The Chinese supply the Japanese with rice, common porcelain, sugar, ginseng, ivory, silks, nankeen, lead, tin plates, alum, &c.; and, in return, receive copper, camphor, lackered wares, pearls, coals, and a metallic composition, called sowas, consisting of copper and a small quantity of gold. The Dutch obtain chiefly copper, camphor, lacker and lackered wares. Only 2 Dutch and 12 Chinese vessels are allowed to enter the harbor of Nangasaki annually. After the arrival of a vessel and the performance of the preliminary ceremonies, the goods are sent on shore. Then come the imperial officers (for the trade with foreign countries is the monopoly of the emperor), who examine the quality and the quantity of the goods, deliberate together, and fix the price of the native commodities that are demanded in return. Foreigners must submit to these conditions, or keep the goods which they have brought. The Japanese merchants can obtain foreign goods only by purchasing them of the emperor. In the manufacture of silks and woollens, porcelain and lackered wares, the Japanese are in no degree inferior to the Europeans. In the manufacture of hardware, they have also attained great skill. The Japanese sabres and daggers are very excellent, and are perhaps surpassed only by the sabres of Damascus. In polishing steel and all other metals, they are also very skilful, and their fine porcelains are much superior to the Chinese. In the beginning of the 17th century, the English began to trade with Japan; but the Portuguese missionaries, and afterwards the Dutch, succeeded in prejudicing the government against them. In 1673, the attempt to renew the trade was again frustrated by the Dutch. On account of the great advantages which it was thought this trade would ensure to England, a third attempt was made in 1699, and the factory at Canton was instructed to enter into connexion with Japan, if by any means possible. The result, however, did not satisfy expectation, and all further attempts have been given up. In 1813, however, when Java was subjected to Great Britain, the East India company had some slight intercourse with Japan. The Russian mission to Japan, under Krusenstern, in 1805, was no less unsuccessful than the English had been. (See Golownin.)

The Islands of Amboyna, Banca, the Bandas, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, &c. From Amboyna are exported cloves, to confine the cultivation of which solely to

this island, the Dutch took great pains to extirpate all the clove-trees on the neighboring islands. For this purpose, also, the government of Amboyna, with a numerous retinue, still makes a journey every year to the other Dutch islands. Banca is celebrated for its tin mines, and the exportation of this tin to China is of much importance, as the Chinese prefer it to the English on account of its malleability. About 4,000,000 pounds of tin are obtained annually. The Banda islands produce nutmegs and mace. The staple exports from Batavia, where all the goods of the Dutch East India company are deposited, are pepper, rice, cotton, sugar, coffee and indigo. 6,250,000 pounds of pepper, part of which is raised on the island itself, part brought from Bantam, Sumatra, Borneo, and the other islands, are annually stored in the magazines. Both coffee and sugar have also been cultivated here, of late years, to the amount each of 10,000,000 pounds. Borneo has, besides pepper, gold in dust and bars, wax, sago, camphor, the last of the most excellent quality. In addition to the Dutch and English, the Chinese have here an active trade. The exports of Ceylon are cinnamon, pepper, coffee, tobacco, betel, cocoa-nuts, drugs, timber, pearls, precious stones, corals, &c. Of the Philippines, the principal are Lucon or Manilla, and Magindanao or Mindana. The exports are indigo, sugar, silk, gold dust, quassia, pepper, tortoise-shell, wax, precious stones, silver, sago and tobacco. The trade of the Philippines with China and South America is considerable. Manilla produces sugar, the best Asiatic tobacco, indigo, and a kind of hemp. The Prince of Wales' island, from its situation between India, China and the Eastern isles, has an important trade. Its exports are chiefly benzoin, pepper, betel-nuts, groceries, metals, East India zinc, cochineal, eagle-wood, Japan-wood, elephants' teeth, sugar, and silver bullion. Sumatra carries on considerable trade. The exports are gold dust, betel, benzoin, pepper, camphor, Japan-wood, sulphur and rattans, wax, gum-lac, groceries, tin, &c.

III. AFRICA. The want of navigable rivers, and the immeasurable deserts by which the fruitful regions of Africa are separated, form an insurmountable obstacle to that extension of commerce, which the great fertility of this quarter of the globe would promise. In addition to the intercourse of the interior, the commerce of Africa has its sources in Egypt, the Barbary states, on the west coast in

Guinea, in the neighborhood of the rivers Gambia, Niger and Senegal, at the cape of Good Hope and the Portuguese colonies, and on the coasts of the Red sea. The inland trade is carried on by means of caravans. The African caravans consist of from 500 to 2000 camels. The three principal countries from which they proceed are Morocco, Fez and Egypt. The chief articles of the inland trade of Africa are salt, gold and slaves. The greatest caravans go from the western coast and from the interior by way of Timbuctoo, the great mart of the inland trade, and other places of depot, to the eastern coast, where the most important commercial places are Natal (on the coast of Lagoa), Soffala, Quilimane, Mozambique, Querimba, Quiloa, Mombaza, Melinda, Brava, Magadoxo, Berbera, Zeila and Adel. Quilimane, Mozambique and Melinda are Portuguese settlements. From Adel, Zeila, Berbera and Brava are exported, mainly, gold dust, ivory and incense, for which the products of Arabia and the East Indies are returned. There is considerable trade between the British settlements in the East Indies and Mozambique, and the English obtain elephants' and hippopotamus' teeth, tortoiseshell, drugs, cowries, gold, &c. ⚫

The Barbary States. The commercial intercourse of the Barbary states with Europeans is very inconsiderable and vacillating, and the little business which is transacted is mainly in the hands of the French, British and Americans. The exports consist of olive-oil, wax, wool, wheat, gums, almonds, dates, aromatic seeds, ivory, leather, hides and ostrichfeathers. Even the coral fisheries on the coasts (from cape Rosa to cape Roux) are in the hands of the French and Italians; and the annual produce of about 50,000 pounds of coral is more than $420,000. But a far more important commerce is pursued by the Barbary states with Arabia, Egypt, and the interior of Africa. Their caravans are met with in Mecca, Cairo and Alexandria. The chief commercial cities are Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, Sallee, and Agadeez, or Santa Cruz, and in Morocco, Mogadore. Before the French revolution, the commerce of Algiers was wholly in the hands of a company of French merchants at Marseilles, who had regular settlements in the ports of Bona, La Calle and Il-Col. But, in 1806, the dey conveyed, for $50,000, the possession of those ports to England. The chief ports of export of Algiers are Bona and Oran. Tunis is the most important commercial

state in Barbary. Its chief harbors are Biserta, Susa and Soliman. Tripoli has little trade, and its exports consist mostly of saffron, ashes, senna leaves and madder. The trade of Morocco and Sallee is also of little importance. Agadeez, or Santa Cruz, is the most southerly harbor of Morocco, and was once the centre of a very important trade. Fez is still such a centre between the ports of Morocco, the Mediterranean sea and the interior of Africa. (See Timbuctoo and Wassanah.)

Cape of Good Hope. The trade with the cape of Good Hope is extremely advantageous to Great Britain. In 1809, the importation of English goods exceeded £330,000, while the exports of the colony (mostly Cape wine) did not amount to £6000. The amount of the trade has since been very much enlarged by the increase of colonization. The average exports from Great Britain to the cape of Good Hope amount to $2,119,000, and the imports into England from the Cape to $1,561,000.

Egypt. From its uncommonly favorable situation in the centre of three portions of the globe, this country seems destined by nature to be also the centre of their commerce; but it has altogether lost its former high rank in the commercial world, since it has ceased to be the channel of the India trade. It has, nevertheless, considerable inland trade, which extends into the interior of Africa. Three caravans go thither, every year, from Egypt. One goes to Sennaar, and collects the productions of this country and Abyssinia; another to Darfour, and the third to Fez, whither the productions of Bornou, and all the countries lying along the Nile, are brought. Other caravans exchange Egyptian commodities for those of the East Indies and Arabia. But the most considerable is that which consists of the united caravans of Abyssinia and Western Africa, and goes annually to Mecca. The exports of Egypt are rice, corn, cotton, myrrh, incense, opium, dates, mother-of-pearl, ivory, gums and drugs of various kinds, hides, wax, &c., most of which go to Constantinople, the Barbary states, Great Britain, Venice and Marseilles. It also exports the productions of Arabia, e. g., Mocha coffee. The chief commercial cities are Cairo and Alexandria, since 1819 united again by a canal. Cairo has two ports, Rosetta and Damietta. France sends to Egypt woollen cloth, red caps, fringes of all kinds, and ornaments of dress, ordinary china ware, arms, &c. England sends muslins, and cloths of

different kinds, alum, iron, lead, vitriol, guns, &c. From Florence, silks are imported.

Guinea. Sierra Leone, and the Pepper, Ivory, Gold and Slave Coasts, where the Dutch, French, English and Danes have settlements, export gold dust, ivory, gums, hides, &c., and formerly slaves, in exchange for woollen and cotton goods, linen, arms, gunpowder, &c. The coasts of Lower Guinea (Congo, Angola, &c.), and the Guinea islands, mostly occupied by the Portuguese, export grain, provisions, cotton, indigo, sugar, &c. The slave-trade (q. v.) is here prosecuted still by the Portuguese. Among the other

African Islands, the Azores raise, for exportation, wine and fruits. About 20,000 pipes of the former are annually exported by the English and Americans, chiefly to the East and West Indies. The island of St. Michael sends, every year, to England and the United States 60-80,000 boxes of oranges. The oranges of the island of Pico are remarkable for their superior quality. This island also produces a beautiful kind of wood, which is almost equal to mahogany.-The staple productions of the Canaries are archil, in its raw state, rose-wood, brandy and Canary wine. The last goes chiefly to the West Indies and England: in the latter country, it is always sold for Madeira wine. -The cape Verd islands export archil in a raw state, and coarse cotton cloths for the use of the Africans.-The staple product of Madeira is valuable wine, which is divided into five kinds, according to the market for which it is designed. The most excellent is called London particular. The next in quality is also sent to the London market. Of inferior quality is that destined for the India market. The kind that goes to America holds the fourth rank, and the fifth is designated by the name of cargo. Of this wine, the English annually receive more than 7000 pipes; the U. States, about 3000.-The Isle of Bourbon produces coffee, cloves, white pepper, cotton, gums, benzoin and aloes. Its trade is confined almost wholly to Madagascar, Isle de France, the Comoro islands, and the settlements of the Arabs on the eastern coasts of Africa.-The Isle de France, or Mauritius, exports coffee, indigo, cotton, sugar, nutmegs, cloves, ambergris, &c. The exports of Madagascar are cowries, betel-nuts, ambergris, wax, cocoa-nuts and corn.

IV. AMERICA. The extensive coasts of America give it all the commercial advantages of the ancient world, free from the

obstacles presented by those masses of continents, the interior of which is so remote from the sea and destitute of navigable rivers, like the whole of Africa and the boundless tracts of Asiatic Tartary and Siberia. In the abundance of navigable rivers, both North and South America have an immense advantage over the other quarters of the world. The long chain of great lakes, and numerous navigable rivers in North America are already the theatre of a very active commerce. The great inland countries of South America are rendered accessible by rivers of gigantic magnitude, and from the mouth of the river Plata to the gulf of Darien, an inland navigation may be effected, almost without having recourse to the aid of art. But there still remains, for the promotion of American commerce, the execution of a great work-the digging through the narrow isthmus of Darienby which a connexion between the Pacific and Atlantic would be effected, the advantages of which would be incalculable. The western passage to India, which Columbus sought for, would then be effected. Alexander von Humboldt points out three places as most adapted to the execution of such a project. Nature herself seems willing to assist, for, though the mountains forbid the idea of forming a canal immediately across the isthmus, yet, by starting in lat. 12° N., joining the head of lake Nicaragua to a small river which runs into the Pacific ocean, and forming a canal 30 miles long, through a low, level country, a communication between the two oceans might be effected. The governments which are most directly interested in making such a canal are, at present, too weak and too unsettled to be able to carry it into effect; yet Bolivar appears to have always had this great work in view.

THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA. The rapid progress which the U. States have made, in commerce and navigation, is unparalleled. Hardly had this people appeared on the ocean, before every coast of the earth was visited by their navigators. While they are seen covering the ocean with their vessels, throughout the Atlantic coast, even to cape Horn, whence they enter the broad Pacific; in the other direction, they press onward to the ice of the north pole, and penetrate the deep recesses of Hudson's bay and Davis's straits. The most remote and dangerous seas are traversed by their keels. The coasts of the whole southern hemisphere, the western coast of America, and the eastern coasts of Asia, are visited by

them. It is a very common thing for an American merchantman to make a voyage round the world, starting from the U. States, going round cape Horn to the north-west coast of America, taking in furs, sailing to China, and going thence, with tea, &c., to the ports of Europe. The American whalers are distinguished for skill and boldness.

Agricultural Exports. The trade of the U. States for the year ending September, 1828, may be assumed as the basis of the remarks to be made upon the subject of this commerce. The exports of domestic products for that year, according to the custom-house estimates, were $50,669,669. Those of cotton, the great staple of the country, were $22,487,229, and, accordingly, nearly half of the entire amount. The next greatest export is that of tobacco, which amounted to $5,269,960. Of rice, the export amounted to $2,620,696. The value of these three articles, being over $30,000,000, thus constituted three fifths of the whole. In the annual returns made to congress, the exports of domestic products are divided into those of the sea, the forest, agriculture and manufactures. The three species of agricultural articles above mentioned are mostly the productions of the Southern States, including Virginia and Kentucky. The other exports, coming under the same head, are mostly furnished by the Middle and Western States; namely, beef, tallow, hides and cattle, butter, cheese, pork, bacon and hogs, horses, mules, sheep, flour, biscuits, corn-meal, rye-meal, oats, potatoes and apples, flax-seed and hops. Of these articles, the principal is flour and biscuit, the value of which was $4,464,774, being the third article in value among the exports. The fifth article in value is that of swine and their products, viz., bacon, pork and lard, the value of which was $1,495,830, making about one thirty-third part in value of the whole export. The articles of corn-meal and rye-meal amounted to $881,894, constituting a little more than one sixtieth part of the whole exports. Cattle and their products, including butter and cheese, exceeded the last amount, being $896,316. This species of export is of far less comparative importance in the trade than formerly, being limited to its present amount, not by the capacity for production, but by the extent of demand in the foreign markets; for an increase of the foreign demand would very soon double and treble the quantity. Some of the articles comprehended in the above list, though agricul

tural products, yet involve some process of manufacture; such, for example, as butter, cheese, bacon, flour, biscuit, meal, and part of the tobacco. A great many, however, of the exports coming under the head of manufactures, include in them the value of materials supplied by agriculture, such as the cotton fabrics, those of leather, and spirits distilled from grain; so that, on the whole, the strictly agricultural products of the country constitute a larger proportion of the whole exports than the tables represent; and yet the proportion represented by the tables is very large, being 38,500,000 out of the 50,000,000; and, if we add the value of the materials supplied by agriculture for the manufactured exports, we shall have at least six sevenths of the whole domestic exportation consisting of the raw products of agriculture.— Products of the Sea. The products of the whale, cod, mackerel and herring fisheries, exported mostly from the Northern States, amount to $1,693,980, being nearly a thirtieth part of the whole domestic export. Nearly one half of this value consists of codfish, and more than one third of the products of the whale-fisheries.-Products of the Forest. The value of skins, furs, ginseng, lumber, staves, bark, tar, pitch, rosin and turpentine, and pot and pearl ashes, partly from the Northern and partly from the Southern States, which were formerly of much greater comparative importance in the trade of the country, now constitutes about one thirteenth part of the whole value of the domestic exports, and amounts to $3,889,611. A large proportion of the trade in these articles, as well as in those of codfish and bread-stuffs, is carried on with the West Indies, Mexico and South America. The skins and the furs go to Europe and Canton, the ginseng to Canton, but in less quantity than formerly, being, in 1828, but $91,164; and the pot and pearl ashes are sent to England and France.-Manufactures. The manufactures are, as yet, of the coarser sort, consisting partly of articles made of the products of the country, and partly of those fabricated from foreign materials. But it is obvious that the arts of the country, in their early stages, will be most naturally directed to the working of the raw materials of domestic production; and we accordingly find, that a very small part of the value of exported manufactures consists of the cost of raw materials previously imported. The articles in which the foreign materials form a considerable part of the value, are spirits manufactured from molasses, refined sugar, articles of