and the people there generally sell more than 100,000 rupees worth of it every year.
There
is lastly the indigo of Bengal, which the Dutch Company conveys to
Masulipatam ; but this indigo and that of Burhanpur and Ahmadabad can
be bought cheaper by 30 per cent, than that of Agra.
Indigo
is prepared from a plant* which is sown every year after the rains ;
before preparation it much resembles hemp. It is cut three times in the
year, the first cutting taking place when it is about 2 or 3 feet high
; and it is then cut to within 6 inches of the ground.2 The
first leaf is certainly better than those which follow, the second
yielding less by 10 or 12 per cent, than the first, and the third 20
per cent, less than the second. It is classified by the colour,
determined when a morsel of the paste is broken. The colour of the
indigo made from the first crop is of a violet-blue, which is more
brilliant and more lively than the others, and that of the second is
more lively than that of the third. But besides this difference, which
causes a considerable effect on the price, the Indians manipulate the
weight and quality, as I shall elsewhere explain. After the Indians
have cut the plant they throw it into tanks made of lime,3
which become so hard that one would say that they were made of a single
piece of marble. The tanks are generally from 80 to 100 paces in
circuit, and when half-full of water, or a little more, they are filled
up with the cut plant. The Indians mix it and stir it up with the water
every day until the leaf—for the stem is of no account—becomes reduced
into slime or greasy earth. This done, they allow it to rest for some
days, and when they see that all has sunk to the bottom and that the
water is clear above, they open the holes made round the tank to allow
the water to escape. The water having been drawn off, they then fill
baskets with the slime, after which, in a level field, each man sits
near his basket, takes this paste in his fingers, and moulds it into
1 The indigo plant, Indigofera tinctoria, Linn.
1
This is known as Jari, or ' root', indigo, because it grows from the
plants sown the previous year, as contrasted with Naudha, ' new sown ',
that planted annually and ploughed up after the stalks have been cut.
3 The indigo vats are faced with chunam or lime, which, especially when made from shells, produces a marble-like surface.
