ith billows of rich
colour chasing each other, and blending in harmonious hues; the whole
field looking a perfect oasis of beauty amid the surrounding dull brown
tints of the season.

It is now time to give the plant a light touch of the plough. This
eases the soil about the roots, lets in air and light, tends to clean
the undergrowth of weeds, and gives it a great impetus. The operation
is called _Bedaheunee_. By the beginning of June the tiny red flower is
peeping from its leafy sheath, the lower leaves are turning yellowish
and crisp, and it is almost time to begin the grandest and most
important operation of the season, the manufacture of the dye from the
plant.

To this you have been looking forward during the cold raw foggy days of
November, when the ploughs were hard at work,--during the hot fierce
winds of March, and the still, sultry, breathless early days of June,
when the air was so still and oppressive that you could scarcely
breathe. These sultry days are the lull before the storm--the pause
before the moisture-laden clouds of the monsoon roll over the land
'rugged and brown,' and the wild rattle of thunder and the lurid glare
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