I N D 
feme years ago by the Indigo planters of that country. 
For the beauty of the commodity which it produced •, • 
but the plants being (lender and thinly garniilied with 
leaves, which were final!, they did not furnifli a 
quantity of Indigo in proportion to their bulk, fo of 
late this fort has not been, much cultivated there ; 
though the account which I received with the feeds 
was, that it was what the beft Indigo of India was 
made from. 
The whole procefs in making the Indigo being ex- 
actly defcribed by Pere Labat in his voyages, I thought 
it would not be unacceptable to the Englifh reader, 
to tranilate his account in this place, which is as 
follows : 
There was formerly a great deal of Indigo made in 
the pariih of Macauba : there is not a ftream nor 
river in it, where one does not meet with Indigo 
works, that is, backs or vats of (tone- work well ce- 
mented, in which the plant that yields the dye is put 
to digeft : there are ufually three of thefe vats one 
above another, in the manner of a cafcade ; fo that 
the fecond, which is lower than the bottom of the 
firft, may receive the liquor contained in the firft, 
when the holes which are made in the bottom of the 
firft are unftopped ; and that the third may in its 
turn receive what was in the fecond. 
The firft, largeft, and higheft of thefe vats is called 
the fteeper or rot ; it is ulually made twenty feet long, 
twelve or fifteen feet wide, and three or four feet 
deep. The fecond is called the battery, it is almoft 
half as fmall again as the firft : and the third, which 
is much lefs than the fecond, is called the devilling. 
The names of the two firft perfedly agree with their 
ufes, for the plant is laid to fteep in the firft, where 
it ferments, is macerated, and becomes like rotten 
dung : after that the falts and fubftance of the leaf 
and rind are diffufed in the water by the fermentation, 
which the heat and ripenefs of the plant has excited 
in it. It is in the fecond that they agitate and beat 
this water, impregnated and loaded with the falts of 
the plant, till having collefted, re-united, and, as it 
were, coagulated them with one another, they form 
the particles which compofe the dye. 
As for the name of the third, I do not fee how it 
agrees with it, unlefs it be becaufe this vat is deeper 
coloured than the others ; for the Indigo already 
formed remaining in it, confequently dyes and co- 
lours it much deeper than the others. 
To which I fhould add, that it is only at St. Domingo 
that they make ufe of this name. In the Windward 
Iflands they call this laft vat the fettler, and this name 
fuits it perfectly well, becaufe it is in this, that the 
Indigo begun in the fteeper, and perfected in the 
battery unites, grows into a mafs, feparates itlelffrom 
the particles of water which remained in it, leaves 
them at top, and fettles at the bottom of the vat ; 
whence it is taken out to be put into little bags, and 
then into the boxes, as I fhall mention hereafter. 
Nothing ought to be omitted in the building and 
making thefe vats fubftantial ; the ftrength of the fer- 
mentation is fo great, that unlefs the ftone-work and 
plafter be very well done, and the mortar carefully 
chofen and wrought, they crack; and a very mo- 
derate crack is fufficient to let out a vat of Indigo, 
and caufe a confiderable lofs to the owner. 
When this misfortune happens, the following is an 
eafy and infallible remedy, which I can anfwer for, 
as having experienced it. Take fome fea {hells of 
any kind whatever, pound them without burning 
them, powder them, and fift them through a fine 
fieve. Take an equal quantity of quick lime and 
lift it ; mix thefe together with water enough to make 
a ftiff mortar, and as quick as you can, ftop the 
cracks of your vats with it. This mixture incorpo- 
rates, fticks, and dries in a moment, and immediately 
prevents the matter’s running out of the vat. 
Every body does, or fhould know, that Indigo is a 
dye ufed to dye wool, filk, cloths, and fluffs, blue : 
the Spaniards call it Anilo : the fineft they make, i. e. 
in New Spain, comes from Guatimala, which makes 
I N D 
a great many people call it barely Giiatimalo. It is 
made alfo in the Kail-Indies, particularly in the do- 
minions of the Great Mogul, the kingdom of Go!- 
conda, and other places thereabouts, as Mr. Tavernier 
relates in his voyages. This fort is in. Europe oftener 
called India than Indigo or Anil, people taking for 
its proper name the name of the place it was made at. 
Some authors, and among others. Father du Tertre 
of our order, having fancied that the Indigo which 
comes from the Eaft-Indies is more beautiful, finer, 
and dearer, than that which comes from the Weft- 
Indies, which they call flat Indigo, while they call 
that from the Eaft barely India. They would have 
lpoken more properly, if they had called the flatter 
round India ; for, by their leave, all the difference 
between the two Indias, or Indigos, is, that that made 
in the Eaft-Indies is fit aped like half eggs, and that 
of the Weft like cakes ; tor as for goodneJs and 
beauty, the one will not be- a whit fuperior to the 
other, if both are wrought with equal care and fi- 
delity. 
The fhape of the Oriental Indigo obliges the mer- 
chants who would carry it into Europe to pound it, 
that they may put the more into the chefts, or barrels 
they put it up in. It is certain, that being thus 
pounded, its grain having been broken under the 
peftle, ground, and reduced to powder, makes it 
finer than the Weft-Indian Indigo-, which coming in 
cakes juft as it was dried, {hews its nr air? entire, and 
confequently muft appear coarfer ; but what Is that 
to the intrinfic goodnefs of the commodity ; I main- 
tain it is the fame in both, though there feems to be 
a difference. 
To be convinced of this truth, take a lump of fu- 
gar equally white throughout, break it in two, pound 
one part of it, and reduce it to powder ; this will 
look finer and whiter than that which is whole, which, 
proceeds only from this, that the grain of the one has 
been feparated and divided into a greater number of 
parts, which, though very fmall, and almoft inlen- 
fible, yet have a greater number of furfaces, and con- 
{equently reflect more ligh ; whereas the other re- 
maining entire, prefenting ro the fight only a large 
grain, which has but little lurface, of courfe reflects 
lefs light, and by a neceffary confequence muft ap- 
pear leis white ; which is the fame as appearing left 
beautiful, fince the beauty of fugar confifts in its 
whitenefs. Methinks we may reafon in the fame 
manner upon Indigo, and lay, that casteris paribus, 
the Weft-Indian Indigo is as beautiful as the Eaft- 
Indian, when they are both wrought alike. 
I think I ftiould add, that the American Indigo is 
beuer for ufe than the other; for who does not fee, 
that there is no pounding this dye, without the moft 
fubtle parts being difiipated in the air, as Mr. Ta- 
vernier allows f And who can doubt that thefe parts 
are the beft, and thofe that go fartheft when it is 
ufed ? 
I grant that the Indigo which comes from the Eaft- 
Indies, is dearer than that which is made in the Weft- 
Indies ; the reafon is plain, it comes farther, runs 
greater rifles ; and thofe who bring it would not find 
their account in felling it, at the fame price with that 
which comes from a much nearer place ; but that 
does not at all prove it to be more beautiful, or 
better. 
Indigo is compofed of the fait and fubftance of the 
leaves and rind of a plant of the fame name ; fo that 
one may fay, it is a diffolution or digeftion of the 
plant, caufed by the fermentation it has excited in 
the water it was laid to fteep in. I know iome writers 
pretend, that the fubftance of the leaves does not pro- 
duce the Indigo, which (as they would have it) is 
only a vifeous tin&ure, or colour, which the fermen- 
tation of the plant diffufes in the water : but before I 
take their words for it, I defire they would tell me 
what becomes of the fubftance of the plant; for 
when it is taken out of the fteeper, it is certain, that 
it has no longer the fame weight, confidence, nor 
colour, it had before. The leaves, which were very 
plump. 
