s away it is good, the adulterations remain
untouched."

Indigo to the extent of 220,000 lbs. per annum is grown in Egypt. The
leaves are there thrown into earthen vessels, which are buried in pits
and filled with water; heat is applied, and the liquid is boiled away
until the indigo becomes of a fit consistence, when it is pressed into
shape and dried. Many Armenians have been invited from the East Indies
to teach the fellahs the best mode of preparation, and, in
consequence, nine indigo works have been established belonging to the
government.

The indigo plant is found scattered like a weed abundantly over the
face of the country in the district of Natal, Eastern Africa. It is
said that there are no less than ten varieties of the plant commonly
to be met with there. Mr. Blaine submitted, in 1848, to the Manchester
Chamber of Commerce, a small specimen of this dye-stuff, which had
been extracted by a rude process from a native plant, which was
pronounced by good authority to be of superior quality, and worth 3s.
4d. per pound. Mr. W. Wilson, a settler at Natal, in a letter to the
editor of the _Natal Witness_, thus speaks of the culture:--

"My attention was first forcibly drawn to the cultivation of indigo
by some seed imported by Mr. Kinlock, from India. This seed, on
trial, I found to grow luxuriantly; and after a few experiments I
succeeded in manufacturing the dye. The success which thus attended
my first attempts has encouraged me to try indigo planting on a more
extensive scale. For this purpose I am allowing all the plants of
this season to run to seed, and intend to plant equal quantities of
Bengal and native indigo.

While my attention was engaged in these preliminary experiments, I
observed that the country abounded in a variety of species of
indigo, and by a series of experiments found it rich and abundant,
and have since learnt that it is known and in use among the natives,
and called by them Umpekumbeto.

This of course induced further inquiry, and on consulting different
works I find that the Cape of Good Hope possesses more species of
indigo than the whole world besides. Now I take it for granted that
if Providence has placed these materials within our reach, it was
evidently intended that we should, by the application of industry,
appropriate them to our use. It becomes, then, a matter of necessity
that indigo must th