eads over the whole surface of the water. I did not observe its leaf;
but the fruit is enclosed in a three-cornered hard woody shell, having
at each angle a sharp prickle, and is a little indented on the flat
sides, like two posterns or little doors. The fruit while green is soft
and tender, and of a mealy taste, and is much eaten in India; but, in my
opinion, it is exceedingly cold on the stomach, as I always after eating
it was inclined to take spirits. It is called _Singarra_. The
_camolachachery_, or other fruit resembling a goblet, is flat on the
top, of a soft greenish substance, within which, a little eminent, stand
six or eight fruits like acorns, divided from each other, and enclosed
in a whitish film, at first of a russet green, having the taste of nuts
or acorns, and in the midst is a small green sprig, not fit to be eaten.

_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.
Wh