Travels in India (Tavernier) 73: Concerning Indigo.
Travels in India (Ball) 73
- Language
- English
Concerning Indigo.
73.1
Indigo comes from different localities of the Empire of the Great Mogul, and in these different localities it is of various qualities, which increase or diminish its price. In the first place some comes from the country of Biana, from Indoua, and from Corsa, one or two days’ march from Agra; and this is considered to be the best of all. It is made also at eight days’ march from Surat, and at two leagues from Ahmadabad, in a village called Sarkhej. It is from thence indigo cake comes, and some of the same kind and nearly the same price comes also from the country of the King of Golconda. The maund of Surat, which is 42 seers, or 34½ of our livres, is sold for from 15 to 20 rupees. There is also made at Broach some of the same quality as this last. As for that from the neighbourhood of Agra, it is made in small pieces like hemispheres, and it is, as I have said, the best in India. It is sold by the maund, and the maund in these regions is 60 seers, which are equal to 51⅞ of our livres. One pays generally for it from 36 to 40 rupees. Indigo is also produced at 36 leagues from Burhanpur on the road to Surat at a large village called Raout, and other small villages in its neighbourhood; and the people of the place generally sell more than 100,000 rupees worth of it every year. There comes lastly the indigo of Bengal, which the Dutch Company conveys to Masulipatam; but you can buy this indigo and that of Burhanpur and Ahmadabad cheaper by 30 per cent than that of Agra.
73.2
Indigo is made from a plant which is sown every year after the rains, and which, before preparation, much resembles hemp. It is cut three times in the year, and the first cutting takes place when it is about 2 or 3 feet high ; and it is cut to within 6 inches of the ground. The first leaf is without doubt 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, as seen 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, which becomes 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 with 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.
73.3
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. Next, the water having been drawn off, they fill baskets with the slime, after which, in a level field, each man is to be seen near his basket taking this paste in his fingers, and moulding it into pieces of the shape and size of a hen’s egg cut in two—that is to say, flat below and pointed above. But as for the indigo of Ahmadābād, it is flattened and made into the shape of a small cake. This is to be particularly remarked, that the merchants, in order to escape paying custom on useless weight, before sending the indigo from Asia to Europe are careful to sift it, in order to remove the dust attached to it, which they afterwards sell to the people of the country, who make use of it in their dyes. Those who are employed to sift the indigo observe great precautions, for while so occupied they hold a cloth in front of the face, and take care that all their orifices are well closed, only leaving two small holes in the cloth for the eyes, to see what they are doing. Moreover, both those who sift the indigo and the writers or sub-merchants of the Company who watch them sifting, have to drink milk every hour, this being a preservative against the subtlety of the indigo.
73.4
All these precautions do not prevent those who are occupied for eight or ten days, sifting indigo, from having all that they expectorate coloured blue for some time. I have indeed on more than one occasion observed that if an egg is placed in the morning near one of these sifters, in the evening, when one breaks it, it is altogether blue inside, so penetrating is the dust of indigo. According as the men take paste from the baskets with their fingers steeped in oil, and mould it in pieces, they expose them to the sun to dry. And when the merchants buy the indigo they always burn some pieces in order to see if there is any sand mixed with it. For the peasants who take the paste out of the baskets to separate it into pieces, after they have dipped their hands in oil, place it in the sand, which mingles with the paste and makes it heavier; and when burnt the indigo becomes a cinder and the sand remains entire. The Governors do all they can to stop this fraud, but there are always some who practise it.