Canua Is A Small Country Town, Eighteen C. From Agra, W. By S. Around
Which Very Good Indigo Is Made, Owing To The Strength Of The Soil And
Brackishness Of The Water.
It makes yearly about 500 M.[243] Ouchen,
three c. distant, makes very good indigo; besides which no town but
Biana is comparable to Canua.
The country which produces the excellent
indigo, which takes its name from Biana, is not more than twenty or
thirty coss long. The herb nill, from which indigo is made, grows in
form not much unlike chives or chick-pease, having a small leaf like
that of senna, but shorter and broader, set on very short foot-stalks.
The branches are hard and woody, like those of broom. The whole plant
seldom exceeds a yard high, and its stem, at the biggest in the third
year, does not much exceed the size of a man's thumb. The seed is
enclosed in a small pod about an inch long, and resembles fenugreek,
only that it is blunter at both ends, as if cut off with a knife. The
flower is small, and like hearts-ease. The seed is ripe in November, and
is then gathered. When sown, the herb continues three years on the
ground, and is cut every year in August or September, after the rains.
The herb of the first year is tender, and from it is made notee, which
is a heavy reddish indigo, which sinks in water, not being come to
perfection. That made from the plant of the second year, called cyree,
is rich, very light, of a perfect violet colour, and swims in water. In
the third year the herb is declining, and the indigo it then produces,
called catteld, is blackish and heavy, being the worst of the three.
When the herb is cut, it is thrown into a long cistern, where it is
pressed down by many stones, and the water is then let in so as to cover
it all over. It remains thus certain days, till all the substance of the
herb is dissolved in the water. The water is then run off into another
cistern which is round, having another small cistern in the centre. It
is here laboured or beaten with great staves, like batter or white
starch, when it is allowed to settle, and the clear water on the top is
scummed off. It is then beaten again, and again allowed to settle,
drawing off the clear water; and these alternate beatings, settlings,
and drawing off the clear water, are repeated, till nothing remain but a
thick substance. This is taken out and spread on cloths in the sun, till
it hardens to some consistence, when it is made up by hand into small
balls, laid to dry on the sand, as any other thing would drink up the
colour, and which is the cause of every ball having a sandy foot. Should
rain fall while in this situation, the indigo loses its colour and
gloss, and is called aliad.
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