might be requisite, the fecula of the leaf affords one of the richest that could be employed.  Ceylon produces two other plants from which a very valuable blue dye may be obtained by a similar process to that of making indigo.  The Singhalese head men of the Tangalle district have long been anxious for the establishment of an indigo plantation there, and would readily take shares in a company established for that purpose.  Indigo would seem to have been exported by the Dutch from Ceylon so late as 1794.  The wild varieties of indigo which grow on the sea-shore are used by the dobies (washermen).

Indigo grows in a wild state in Siam, and all the dye used in the country is manufactured from these plants.  The extensive low grounds are admirably suited for the cultivation of this plant.

A large quantity is raised in Manila, but I have no full details of the cultivation in the Philippines.  However, in the first six months of 1843, 1,039 piculs of indigo were shipped to Europe, and about 650 to other quarters—­equal in all to about 226,000 lbs. in the half year.  In the year 1847 the exports of indigo were 30,631 arrobas, equal to about 7,658 cwt.; in 1850 the total exports from Manila were 4,225 quintals.

JAVA.—­The cultivation of indigo was introduced into Java in the time of the company.  It was so much neglected during the administration of Governor Daendels, that the exportation ceased.  It however revived subsequently, and in 1823 the exports were close upon 17,000 lbs.  In 1826 it had risen to 46,000 lbs.  In the single province of Westbaglen, about 60 square miles in extent, 86 indigo factories were established in the course of seven or eight years.  In 1839, the exports of this dye-stuff from Java were 588,764 kilogrammes, valued at 71/2 million francs.

It has been found by experience that a good soil is essentially necessary for the plant, and the indigo transplanted from elevated grounds to the rice fields succeeds better and yields more coloring matter than when raised direct on the spot from the seed.  The residencies of Cheribon, Baglen and Madura, are those in which the crop succeeds best.  From being so exhausting a crop, and finding it prejudicial to their rice grounds, they are gradually abandoning indigo culture in Java, and about two-thirds of the indigo plantations have within the, last year or two been replaced with sugar.

The value of the Java indigo is set down at 250 rupees (L25) per maund.  If this be the average price, and it cannot be manufactured lower, Bengal has little to fear from Javanese competition.  The product of indigo rose from 276 maunds in 1825, to 28,000 in 1842, and the quantity sold by the Dutch Trading Company in the last-named year was 10,500 chests, of about the same dimensions as those usually exported from Calcutta.

Some further statistics of the culture in Java are shown in the following returns of the quantity exported:—­