the steeper, and is about sixteen feet square, and two feet and a half in depth. There is an aperture in the bottom of this cistern, through which the fluid passes into the second, which is called the battery, and is about twelve feet square, and four and a half deep. Cisterns of these dimensions are used for about seven acres of the plant; but if stone-work cannot easily be erected for want of materials, vats of strong timber, well secured from leakage, answer the same purpose.

The plants, when ripe, are cut with sickles, a few inches above the root, and then placed by strata in the steeper, until it is about three parts full. They are then strongly pressed down by boards and planks, which are wedged or loaded, to prevent the plants from buoying up; and as much water is admitted as the wood will imbibe, until it is covered four or five inches deep; and in this state it is left to ferment, until the pulp is extracted; but the utmost attention and the nicest management are now required; for, if the fluid be drawn off too soon, much of the pulp is left behind; and if the fermentation be too long continued, the tender tops of the weeds occasion putrefaction, in consequence of which, all the dye is destroyed.

To obtain an accurate knowledge, therefore, of the proper degree of fermentation, has hitherto been the grand desideratum of the cultivator; as, on this knowledge, the whole success of the culture of indigo depends. Various methods have been employed for this purpose; the most useful of which seems to be that of judging of the proper degree of fermentation, by means of the colour and smell of the liquor contained in the steeper. The tincture, after being properly fermented in the steeper, is discharged into the battery, and is there agitated and churned, until the dye begin to granulate, or float in little flakes on the water. This was formerly done in Jamaica,

with the hand, by means of paddles; but far more convenient machines are now constructed, in which the levers are worked by a cog-wheel, and kept in motion by a horse or mule. When the fluid has, by such means, been well churned for the space of fifteen or twenty minutes, and being tried in a cup or plate, appears curdled, or coagulated, a strong impregnation of lime water is gradually added, not only to promote a separation, but likewise to fix the colour, and preserve it from putrefaction. But the planters," Dr. Brown observes," must carefully distinguish the different stages of this part of the operation, and also attentively examine the

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appearance and colour, as the work advances, for the grain passes gradually " from a greenish to a fine purple, which is the proper colour “when the liquor is sufficiently worked; too small a degree "of agitation leaving the indigo green and coarse, while "too vigorous an action brings it to be almost black."

The liquor being properly and sufficiently worked, and the pulp granulated, it is left undisturbed, until the flakes settle at the bottom, when the incumbent water is drawn off, and the indigo distributed into small linen bags to drain, after which, it is carefully put into little square boxes, or moulds, and suffered to dry gradually in the shade. In this manner is the manufacture finished.

When we consider the nature of this plant, which suits itself to every soil, and from which four cuttings are produced in the year; if we further take into account, the high value of, and the great demand for, the commodity; if we calculate the cheapness of the buildings, apparatus, and labour, required for its production, and the consequent smallness of capital necessary for its commencement, we will not be surprised at the accounts of the splendour and opulence of the first indigo planters. Allowing the produce of an acre to be three hundred

pounds weight, and to amount to only four shillings sterling per pound, the gross profits of twenty acres will be twelve hundred pounds, produced by the labour of only sixteen Negroes, and on a capital of land and buildings, so comparatively small, as scarcely to deserve consideration.

Considering these facts, one would be apt to conclude, that every man of prudence and enterprize in Jamaica, would carefully attend to the cultivation of this precious plant. But whatever the causes may have been, certain it is, that many attempts to cultivate this plant have lately been made, by men possessed both of foresight and industry, not one of which has been, in the smallest degree, successful. Disappointment attended them in every stage of their progress. At one time, the fermentation was too long continued; at another, the liquor was drawn off too soon: Now the pulp was not duly granulated; and now, it was worked too much. To these inconveniences, for which practice would no doubt have found remedies, were added others of a much more important nature, the ravages of the worm, the failure of the seasons, and the mortality of the Negroes, from the vapour of the fermented liquor. Indigo, therefore, is now very little cultivated in Jamaica, and, in all probability, will never again become a staple commodity. This fact furnishes the government of the mother country with a very important lesson; and points out the impolicy and the danger of exacting exorbitant duties on the importation of any useful article.

SECTION V.

COCOA.

Сосол,

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or the chocolate-nut, is a native of the great continent of South America, from whence it was conveyed to St. Domingo and Jamaica. This fruit was not only used by the simple native of South America for the purposes of food and nourishment, but was also employed as a circulating medium in their commerce, one hundred and fifty of the nuts being nearly of the same value with a rial among the Spaniards. "From this circumstance," says Mr. Edwards, with great simplicity of heart, "it seems probable, that if the ancient inhabi"tants of South America were emigrants from Europe or Asia, they must have detached themselves at an early period, "before metals were converted into coins, or from some society which had made but moderate advances in civiliza"tion."-The cocoa nut still forms a considerable article of commerce among the Spaniards, who cultivate it with great success. Blome, who published a short account of Jamaica in the year 1672, informs us, that there existed at that time, about sixty cocoa walks, (or plantations,) and that many more were planting.* At present, there is not a single cocoa plantation throughout the island, on which account, it will be less necessary to describe the mode of its cultivation. A few scattered trees here and there, which still, however, add to the beauty

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* See Note (o.)

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of the landscape, are the sole remains of those flourishing and beauteous groves which were once the pride and boast of the country. They have withered," says Mr. Edwards," with “ the indigo-manufactory, under the heavy hand of ministerial "exaction. The excise on cocoa, when made into cakes, rose "to no less than twelve pounds twelve shillings per hundred weight, exclusive of eleven shillings and eleven-pence halfpenny, paid at the custom-house, amounting to upwards of "four hundred and eighty pounds per cent. on its marketable "value." These are curious and important facts in the history of colonial legislation, and afford the most useful lessons to the cabinet of St. James's. May our rulers learn wisdom from experience!

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