revolt in the latter island, the Florida disasters and the continual
unsettlement of Mexico, all worked favorably for the planters of
India, who may now be called the indigo-producers of the world.

[Illustration: MÂLERS AND SONTALS.]

The seed is usually sown in the latter part of October in Bengal, as
soon as the annual deposit of the streams has been reduced by drainage
to a practicable consistency, though the sowing-season lasts quite on
to the end of November. On dry ground the plough is used, the _ryots_,
or native farm-laborers, usually planting under directions proceeding
from the factory. There are two processes of extracting the dye, known
as the method "from fresh leaves" and that "from dry leaves." I found
them here manufacturing by the former process. The vats or cisterns of
stone were in pairs, the bottom of the upper one of each couple being
about on a level with the top of the lower, so as to allow the liquid
contents of the former to run freely into the latter. The upper is the
fermenting vat, or "steeper," and is about twenty feet square by three
deep. The lower is the "beater," and is of much the same dimensions
with the upper, except that its length is five or six feet greater. As
the twigs and leaves of the plants are brought in from the fields the
cuttings are placed in layers in the steeper, logs of wood secured by
bamboo withes are placed upon the surface to prevent overswelling, and
water is then pumped on or poured from buckets to within a few inches
of the top. Fermentation now commences, and continues for fourteen or
fifteen hours, varying with the temperature of the air, the wind,
the nature of the water used and the ripeness of the plants. When the
agitation of the mass has begun to subside the liquor is racked off
into the lower vat, the "beater," and ten men set to work lustily
beating it with paddles (_busquets_), though this is sometimes done by