a detail of which will probably CHAP. 



, . XXVII. 



be acceptable. , . 



'1 - ^ — I wf 



In the firft place, therefore, I fliall prefent the curious 

 with a drawing of the indigo plants which is a knotty 

 fhrub produced from feed, which grows to about two feet 

 from the ground, and comes to perfedlion in the fpace of 

 two months. This plant requires a very rich foil, which, 

 befides ought to be kept perfectly clean from weeds. In 

 the plate, A is the colour of the fprig ; 5, the leaves 

 above ; C, the fame below ; D, the feed inclofed in fmall 

 brown pods ; £, the lize of the leaf as it grows ; F, a 

 piece of indigo ready made for ufe. The above fprig 

 was deligned from nature on the fpot, but on a fmall 

 fcale : it has fomething the appearance of the tamarind 

 branch, principally in the lize of the leaf, which alfo 

 grows in pairs, and is darker above than below ; but at 

 the extremity of each flioot in this fhrub, one leaf grows 

 lingle, which is not the cafe in the other. The young 

 Ihoot in the tamarind-trees alfo appears at the extremity 

 of the branches ; but in this they fpring forth, as may be 

 feen, from the bafe. 



The mode in which this plant is converted into in- 

 digo is as follows: — When all the verdure is cut off, 

 the whole crop is tied in bunches, and put into a very 

 large tub with water, covered over with very heavy 

 logs of wood by way of preffers : thus kept, it be- 

 gins to ferment ; in lefs than eighteen hours the water 

 feems to boil, and becomes of a violet or garter blue co- 

 lour, extracting all the grain or colouring matter from 



the 



