Chapter XIV: Part 14

The objection, that Paulus Ægineta, the physician, in a passage where he refers to Dioscorides for the medical virtues of _Indicum_, applies to it the epithet black, seems to have more weight[636]. It may be added also, that the virtues, in general, which Galen ascribes to the _Indicum nigrum_, appear to be similar to those ascribed by Dioscorides to _Indicum_; and the latter in one place[637], where he speaks of the healing of wounds, uses only the expression _Indicum_, and not _Indicum nigrum_. It is particularly worthy of remark, that Zosimus, the chemist, declares the hyacinth colour of the ancients, that of woad, and the _Indicum nigrum_, to be the same[638] or similar. But to those who know on how slight grounds the ancient physicians ascribed medicinal qualities to many substances, it will not perhaps appear strange, that, in consequence of the same name, they should ascribe the same qualities to two different things. It is not improbable that in cases of external injury, for which the _Indicum nigrum_ was recommended, indigo and Indian ink might produce as much or as little effect. I should consider of far greater importance the opinion of the chemist Zosimus; but unfortunately his writings have not yet been printed. The period in which he lived is still uncertain, and it is not known whether all the chemical manuscripts which bear that name were written by the same author.

From what has been said, I think it may, at any rate, be inferred, that in the time of Vitruvius and Pliny, indigo, as well as Indian ink, was procured from India, and that both were named _Indicum_. It is less certain that the Greeks called indigo _Indicum_, and Indian ink _Indian black_. Nay, it appears that indigo, on account of the very dark blue colour which it exhibits both when dry and in the state of a saturated tincture, was often named Indian black. In my opinion, it is proved also that, in the old dye-houses, the workmen collected the scum thrown up by the dye-pans, and dried it into a kind of lake or carmine.

I shall now prove what I have already asserted, that indigo was at all times used, and continued without interruption to be imported from India. I shall quote mention made of it in various centuries; but I am convinced that attentive readers may find instances where it occurs in many other writers.

The Arabian physicians, it is probable, all speak of indigo; but it is unfortunate that in this point we must depend upon very incorrect Latin translations. It appears also that they often repeat the information of the Greeks, in regard to articles of the Materia medica, without having been acquainted with them themselves. Rhases, who lived at the end of the tenth century[639], mentions, “Nil, alias Indicum.” Avicenna, who died in 1036, often speaks of indigo[640]; but in the margin of the wretched translation it is remarked, that under the term _Indicum_, alum (or much rather green vitriol) is to be understood. In a passage, however, where he speaks of dyeing the hair black, he certainly alludes to indigo, which, according to the translation, produced _colorem pavonaceum_, or a violet colour. In the Latin we find “Indicum indum bonum,” and this awkward expression Salmasius explains by remarking, that the words in the Arabic are _Alusma Alhendia_, that is, Indian woad. In the same place he mentions _Indicum carmenum_, a kind of indigo which did not dye so much a violet colour as a black, that is to say with the addition of green vitriol. Carmania, indeed, bordered on Gedrosia, which is the proper country of indigo, where the best is still prepared at Guzerat. In the explanation of some Arabic words, printed in my copy of Avicenna, _Indicum_ is translated _granum Nil_. Serapion, about the end of the eleventh century, mixed together, as appears, every thing that the Greeks have said in regard to indigo and woad. Averroes, in the middle of the twelfth century, mentions the medicinal qualities of indigo as given by the Greeks, and adds, that it was much used for dyeing.

Muratori gives a treaty, written in Latin, of the year 1193, between the citizens of Bologna and Ferrara, which contains a list of those articles subject to pay duty. Among these occurs _indigum_[641]. In the thirteenth century, the celebrated Marco Polo, who spent twenty-six years in travelling through Asia, and even some parts of China, relates that he saw indigo, which the dyers used, made in the kingdom of Coulan or Coilum; and he describes the process for preparing it[642]. Much curious information in regard to the trade with this article, in the middle of the fourteenth century, is contained in the valuable work of Francesco Balducei Pegolotti[643]. We there find the names of different kinds, such as _Indaco di Baldacca detto buccaddeo_, in all probability from Bagdad, a city which in many old books of travels is called Baldach or Baldac; also _Indaco del Golfo_, _Indaco di Cipri_, _Indaco Rifanti_. Indigo, at that time, was imported in hides (_cuojo_), or in leather bags (_otre_), and also in boxes (_casse_). What this traveller says in regard to the signs by which its goodness may be known, is very remarkable. Nicolo Conti, who travelled through India before the year 1444, mentions _endego_ among the merchandise of Camboia[644]. That the expression _color indicus_ was used in the middle ages to denote blue mixed with violet, is proved by Du Cange. It appears to me therefore highly improbable that indigo should not be known to Rosetti, as Professor Bischof supposes[645]. In that important work on dyeing, however, which I mentioned long ago[646], it occurs several times, and always under the name _endego_.

I shall here make one observation, which is of some importance in the history of dyeing. It is found that in the middle ages the Jews maintained in the Levant a great many establishments for dyeing, and were the principal people who carried on this branch of business. Benjamin the Jew, who died in 1173, says in his travels, in speaking of some places, that “a Jew lived there who was a dyer;” or he remarks, in regard to others, that “most of the Jews followed the occupation of dyeing.” A scarlet-dyer lived at Tarento, and a purple-dyer at Thebes. At that period the Jews at Jerusalem had hired from the king a place particularly well-fitted for dyeing, on the express condition that no person besides themselves should be suffered to carry on there the same business[647]. I am fully aware that well-founded doubts have been entertained in regard to the credit which ought to be given to Benjamin’s narration, and Jewish vanity is everywhere well-known; but I do not see why he ought not to be believed in regard to this point; for it may very naturally be asked, why he should have falsely ascribed this occupation to his countrymen and no other? He speaks only once of a Jew glass-maker, a woollen- and a silk-weaver. To this may be added, that it is frequently stated in various authors, that the business of dyeing was carried on in Italy by the Jews. Thus, in the eleventh century, among the branches of revenue arising to the popes from Benevento, mention is made of the taxes paid by the Jews on account of their dye-houses. In the middle ages princes seem to have maintained dye-houses on their own account. Instances occur of their giving away, as presents, such establishments with all their apparatus[648]. A place of this kind was called _tincta_, _tingta_, or _tintoria_. This dye regale is to be deduced perhaps from the old establishments for dyeing purple, which could be formed only by sovereigns, and not by private individuals. Along with these _tinctæ_ the Jews are often mentioned, so that it appears probable they were employed there as workmen.

There is reason therefore to conjecture that the Jews learned this art in the East, and that they employed in Italy the same pigments as were used in the dye-houses of the Levant. It is not improbable also, that in the room of woad, which was then cultivated in Italy, they introduced indigo, a substance richer in colouring matter, or at any rate, rendered it more common. The Italians were the first people in Europe who brought this art to a greater degree of perfection, as they did many others; and it can be proved that the knowledge of it was thence diffused to other countries. In the same proportion as this took place, indigo, in my opinion, banished the native woad, which was neither so advantageous, nor communicated so beautiful a colour as the Italians were able to dye with the former. The use of it became more extended when the productions of the East Indies were brought to Europe by sea, and particularly after it could be obtained from America at a much cheaper rate.

The first Portuguese ship, that commanded by Vasco de Gama, returned from the East Indies in the year 1499, and was soon followed by several more, all laden with the most valuable merchandise of the East. I have never yet been able to find any invoice of the cargoes of these vessels; and, unfortunately, we have no account of the early trade carried on by the Portuguese with Indian productions. I have no means, therefore, of proving that indigo was among the commodities first imported. Spices, which in consequence of the general prevalence of luxury, sold at that time exceedingly dear, together with precious stones, formed, no doubt, the first articles of trade; but it is not improbable that they were soon followed by indigo, for all the travellers who about that period visited India, speak of it as one of the most current articles.

Barbosa, a Portuguese, who collected there in 1516 valuable information in regard to geography and trade, who afterwards accompanied Magelhaens on his voyage round the world, and perished with him at the island of Zebu, has given a price-current of the merchandise at Calecut, in which the value of good indigo at that time is stated[649]. Corsali also, in his letters written from India in 1516, mentions indigo among the wares of Camboya. Louis Guicciardini, who wrote first in 1563, and died in 1589, speaking of the merchandise obtained by Antwerp from Portugal, mentions _anil_ among that of the East Indies[650].

It is however certain that the trading company established in the Netherlands in 1602, who learned at an early period the art of rendering indispensably necessary to the Europeans cottons, tea, sago, and other things of which they could always hope to find a sufficient supply in India, carried on the greatest trade with these articles. The first German writers who complain of indigenous woad being banished by indigo, and those sovereigns who, by public orders, endeavoured to prevent this change, ascribe the fault to the Netherlanders. Niska, who wrote in 1630, says indigo had been introduced into Germany only thirty years; and an order of the emperor Ferdinand III., dated 1654, says that it had been imported into Germany from Holland some years before that period.

That the importation at this time was very great, is proved by the cargoes of the ships which arrived in Holland from the East Indies in 1631. The first had 13,539 pounds of Sirches indigo; the second 82,734 pounds of Guzerat indigo; the third 66,996 pounds of the same; the fourth 50,795 pounds of Bajano indigo; the fifth 32,251 pounds of Chirches indigo; the sixth 59,698 pounds of Bejana indigo; and the seventh 27,532 pounds of Chirches. I have mentioned these so particularly, as one may thence see the different kinds, and the places where made. These seven vessels, therefore, brought to Europe 333,545 pounds, which, at a low valuation, were worth five tons of gold, or 500,000 dollars. In the month of April 1633, three ships brought home 4092 _kartel_ of indigo, which were worth 2,046,000 rix-dollars.

The profit attending this trade induced people, soon after the discovery of America, to manufacture indigo in that country; and they were the more encouraged to do so by observing that the native Americans, before they had the misfortune to become known to the Christians, tinged their bodies and faces of a blue-violet colour, by means of indigenous plants, which resembled the indigo plant of Asia.

Whether the two plants are of the same genus, or whether the American is different from that used in the other quarters of the globe, has not yet, as far as I can find, been with certainty determined[651]. It is however proved, that the assertion of Raynal and others, that this plant was first conveyed to the new world from Asia by the Europeans, is entirely erroneous. It is mentioned by Francis Colon (or Columbus), in the Life of his father[652], among the valuable productions of the island of Hispaniola or St. Domingo. Francis Hernandes reckons it among the natural plants of Mexico, and says that the Americans used it for dyeing their hair black. He adds, that they made from it a pigment which they named _Mohuitli_ and _Tleuohuilli_, the same as the Latins named _cæruleum_, and he describes also the method of preparing it. This is confirmed by Clavigero in his account of Mexico.

This plant therefore must be reckoned among the few which are indigenous in three-quarters of the globe. It is, however, highly probable that the Europeans, in the course of time, introduced a better species or variety into America, where several kinds are actually cultivated at present.

In the history of the American indigo, I must here leave a considerable hiatus, which perhaps may be one day filled up from books of travels and topography. All that I know at present is, that the first indigo brought to Europe was procured from Guatimala, consequently from Mexico, and that this article was supplied at first, and for a long time, by none of the West India islands but St. Domingo alone.

Krunitz says[653], but on what authority I do not know, that Lopez de Gomes relates, that in his time a very fine sky-blue colour was prepared in Hispaniola. If the person here alluded to be Lopez de Gomara, who accompanied Ferdinand Cortez as chaplain[654], this would be the oldest testimony that could be expected, and would correspond with the account given by Labat. But I shall leave the further investigation of this subject to others, and observe, that the cultivation of indigo was begun in Carolina in 1747, and according to Anderson, was encouraged the year following by premiums.

This article, therefore, was brought from both the Indies to Europe, and recommended itself so much by the superiority and richness of its dye, by the facility with which it could be used, and the advantages attending it, that it suddenly banished from all dye-houses the European woad, which was cultivated, in particular, in Thuringia in Germany, in Languedoc in France, and in the neighbourhood of Rieti in the dominions of the church. At first, a small quantity of indigo only was added to the woad, by which the latter was improved; more was afterwards gradually used, and at last the quantity became so large, that the small admixture of woad served only to revive the fermentation of the indigo, but was not capable itself of communicating any colour. It was soon observed that every yard of cloth could be dyed somewhat cheaper when indigo was used along with woad, than when the latter was employed alone, according to the ancient method. Germany then lost a production by which farmers, merchants, carriers, and others, acquired great riches.

In the sixteenth century people began, in many countries, to make considerable improvements in dyeing. For this purpose, new dye-stuffs, both indigenous and foreign, were subjected to experiment, and trials were made with salts which had never before been employed. In this manner dyers sometimes obtained colours which pleased by their novelty and beauty; but it needs excite no surprise that many new methods of dyeing did not produce the desired effect. Many communicated colours which were agreeable to the eye, but they soon faded; and some rendered the dyed cloth so tender that it soon rotted on the shopkeepers’ shelves. Governments conceiving it then necessary to do something for the security of the purchaser, considered the imperfection of the art as a premeditated deception; and as it was at that time supposed that some pigments could give durable and genuine colours, and others fading or false ones; and also that the pernicious effects of salts could not be prevented or moderated, they, in general, prohibited the use of all new materials from which hurtful consequences had been observed to arise.

Legislators are neither almighty, omniscient, nor infallible. With the best views, and a firm determination to discharge their duty, they may recommend things hurtful, and prohibit others that might be attended with advantage. Were their commands and prohibitions inviolable, insuperable, and irresistible, they would often confine the progress of the arts and sciences, and render useful inventions impossible. But the people, when they have not entirely become machines, know how to elude, even at great personal hazard, faulty regulations, and by prohibited ways to obtain greater advantages than those which formed the object of the orders issued by their government. This was the case in regard to the art of dyeing in the sixteenth century.

A recess of the diet held in 1577, prohibited, under the severest penalties, the newly invented pernicious, deceitful, eating, and corrosive dye called the _devil’s dye_, for which vitriol and other eating substances were used instead of woad. This prohibition was renewed in 1594 and 1603, with the addition of this remark, that, in consequence of the weight of the bad dyes, a pound of undyed silk for sewing or embroidery would produce two or three pounds of dyed[655].

Allusion seems to be made here to black, which at that time was the colour of the higher orders. It appears that at this period astringent juices and green vitriol began to be used more than they had been formerly, and cloth when too long boiled with these substances, becomes exceedingly tender: black cloth is even sometimes spoilt in this manner at present. It is also true that cloth receives the greatest addition in weight when dyed black, and the next greatest when dyed blue. I am not acquainted with accurate experiments in regard to the weight which cloth acquires by dyeing; but one may safely assert, that it is stated far too high in the recess of the diet. Fifteen ounces of raw silk lose by that kind of scouring which the French call _décruement_, four ounces; consequently white silk weighs eleven ounces, but after it is dyed black its weight is increased to thirteen ounces. In general, a black dye increases the weight of cloth a fifth more than bright dyes.

As indigo after this soon became common, and the sale of woad was injured, the first prohibition against the former was issued by Saxony in the year 1650; and because government well knew how much depends on a name, when one wishes to render an object odious or estimable, the prohibition was couched in terms which seemed to show that indigo was included among those eating substances, termed in the recess already mentioned _devil’s dyes_. In the year 1652, Duke Ernest the Pious caused a proposal to be made to the diet by his envoy, Dr. Hœnnen, that indigo should be entirely banished from the empire, and that an exclusive privilege should be granted to those who dyed with woad. This was followed by an imperial prohibition on the 21st of April 1654, in which every thing ordered in regard to the _devil’s dyes_ is repeated, with this addition, that great care should be taken to prevent the private introduction of indigo, by which the trade in woad was lessened, dyed articles injured, and money carried out of the country. The elector took the earliest opportunity the same year to make known and enforce this prohibition with great severity in his dominions[656].

The people of Nuremberg, who at that time cultivated woad, went still further. They made a law that their dyers should annually take an oath not to use indigo; and at present they are obliged to do the same thing, though indigo is as necessary to them as to others; a most indecent disregard to religion, which, however, is not without example. In the French monarchy, where all offices were purchased and sold, every counsellor of parliament, on his entrance, was obliged to swear that he had not obtained his place by money, until at length some one had the courage to refuse taking a false oath. Thus also in Germany many placemen must swear that they will observe all the orders of government, yet many of them are daily violated, and indeed cannot be observed, or at any rate, not without great mischief and confusion.

What was done in Germany in regard to Thuringia, was done in France in regard to Languedoc. In consequence of an urgent representation by the states of that province, the use of indigo was forbidden in 1598; and this prohibition was afterwards repeated several times. But in the well-known edict of 1669, in which Colbert separated the fine from the common dyers, it was stated that indigo should be used without woad; and in 1737 dyers were left at liberty to use indigo alone, or to employ a mixture of indigo and woad[657].

In England, where, I believe, woad was not at that time cultivated, the first mention of indigo in the laws occurs in the year 1581, under the reign of Elizabeth, not, however, on account of a blue but a black dye. No woollen articles were to be dyed black with the gall-nut, madder or other materials, till they had received the first ground, or been rendered blue by woad, or woad and indigo together[658]. In like manner it was long believed that no durable black could be produced unless the article were first dyed in a blue pan. Hats also were not considered to be properly dyed unless traces of a blue tint could be discovered on the place where they were cut[659]. At present our dyers can communicate a durable black without a blue ground, as well as dye a fixed blue without woad; and in every part of Europe foreign indigo will continue to be the most common material for dyeing, till its high price render it necessary to obtain a similar pigment from indigenous plants[660].

[The dye-stuff of indigo is obtained from the plant by allowing it to ferment with water; during this process it subsides in the form of a blue deposit, which is collected and dried. As it occurs in commerce, it contains several impurities, such as lime, silica, alumina, and oxide of iron, in addition to the colouring matters, which are three in number, a brown, red and blue; as also some glutinous matter.

The chief localities of the indigo-plant at present are Bengal and Guatimala, though of late years the exportation from the latter has been materially checked by the disturbed state of Central America. In the early period of our occupation of India, indigo formed a leading branch of the Company’s trade; but the rude manufacture of the native population was in the course of time expelled from the markets of Europe by the more skilfully prepared drug of America and the West Indies. Soon after the peace of 1783, the West Indian process of manufacture was introduced into Bengal, and the directors having relaxed their prohibitory system so far as to permit the application of British capital and skill to the cultivation of the plant on the alluvial depositions of the Ganges, the exportations were gradually increased, and the American and West Indian indigo almost entirely driven from the market. The manufacture was also introduced into Oude and the other north-western districts of the great plain of the Ganges; and in later periods into some of the Madras provinces, into Java and the Philippine Islands. The indigo produced everywhere else is, however, very secondary both in quantity and quality to that of Bengal and Bahar, the soil and climate of which seem to be particularly congenial to the plant. The average supply of indigo at present may be estimated as follows:--Bengal provinces, 34,500 chests, or about 9,000,000 lbs.; other countries, including Madras and Guatimala, 8500 chests; total, 43,000 chests. Of this there are consumed in the United Kingdom, 11,500 chests, or about 3,000,000 lbs.; France, 8000 chests; Germany and the rest of Europe, 13,500 chests; Persia, 3500 chests; India, 2500 chests; United States, 2000 chests; other countries, 2000 chests; total, 43,000 chests, or upwards of 11,000,000 lbs. The quantity imported into the United Kingdom in 1840 amounted to 5,831,269 lbs., and the quantity entered for home consumption amounted to 3,011,990 lbs. Upwards of four-fifths of the imports are from the East Indies; the remainder chiefly from the West Indies, Guatimala, Peru and the Philippine Islands. The surplus imported beyond the quantity consumed is re-exported to Germany, Russia, Italy, Holland and other parts of the continent of Europe. France and the United States derive their main supplies by direct importation from Calcutta.]

FOOTNOTES

[615] Dioscor. lib. v. cap. 107, p. 366. Περὶ Ἰνδικοῦ.

[616] Plin. lib. xxxv. cap. 6, § 27, p. 688; and Isidorus, Origin. lib. xix. cap. 7, p. 464.

[617] Foesii Œconomia Hippocratis. Francof. 1588, fol. p. 281.

[618] Ἔγχυλον means also juicy, or something that has a taste. Neither of these significations is applicable here, where the subject relates to a substance which is dry and insipid, or at any rate which can possess only a small degree of astringency. It must in this place denote an inspissated or dried juice; but I can find no other passage to support this meaning.

[619] In Pliny’s time people coloured a white earth with indigo, or only with woad, _vitrum_, in the same manner as coarse lakes and crayons are made at present, and sold it for indigo. One of them he calls _annularia_, and this was one of the sealing earths, of which I have already spoken in the first volume. In my opinion it is the same white pigment which Pliny immediately after calls _annulare_: “Annulare quod vocant, candidum est, quo muliebres picturæ illuminantur.” These words I find nowhere explained, and therefore I shall hazard a conjecture. Pliny, I think, meant to say that “this was the beautiful white with which the ladies painted or ornamented themselves.”

[620] Plin. lib. xxxv. § 12, p. 684.--Vitruv. lib. vii. cap. 14.

[621] Tavernier, ii. p. 112. We are told so in Malta Vetus et Nova a Burchardo Niederstedt adornata. Helmest. 1659, fol. lib. iv. cap. 6, a work inserted in Grævii Thesaurus Ital. vi. p. 3007. This man brought home with him to Germany, after his travels, a great many Persian manuscripts, which were purchased for the king’s library at Berlin. Niederstedt, however, is not the only person who speaks of indigo being cultivated in Malta. Bartholin, Epist. Med. cent. i. ep. 53, p. 224, says the same.

[622] It is entirely different from the molybdate of tin, the laborious preparation of which is described by J. B. Richter in his Chemie, part ii. p. 97.

[623] It deserves to be remarked, that the Greek dyers, speaking of a fermenting dye-pan covered with scum, used to say, like our dyers, that it had its flower, ἐπάνθισμον. In Hippocrates the words ἐπάνθισμα ἀφρῶδες denote a scum which arises on the surface. Among the Latins _flos_ in this sense is very common.

[624] Caneparius de Atramentis, Rot. 1718, 4to, v. 2. 17.--Valentini Museum Museor. i. p. 225.--Pomet, i. p. 192.

[625] See his edition of Dioscorides, Colon. 1529, fol. p. 667.

[626] Lib. xxxvii. 10. sect. 61, p. 791.

[627] Lib. xxxv. cap. 6.

[628] _Perfici_ is a term of art which is often used to express the finishing or last labour bestowed upon any article: _Vasa sole perficiuntur_. When vessels of earthen-ware have been formed, they must be suffered to dry and become hard in the sun. See Hardouin’s index to Pliny.

[629] Gum and gummy substances of every kind used to make ink thicker and give it more body, were called _ferrumen_. See Petronius, cap. 102, 15.

[630] Vitruv. vii. 10, p. 246.

[631] Lib. xxxv. cap. 7.

[632] Exercitat. Plin. p. 816, b. And in the Annotationes in Flavium Vopiscum, p. 398, in Historiæ Augustæ;, Paris, 1620, fol.

[633] De Composit. Pharmac. secundum locos, lib. iv. cap. 4. Edit. Gesn. Class. v. p. 304.

[634] Lib. iv. cap. 7.

[635] Salmasii Exercitat. Plin. p. 908, a.

[636] Pauli Æginetæ libri vii. Basiliæ, 1538, fol. p. 246, lib. vii.

[637] Parabilium lib. i. 161, p. 43.

[638] Salmasius in Homonymis Hyl. Iatr. p. 177, a; and in Exercitat. Plin. p. 810, b; and p. 936, b. In regard to the manuscripts of the work of Zosimus, which is commonly called Panopolita, see Fabricii Bibl. Græca, vol. vi. pp. 612, 613; and vol. xii. pp. 748, 761. I wish I may be so fortunate as to outlive the publication of it; it will certainly throw much light on the history of the arts. It is remarkable that Zosimus calls indigo-dyers λαχωταὶ and ἰνδικοβάφοι, in order perhaps to distinguish them from the dyers with woad. The distinction therefore between indigo-dyers and those who dyed with woad must be very old.

[639] In the edition of some Arabian physicians, published by Brunfels, at Strasburg, 1531, fol.

[640] Avicennæ Canon. Med.... Venet. 1608, fol. ii. p. 237.

[641] Antiquitates Italiæ Medii Ævi, ii. p. 894.

[642] Lib. iii. cap. 31, p. 150.

[643] Lisbona e Lucca, 1766, 4to.

[644] Ramusio Viaggi, 1613, i. p. 342.

[645] Geschichte der Farberkunst. Stendal, 1780, 8vo, p. 69.

[646] Anleitung zur Technologie, fourth edit. p. 123. I can now add, that Roso, in Memorie della Societa Italiana, Verona, 1794, 4to, vii. p. 251, quotes also the edition per Francesco Rampazetto, 1540, 4to.

[647] Itinerarium Benjaminis, Lugd. Bat. 1633, 8vo.

[648] Du Cange quotes a diploma of the emperor Frederick II., dated 1210, and under the word _Tintoria_, a diploma of Charles II. king of Sicily.

[649] Ramusio, i. p. 323.

[650] Totius Belgii Descript. Amst. 1660, 12mo, i. p. 242.

[651] [They both belong to the same genus but are specifically distinct, the species cultivated in India being principally the _Indigofera tinctoria_, and that in America the _Indigofera anil_.]

[652] This work has been several times printed. It is also in Barcia Historiadores primitivos de las Indias Occidentales. Madrid, 1749, fol. vol. i. At p. 61, we find among the productions of the above island, _minas de cobre_, _anil_, _ambar_, &c. An English translation in Churchill’s Collection, ii. p. 621, renders these words _mines of copper, azure, and amber_.

[653] Encyclop. vol. xxix. p. 548.

[654] His works may be found in Barcia’s Collection, vol. ii.

[655] All these prohibitions may be found in Schreber’s Beschreibung des Waidtes. Halle, 1752, 4to, in the appendix, pp. 1, 2.

[656] Schreber _ut supra_, p. 11.

[657] See Mémoires de l’Acad. à Paris, année 1740.

[658] Statutes at Large, vol. ii. Lond. 1735, p. 250. [Dr. Ure, however, says that indigo was actually denounced as a dangerous drug, and forbidden to be used by our Parliament in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. An Act was passed authorizing searchers to burn both it and logwood in every dye-house where they could be found. This Act remained in full force till the time of Charles II., that is, for a great part of a century.]

[659] Marperger’s Beschreibung des Hutmacher-handwerks. Altenburg, 1719, 8vo, p. 85.

[660] [This observation has been verified; for tolerably large quantities of indigo are now extracted from the _Polygonum tinctorium_, which is cultivated in some parts of France and Belgium for that purpose.]

VANES. WEATHERCOCKS.

If the poet Seneca was well informed, mankind, in the infancy of navigation, had no particular names for distinguishing the principal winds[661]. This is not at all incredible; because with their rafts and floats, which were the first vessels, they for a long time ventured out to sea only so far that they could easily return to the shore; and therefore while navigation continued in this state, they had little reason to trouble themselves about the direction of the winds. It is more certain that those nations respecting whom we have the oldest information, distinguished by names the four principal winds only. This is generally proved by a passage in Homer, where he intends to mention all the winds, and names only four[662]; but this proof is of little weight; for what poet at present would, with the like view, think of boxing the compass, or of introducing into a poem the names of all the thirty-two points? Would he not rather be satisfied with the names of the four chief winds alone? If more names, therefore, were usual in Homer’s time, he would not consider it necessary to name them. In another passage he names only two winds[663]; and from these some have endeavoured to prove that no more were then known; but this assertion indeed is completely refuted by the passage first quoted. It can, however, be easily proved, that for a long time names were given to the four principal winds only.

It is easily seen what at first gave rise to this distinction. The sun at noon stands always over one point of the horizon, which appears to the observer as a circle, having the place where he himself is at its centre. This point is called the meridian or south, and the one opposite to it the north. If the observer turns his face towards the north, he will have on his right-hand the east, and on his left the west. The space between these principal winds contains ninety degrees, or a right angle. The number, however, must soon have been raised to eight, and this division was usual in the time of Aristotle[664]. Afterwards twelve points in the heavens were adopted, also as many winds; and in the time of Vitruvius twenty-four were distinguished and named, though this division was very little used. To determine the names, however, employed in the last two divisions is attended with some difficulties; and it almost appears as if writers did not always apply to them the same meaning.

The Greeks considered Æolus as the first person who made navigators acquainted with the winds. He is said to have ruled over the Volcanic islands, afterwards named the Æolian; and if this be true, he would certainly have a good opportunity of observing the weather, and marking the winds by the smoke continually rising up there from burning volcanoes. This celebrated personage, who received Ulysses on his return from the Trojan war, by the knowledge thus obtained may have assisted navigators, who afterwards made known the services which he rendered to them.

The antiquity of the division into thirty-two points, used at present, I am not able to determine. Riccioli thinks that they have been employed since the time of Charles the Great, but I do not know whether this can be proved. That assertion perhaps is founded only on the opinion, that this emperor gave German names to the winds and the quarters of the world. This indeed is stated by his historian Eginhart, who mentions the names, which I shall here insert, together with the Latin names added by Eginhart, and those usual at present[665].

Subsolanus _Ostroniwind_ EAST.
Eurus _Ostsundroni_ East-south-east.
Euroauster _Sundostroni_ South-east.
Auster _Sundroni_ SOUTH.
Austroafricus _Sundwestroni_ South-south-west.
Africus _Westsundroni_ South-west.
Zephyrus _Westroni_ WEST.
Corus _Westnordroni_ West-north-west.
Circius _Nordwestroni_ North-west.
Septemtrio _Nordroni_ NORTH.
Aquilo _Nordostroni_ North-north-east.
Vulturnus _Ostnordroni_ North-east.

It has however been long since remarked, that these names are much older than Charles the Great[666]; and it is highly probable that they were only more accurately defined, or publicly confirmed by this prince, or that in his time they came into general use. How often have early inventions been ascribed to sovereigns, though they were only made in their reign! Even whole nations have been said to be descended from those princes under whom they first became known to foreigners; as, for example, the Poles from Lech, and the Bohemians from Zech.

Charles, however, did not give names to thirty-two, but to twelve winds. Nor was he the first who added to the four cardinal points eight others, for the same thing is asserted of many. But it deserves to be remarked, that in Charles’s names one can discover traces of that ingenious mode of denoting all the winds with four words; that is to say, by different combinations of East, West, South, and North. It is certain that the names of the different points and winds used by all the European nations, the Italians only excepted, are of German origin, as well as the greater part of the terms of art employed in navigation and naval architecture.

It appears to me not improbable that the division used at present was introduced soon after the invention of the magnetic needle; at least Honorius, surnamed _Augustodunensis_[667], who must have flourished before the year 1125, speaks only of twelve winds; as do also Gervasius in 1211, and Vincent de Beauvois in the middle of the thirteenth century, who gives from Isidorus, who lived about the year 636, the twelve Latin names used by Eginhart[668].

It can scarcely be doubted that means for indicating the winds were invented at a very early period. I here allude to vanes, flags, and every other apparatus by which the direction of the wind can be conveniently and accurately discovered, and similar to those erected at present on many private houses, on most of our church steeples, and on board ships. I must however confess that I have hitherto scarcely observed any trace of them among the Greeks and the Romans. I can find no account of them in works where all the parts of edifices are named; where ships and everything belonging to them are expressly described; nothing in Pollux, and nothing in any of the poets. I am unacquainted also with any old Greek or Latin word that can be applied to an apparatus for pointing out the wind. In the edition of Kirsch’s German and Latin Dictionary, printed in 1754, we find _Wetterhahn_ (a weathercock) _petalum_, _triton_; but the latter term is borrowed from the tower of Andronicus, of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter; and neither this word nor _petulum_, or _petulæ_, _arum_, which Kirsch gives also, occurs in this sense in any ancient author; and the case is the same with _pinnacella_, _ventilogium_, _aurologium_, and other names which are to be found in some dictionaries.

I am acquainted with no older information in regard to an apparatus for observing the winds, than what is given by Vitruvius respecting the tower built at Athens by Andronicus Cyrrhestes, that is, of Cyrrhus, a town in Syria. This tower, which was built of marble, in an octagonal form, had on each side a representation of that wind opposite to which it was placed. Its summit terminated in a small spire, on which was a copper triton, made to turn in such a manner as to present its front to the wind, and to point with a rod held in its right-hand to the image of the wind blowing at the time[669]. This tower is still standing; and a description and figure of it may be seen in the travels of Spon and Wheeler, and in those also of Pocock[670]. The figures representing the winds, which are larger than the life, are executed in basso-relievo, and correspond to the seasons at which they generally blow. At the top of each side, under the architrave, the name of the wind is inscribed in Greek characters. Boreas, the North wind, holds in his hand a mussel-shell, which seems to denote his peculiar power over the sea. The Zephyr has its bosom full of flowers, because it prevails in March, at the time when the flowers chiefly blow in Greece; and similar attributes are assigned to the rest.

Varro had an apparatus of the same kind at his farm[671]. Within the building was a circle, in which the eight winds were represented, and an index, like that of a clock, pointed to that wind which was blowing at the time. Nothing therefore was necessary but to look at the ceiling to know from what quarter the wind came. I have seen an apparatus of the same kind on some exchange, either at Lubec or Rotterdam. Varro calls the tower of Andronicus _horologium_, a word which Salmasius wishes to change into _aurologium_. But it contained also a sun-dial, as we are assured by Pocock, who observed the necessary hour-lines; and therefore it is not improbable, that the people, who through the want of clocks would oftener look to the dial than to the weathercock, gave to the tower a name alluding to the former rather than to the latter.

Du Cange says, that a triton, by way of weathercock, was placed on the temple of Androgeus at Rome; but I am unacquainted with the source from which he derived this information, and of that temple I have not been able to obtain any account[672]. Whether the tritons placed on the temple of Saturn at Rome were indicators of the wind, or whether they had a learned signification, as Macrobius asserts, I will not venture to determine[673]. It is probable that the pillar, some remains of which were found at Gaeta (_Cajeta_), in the kingdom of Naples, and on which the names of the winds were cut out in Greek and Latin, served as a wind indicator also.

But it is more than probable that an apparatus for pointing out the wind, similar to that at Athens, was erected also at Constantinople. At least I consider as such what was called by some _anemodulium_, and by others _anemoderium_; the information respecting which has not, as I conceive, been hitherto understood, not even by Banduri. In my opinion it was not a building or tower, but a column furnished with a vane, somewhat similar to what is still seen in many places on the sea coast, where a high pole is erected with a flag. This pillar, if I may be allowed the expression, consisted entirely of copper; it was square, and in height not inferior to the loftiest columns in the city. Its summit formed a pyramid, and, as I conjecture, an octagonal one, upon which stood a female figure that turned round with every wind, and consequently was a vane, only not a triton, as at Athens. Below it, on each side of the pyramid, were seen a great many figures, which I will venture to assert were attributes or images of the winds, to which the female figure pointed. Nicetas says, that there were observed among them birds, agricultural implements, the sea with shipping, fishing-boats, and naked cupids sporting with apples, which in my opinion denoted the different seasons in which each wind was accustomed to blow[674].

It is not improbable that the whole pillar was constructed of different pieces of copper, cast singly and then joined together; and it appears that neither Nicetas, nor Cedrenus, nor the Latins, who in the thirteenth century pulled down and melted the numerous objects of art, plundered from various cities by the emperor Constantine to ornament his capital, were acquainted with the purpose for which this pillar was originally destined, or the meaning of the emblematical figures represented upon it. Nay, there is even reason to think that the Greeks themselves, at this time, were so ignorant as to believe such objects to be the productions of magic. According to Cedrenus, this costly wind indicator was erected by Theodosius the Great, and according to others by Leo Isauricus. Were the first assertion true, it would belong to the fourth century, and in the second case to the eighth; but I cannot help suspecting that it was constructed before the time of Theodosius. The female figure which indicated the wind, was, according to Nicetas, called _anemodoulon_, but according to Cedrenus _anemoderion_. The former denotes a person who belongs to the wind; the latter one who contends with the wind; and both these appellations are well suited to a vane or wind indicator. If my explanation be correct, this work of art at Constantinople had nothing in common with the statue of Jupiter constructed by Lysippus at Tarentum[675]. The latter was forty cubits in height; and what excited great astonishment was, that though it would shake when pushed with the hand, it withstood the force of the most violent storms. I should rather compare the statue of Lysippus to those moveable masses of rock which are mentioned by various authors, both ancient and modern.

It is not improbable that there may have been wind indicators of this kind in other places, and that more passages alluding to them, not hitherto remarked, may be found in different authors. Professor Michaelis, who was desirous to assist me in my researches, pointed out to me an account, undoubtedly written before the year 1151[676], in which it is stated that there was at Hems, in Syria, formerly called Emessa, a high tower, on the summit of which was a copper statue of a horseman that turned with every wind. It is worthy of remark, that under the vane there were figures, among which was that of a scorpion; in all probability the emblem of some season.

In Europe, the custom of placing vanes on the summits of the church-steeples is very old; and as these vanes were made in the figure of a cock, they have thence been denominated _weathercocks_. In the Latin, therefore, of the middle ages, we meet with the words _gallus_ and _ventilogium_. The latter is used by Radulphus, who wrote about the year 1270[677]. Mention of weathercocks occurs in the ninth[678], eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth[679] centuries. There is no doubt that the cock was intended as an emblem of clerical vigilance. In the ages of ignorance the clergy frequently styled themselves the cocks of the Almighty, whose duty it was, like the cock which roused Peter, to call the people to repentance, or at any rate to church[680]. The English, therefore, are mistaken when they suppose that the figure of a cock was first made choice of for vanes in the fourteenth century, under the reign of Edward III., in order to ridicule the French, with whom they were then at war; and that the custom of _cock-throwing_, that is to say, of throwing sticks at a cock exposed with his wings tied, as then practised, took its rise at the same time.

In France, in the twelfth century, none but noblemen were allowed to have vanes on their houses; nay, at one time this was the privilege of those who, at the storming of a town, first planted their standards on the ramparts. These vanes were painted with the knights’ arms, or the arms were cut out in them, and in that case they were called _panonceaux_[681].

Flags or vanes on ships occur very early, but they are always mentioned on account of their use in making signals. They were of various forms and colours; were sometimes drawn up, and sometimes taken down; placed sometimes on the right and sometimes on the left side of the ship, and were changed in various other ways, directions for which may be seen in the Tactics of the emperor Leo. They were named _vexilla_, _flammulæ_, also _flammula_ and _banda_, and the last two appellations occur in the works of the younger Greek writers[682].

But though the oldest writers on the art of naval warfare, such as Vegetius, recommend a knowledge of the winds, I have not yet met with any certain account of apparatus for determining the direction of them on board a ship. Before the discovery of the magnetic needle, such accuracy as is necessary at present would have been superfluous; yet naval commanders must long before have had some means of distinguishing at least the twelve winds then defined, though no traces of them are to be found in the works which have been accidentally preserved to us.

Scheffer[683], who, as is well-known, collected from the works of the ancients all the terms of art applicable to navigation, thinks that the band, _tænia_, affixed to a pole at the stern of the ship[684], did not serve so much for an ornament as to indicate the course of the wind. He is, however, able to produce no other authority for this opinion than a passage in one of Cicero’s letters, which has been changed and amended, till it at length seems to say that Cicero had resolved to embark, because the vanes had announced a favourable wind[685].

I must acknowledge that at present I can produce no older information in regard to vanes used on board ship, to indicate the course of the wind, than of the eleventh century, taken from the life of Emma, the consort of Canute the Great, king of Denmark, Norway and England, the author of which was an eye-witness of what he relates. Describing the magnificent Norman fleet sent to England in the year 1013, he says that birds, which turned round with the wind, were placed on the top of the masts[686].

At that time, therefore, instead of the flags used at present, a vane, shaped like a bird, was placed at the summit of the mast; perhaps also the figure of a cock, as the emblem of vigilance, but in this case not of clerical vigilance. In the cathedral of Bayeux, in France, is a piece of tapestry, representing the actions of William the Conqueror, executed with the needle, either by his consort or under her direction, in which vanes are seen at the top of the masts in many of the ships[687].

[Anemoscopes, or instruments for showing the direction of the wind, are now in constant use in meteorological establishments; the indications are made upon dials, and the apparatus does not differ in principle from that described by Beckmann.

Anemometers, or instruments for measuring the power or force of the wind, have also been contrived of various kinds. The first was invented by Wolf. In this the wind acted upon four sails somewhat resembling those of a windmill, the motion being communicated by cog-wheels to a lever loaded with a weight. When the wind acted upon the sails, the bar rose, this motion continuing until the increased leverage of the weight counterpoised the moving power of the wind. Others on a different principle have been made by Lind, Regnier, Martin, and a very beautiful instrument for this purpose, constructed by Mr. Dent, may be seen at Lloyd’s room in the Royal Exchange.]

FOOTNOTES

[661] Medea, ver. 316.

[662] Odyss. v. 295.

[663] Iliad, ix. 5.

[664] Aristot. Meteorol. ii. cap. 5 et 6. On this account, as Salmasius remarks, the book De Mundo cannot belong to Aristotle, as mention is made in it of twelve winds.

[665] De Vita et Gestis Caroli Magni. Traj. 1711, 4to, pp. 132, 133.

[666] Adelung’s Wörterbuch, under the word _East_.

[667] Of the writings of this monk, whom I shall again have occasion to quote, separate editions are scarce. They are however to be found in Maxima Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. xx.

[668] Speculum Natur. iv. 34, p. 254.

[669] Vitruv. i. 6, p. 41.

[670] See Stuart’s Antiquities of Athens, i. 3, tab. i.--xix.

[671] Varro De Re Rust. iii. 5. 17. Our common weathercocks and vanes, when well made, and preserved from rust, show the point from which the wind proceeds, but do not tell their names. By the vanes on church steeples, one knows that our churches stand in a direction from east to west, and that the altar is placed in the eastern end. On other buildings an arrow, which points to the north, is placed under the vane.

[672] Du Cange refers to Anonymus de Arte Architectonica, cap. 2.

[673] Saturn. i. 8, p. 223.

[674] The passage of Nicetas may be found in Fabricii Biblioth. Græca, vi. p. 407, and in Banduri Imperium Orientale, Par. 1711, fol. tom. i. lib. vi. p. 108. Nicetas speaks of it again in lib. ii. de Andronico, Venet. 1729, fol. p. 175. He there says that the emperor was desirous of placing his image on the _anemodulium_, where the cupids stood. Another writer, in Banduri Imper. Orient. i. p. iii. lib. i. p. 17, says expressly that the twelve winds were represented on it, and that it was erected with much astronomical knowledge by Heliodorus, in the time of Leo Isauricus.

[675] Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 7. sect. 18. p. 647.

[676] Geographia Nubiensis. Parisiis, 1619, 4to, p. 118.

[677] In Vita S. Richardi Cicestrensis. See also Du Cange.

[678] In Ughelli Italia Sacra, Romæ, 1652, fol. iv. p. 735, we find the following inscription on a weathercock then existing at Brixen:--“Dominus Rampertus Episc. gallum hunc fieri præcepit an. 820.”

[679] Raynerus; cap. 5.

[680] Ambrosius, v. cap. 24.--Vossius de Idol. iii. cap. 86.--Pierii Valeriani Hieroglyphica. Franc. ad M. 1678, p. 288.

[681] Dictionnaire à Trevoux, 1704, fol. article Girouette.

[682] Hirtius de Bello Alexand. cap. 45.--Tacit. Annal. 22.--Livius, lib. xxxvii. cap. 24.--Leonis Tactica, cap. 19, § 40, 42, pp. 342, 343, edit. Meursii. Lugd. Bat. 1612, 4to.

[683] De Milit. Navali. Upsaliæ, 1654.

[684] Pollux, i. 9, § 90, p. 61.

[685] Epist. ad Atticum, v. 12.