of quivering never-ceasing lightning herald in the annual rains. The
manufacture however deserves a chapter to itself.

[Illustration: INDIGO BEATING VATS.]




CHAPTER IV.


Manufacture of Indigo.--Loading the vats.--Beating.--Boiling,
straining, and pressing.--Scene in the Factory.--Fluctuation of
produce.--Chemistry of Indigo.

Indigo is manufactured solely from the leaf. When arrangements have
been made for cutting and carting the plant from the fields, the vats
and machinery are all made ready, and a day is appointed to begin
'Mahye' or manufacture. The apparatus consists of, first, a strong
serviceable pump for pumping up water into the vats: this is now mostly
done by machinery, but many small factories still use the old Persian
wheel, which may be shortly described as simply an endless chain of
buckets, working on a revolving wheel or drum. The machine is worked by
bullocks, and as the buckets ascend full from the well, they are
emptied during their revolution into a small trough at the top, and the
water is conveyed into a huge masonry reservoir or tank, situated high
up above the vats, which forms a splendid open air bath for the planter
when he feels inclined for a swim. Many of these tanks, called
_Kajhana_, are capable of containing 40,000 cubic feet of water or
more.