e is an
oblong shallow wooden frame, in the shape of a trough, but all composed
of open woodwork. It is covered by a large straining-sheet, on which
the mall settles; while the waste water trickles through and is carried
away by a drain. When the mall has stood on the table all night, it is
next morning lifted up by scoops and buckets and put into the presses.
These are square boxes of iron or wood, with perforated sides and
bottom and a removeable perforated lid. The insides of the boxes are
lined with press cloths, and when filled these cloths are carefully
folded over the _mall_, which is now of the consistence of starch; and
a heavy beam, worked on two upright three-inch screws, is let down on
the lid of the press. A long lever is now put on the screws, and the
nut worked slowly round. The pressure is enormous, and all the water
remaining in the _mall_ is pressed through the cloth and perforations
in the press-box till nothing but the pure indigo remains behind.

The presses are now opened, and a square slab of dark moist indigo,
about three or three and a half inches thick, is carried off on the
bottom of the press (the top and sides having been removed), and
carefully placed on the cutting frame. This frame corresponds in size
to the bottom of the press, and is grooved in lines somewhat after the
manner of a chess-board. A stiff iron rod with a brass wire attached is
put through the groove under the slab, the wire is brought over the
slab, and the rod being pulled smartly through brings the wire with it,
cutting the indigo much in the same way as you would cut a bar of soap.
When all the slab has been cut into bars, the wire and rod are next put
into the grooves at right angles to the bars and again pulled through,
thus dividing the bars into cubical cakes. Each cake is then stamped
with the factory mark and number, and all are noted down in the books.
They are then taken to the drying house; this is a large airy building,
with strong shelves of bamboo reaching to the roof, and having narrow
passages between the tiers of shelves. On these shelves or _mychans_,
as they are called, the cakes are ranged to dry. The drying takes two
or three months, and the cakes are turned and moved at frequent
intervals, till thoroughly ready for packing. All the little pieces and
corners and chips are carefully put by on separate shelves, and packed
separately. Even the sweepings and refuse from the sheets and floor are
all careful