I N D 
later, foraetinies in fix, eight, or ten hours ; and- 
fometim.es one is obliged to wait eighteen or twenty 
hours, but very feldom longer. Then the effeCt of 
the fermentation vifibly appears, the water heats, and 
boils up on all iides, as the Grapes do in the vat ; 
<■ and the water which at firft was clear, infenfibly grows 
thick, and becomes of a blue, inclining to a Violet 
colour. Then without meddling at all with the plants, 
they open the cocks, which are at the bottom of the 
flee per, and let all this water, loaded with the falts 
and fubftance of the plant, which were freed by the 
fermentation, run into the battery ; and while they 
throw away as ufelefs, and aim oil rotten, the plants 
that were in the deeper, and clean it, that it may be 
filled with frefh, they beat the water, which they have 
Jet out of the deeper into the battery. 
They formerly tiled for this purpofe a battledoor 
wheel, whole axle was placed upon the middle of the 
vat, and which they turned by two handles that were 
at the end of the fame axle. Since that, in the room 
of battledoors, they have put little bottomlefs boxes, 
and afterwards others, whofe bottoms were bored full 
of holes : at prefent they ufe a kind of pretty large 
pails, fattened to ftrong poles, placed upon chande- 
liers, by means of which, the negroes violently and 
continually raife, beat, and ftir the water, till the 
fairs and other parts of the fubftance of the plant are 
united, and diffidently, as it were, coagulated to in- 
corporate. 
The hitting this minute exa&ly ftiews the (kill of him 
who overfees the making of the Indigo •, for if he 
makes them leave off beating a little too foon, the 
grain not yet formed, remains difperfed in the water, 
■without finking and gathering together at the bottom 
of the vat, and is loft with the water, when they 
are obliged to let it out, which is a great lofs to the 
owffer •, or if when it is formed they continue to beat, 
they ’ diiTolve it, and the fame inconvenience follows. 
This minute then mu ft be nicked, and when it is 
found, they muft leave off beating and let the matter 
reft. 
To find this minute, they make ufe of a little filver 
cup, defigned for this ufe alone ; they fill it with this 
water, while the negroes beat it, and according as 
they obferve that the feces fink to the bottom of the 
cup, or remain difperfed in the water, they ceafe, or 
continue beating*. 
The General Dictionary printed at Trevoux, relates 
very ferioufly, upon the credit of father Plunder a 
minim, that the Indigo-maker having taking up fome 
of the water of this battery in his cup, fpfts in it ; and 
that if the Indigo be formed, the faeces immediately 
fink to the bottom of the cup, and that then he makes 
them leave off beating, if not, he makes them con- 
tinue it. This is not the only incident in which people 
have impofed upon father Plumier’s credulity and 
fimplicity. I have been a witnefs of it upon other 
occafions. 
When they have left off beating they let the matter 
reft, the feces fink to the bottom of the vat, and 
gather together like a kind of mud ; and the water 
freed from all the falts it was impregnated with, 
fwims above it, and grows clear. Then they open 
the cocks, which are placed in the battery at different 
diftances from the bottom, and let this water run 
away ; and when they come to the furface of the fas- 
ces, they open the cocks of the bottom, that the 
feces may all fall into the devilling or fettler. There 
they let it fettle a little while longer, after which they 
put it into linen bags, fifteen or eighteen inches long, 
made with a point, where it perfectly purges itfelf 
from the reft of the water, which remained among 
its particles. When that is done, they fpread it in 
little boxes three or four feet long, two feet broad, 
and about three inches deep, and expofe it to the air 
to dry it perfeddy. They obferve not to expofe it to 
the fun, becaufe it would ftarve the colour in drying 
it ; and they take a great deal of care to keep it from 
the rain, becaufe that would diffolve and utterly 
fpoil it. 
I N D 
It fometimes happens that the caterpillars get among 
the Indigo , and if they are let alone ever io little a 
while they eat all the leaves, and often the very nnd 
and ends of the branches, and kill the flocks ; it is 
but loft time to endeavour to deftroy them, or hinder 
them from ravaging a whole piece, by. popping them 
with a ditch. The fureft way is to cut down the In- 
digo with all fpeed, let its age be what it will, and to 
throw both plants and caterpillars together into the 
fteeper ; there they burft, and part with what they 
had devoured, and the Indigo is not the lefs beau- 
tiful for it. It is true, when the plant is not come to 
its perfect maturity, it yields much lefs ; but many 
experiments have taught us, that the colour it yields 
is much more beautiful ; fo that what is loft one way 
is gained another. 
I would not wait for fo perfeCt a ripenefs before I cut 
the plant. Perhaps all the fecret of thole, whofe In- 
digo is fo much extolled beyond ours, lies only in 
cutting the plant when it yields the livelieft colour. I 
have experienced that in leaving fome cochineal flies 
upon fome Indian Figs, which were too ripe, inftead 
of being red, they grew of a filemot colour, like the 
fruit they fed upon. The fame thing might happen 
in Indigo ; and what I here propofe is not a ground- 
lefs doubt, fince it is backed by the experiment I have 
juft related; which plainly proves, that the fame 
plant, cut at different ages, produces colours different 
in beauty. I would not venture to give this advice 
to men wedded to their intereft, who value the quan- 
tity rather than the quality of their commodity 5 but 
I believe I have nothing to fear from our iflanders, 
who are generous and magnificent, fometimes even 
beyond their abilities : I adv/fe them therefore to make 
different trials, as to the foil, the feafon, the age of 
the plant, the water they fteep it in, the point of dif- 
folution, &c. and I am fure, that with a little time, 
labour, and patience, they will make Indigo that will 
equal, and even excel, the moft boafted Indigo of 
foreign countries. The planters of St. Domingo know 
that in 1701 their coarfe fugar was very bad, and was 
not made without infinite trouble ; and at prefent 
every body allows, that by their labour, affiduity, and 
enquiries, it is grown much more efteemed than that 
of the Windward Iflands : why may not the fame be 
hoped for in Indigo ? 
Mr. Pomet, author of the General Hiftory of Drugs, 
fays in his firft part, chap. 10. That the Indians of 
the village of Sarquefle, near Amadabat, ufe only the 
leaves of the Indigo, and throw away the plant and 
branches; and that it is from thence the moft efteemed 
Indigo comes. 
I am pretty much of his opinion ; for we fee, that 
thofe who take the pains to ftrip off the Grapes from 
the branches, before they put them into the vat, and 
throw away the ftalks entirely, make much the belt 
wine ; becaufe the ftalks always contain an acid, which 
mixes with the juice of the Grape in the treading and 
preffmg them both together ; and for the fame reafon, 
the ftalks of the Indigo plant muft contain a liquid 
much lefs perfeCt in colour than that of the leaves : 
but one ought to have the leifure and patience of the 
Indians to undertake ftich a work, and have work- 
men as cheap as they are in that country, fuppofing 
the faCt true, as Mr. Pomet delivers it from the re- 
lation of Mr. T avernier. 
Though I am a great friend to thole experiments 
which may carry our manufactures to a greater per- 
fection, yet i dare not propofe this, becaufe of the 
expence they muft be at, who would try it ; and be- 
caufe the profit arifing from it would not perhaps quit 
coft : however, I have here given the method of the 
Indians of Sarqueffe, that I may have no reafon to re- 
proach myfelf with having omitted a thing which 
may be of fome ufe to my country. 
Good Indigo ought to be fo light, as to fwim upon 
water ; the more it finks the more it is to be fufpefted 
of being mixed with earth, afhes, or powdered Hate. 
Its colour ought to be a deep blue, inclining to a 
Violet, brilliant, lively, and bright: it ought to be 
more 
