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

iron, cordage, chocolate, gunpowder, umbrellas and parasols, gold and silver coin, and jewelry. The whole estimated value of exports of home manufactures is about $6,500,000, being about 13 per cent. of the whole domestic exports of the country. About $700,000 of this amount ought to be struck out of the list of domestic exports, being gold and silver coin, consisting, mostly, of metals imported from abroad, and, after being coined at the mint, again exported. The labor put upon these materials, in coining, is so inconsiderable a part of their value, that the value of the coin of the country exported ought not to be included in the estimate of the value of domestic exports. Considerable quantities of gold, it is true, have been produced in North Carolina, but by no means enough, as yet, to supply the demand for the consumption of the country, though it is to be considered, at the same time, that this article, as far as it can be supplied from the domestic mines, will tend directly abroad, being drawn into this channel by the higher price of gold, compared with silver, in England and France than in the U. States; the value being, in England, as 15%, in France, as 156, and in the U. States, as 154 to 1. Consequently, the gold, whether in coin or bullion, tends strongly to leave the country. Some of it is arrested for use in jewelry and the arts, but very little in the currency, or in the vaults of the banks. Omitting this article, then, the other articles above enumerated, being the only ones the value of which is made up, in any considerable degree, of foreign materials, are valued, in the returns, at $683,000. The value of materials imported, and then wrought up in manufactured articles, and exported, and included in the list of domestic manufactures, may be estimated at about $200,000 or $250,000; leaving the net exports of manufactures from the raw products supplied by the country about $5,750,000. As cotton fabrics form a large item in this list of exported manufactures, and those fabrics are mostly of the coarser kind, the raw material will constitute a very considerable part of their value, and the proportional value of the direct wages of manufacturing labor, incorporated in these exports, will be proportionally less. If, for instance, a plough, or trunk, or quantity of combs, be sent abroad, almost the whole value of the export consists of the wages of the manufacturers; and a still greater proportion of the value of earthen and stone wares, which make a very considerable item in this list, is

of this description; whereas an export of spirits distilled from West India molasses comprises a comparatively small proportional value of manufacturing labor. Taking the whole list of domestic manufactured articles together, and making allowances for the cost of the raw materials, in their rudest state, after they are taken from the ground or from animals, and assume the character of merchandise, by deducting their value from the gross amount of that of the exported manufactures, the remainder, which is the result of the manufacturing labor, interest of capital and profits incorporated into these materials, to bring them into the state in which they are exported, may be estimated at about $4,000,000. We will now glance hastily at the descriptions of articles on which the arts of the U. States are employed for the supply of foreign markets; and the most considerable of them is cotton twist, thread and fabrics, the exported value of which, for the year 1828, was $1,000,000 and a fraction over, being one fiftieth part of the whole domestic exports, the principal markets of which are South America, Mexico and the Mediterranean. The value of leather, and its various manufactures, exported, is a little over $500,000, making one per cent. of the entire exports of the description of which we are speaking. The value of hats exported during the same year was about $333,300-a very large amount, considering the short period since this article has been sent to foreign markets. Soap and candles have long been supplied for the foreign markets, the amount for the year in question being about $900,000. The various articles manufactured, for the most part, of wood, such as furniture, or of wood, leather and iron, such as coaches and carriages, besides various agricultural implements supplied to the West Indies and South America, constitute a very important branch of trade, which amounted to between $600,000 and $700,000. The American glass begins to appear in the foreign markets. The value sent abroad in 1828 was $51,452, and it bids fair to be increased. The other experts consist of a variety of articles in small quantities, among which are, wearing apparel, combs and buttons, brushes, fireengines and apparatus, printing-presses and types, musical instruments, books, maps, paper and stationary, and trunks. It is apparent, from the above enumeration and estimates, that the manufactured articles, of which the export is most considerable and the most flourishing, are

those of which the raw materials consist, mostly, of cotton, wood and leather.

Foreign Exports. The foreign articles imported and again exported from the country, during the same year, amounted to $21,595,017. This transit trade thus appears to form a very important part of the American commerce. But one third of this whole amount consists of an article which affords very little freight, namely, specie, the export of which, during the same year, was about $7,500,000. Another large item in value, of this transit trade, consists of cotton fabrics, the exports of which were $2,000,000. The foreign silks exported amounted to about a quarter as much. The value of wines exported was about $333,300; that of teas about twice as much; and that of coffee and cocoa $1,500,000, and of sugar nearly $1,000,000. These are the most important articles of foreign export. The other exports of foreign articles previously imported amounted, during the same year, to about $8,000,000 in the whole; but it is not necessary to enumerate them.

Imports. The imports, for the same period, according to the custom-house estimates, amounted to $88,589,824, and exceeded the estimated value of the exports by about $16,250,000. There should, of course, be an excess of value of imports, according to those returns, whether their value is estimated at the cost in foreign ports, or at the market-price in the American ports; for these goods are the returns for the exports, the value of which is estimated at the rate of the markets in the U. States; and, unless a greater value of merchandise can be obtained in exchange, in the foreign ports, the ship-owners would obtain nothing for outward freight: and still more ought the value of the imports in the American markets, after deducting duties, to exceed that of the exports; for this excess is the only fund for paying the two freights and interest on the capital employed. This excess, for the year in question, was about 22 per cent., which cannot, however, be considered very exact, but is probably below the actual rate. That it must be a large amount, in order to save the merchants from loss, is evident; for the registered tonnage, which is mostly employed in foreign trade, is about 750,000 tons, so that an excess of $16,000,000 in the value of imports over that of exports, supposing an exchange of one for the other, would give only about $21 per ton per annum for the shipping employed-an amount scarcely sufficient to defray the expenses of the navigation, including

port-charges, and leave a surplus for interest on the capital invested in the cargoes, and a small profit to the merchant. But the rate per ton for the shipping actually employed in the foreign trade, if we estimate the accession at $16,000,000, and suppose the whole trade confined to American ships, will exceed that abovementioned, since the registered vessels are partially employed in the coasting-trade, as vessels often take a cargo from one home port to another, whence a cargo is taken for exportation. But a part of this trade requires none of the excess, of which we have been speaking, to defray the expenses of navigation, for about one thirteenth part in value is carried on in foreign bottoms, the imports in which were about $6,500,000. If the whole trade were carried on by foreign shipping, and the whole were a barter trade, without . credits, as the trade between any two nations, or any number of nations, must, in effect, be, in the long run, the value of exports and imports, estimated at the prices in the home market, after deducting duties paid on importation, must be just equal; for, in the case supposed, all the expenses of transportation are defrayed by the foreign ship-owners. In proportion, therefore, as foreign shipping is employed in the trade, the excess of the value of imports over that of exports will be reduced; since, if a country employs foreign shipping in its trade, it must export an additional value of merchandise to pay the freights, or import a smaller value of merchandise in exchange for the same exports. In regard to the various kinds of goods imported, without pretending to great exactness, which is the less important as the proportions vary considerably from year to year, it appears that some of the principal articles have constituted nearly the following proportion of the whole imports, previously to 1828; viz.wool and woollen fabrics, 11 per cent.; cotton stuffs, 12; silks, 10; hemp and flax, and manufactures of them, 5; iron and steel, and manufactures of them, 5; spirits, 1; molasses, 24; teas, 4; coffee, 33; sugar, 5; and indigo, 13 per cent.

The principal trade, both import and export, is with Great Britain and its dependen cies, whence, in 1826, the imports were forty-two ninety-sixths of the whole importation. But to state, even in a general manner, the species of merchandise of which the commerce to and from each country principally consists, would extend this part of the present article to too great a length. Before closing it, however, we

should not omit to remark, that the domestic trade of the country is more extensive and more important than the foreign. That it is more extensive, appears from the returns of the shipping, a greater quantity of tonnage being employed in the coasting trade and fisheries than in the foreign commerce; and as these vessels make from 3 to 10, 12 or 20 passages in a year, according to the distance of the ports between which they trade, the amount of commercial exchanges along the coast, and up the rivers to the head of sloop navigation, without including the trade between the coast and the interior, must greatly exceed the foreign com

merce.

From the official report of the treasury department, it appears, that the imports into the U. States, during the year ending September 30, 1829, amounted to $74,492,527, of which amount $69,325,552 were imported in American vessels, and $5,166,975 in foreign vessels; that the exports, during the same year, amounted to $72,358,671, of which $55,700,103 were of domestic produce, and $16,658,478 of foreign produce; that of domestic articles, $46,974,554 were exported in American vessels, and $8,725,639 in foreign vessels; and of the foreign articles, $15,114,887 were exported in American vessels, and $1,543,591 in foreign vessels; that 872,946 tons of American shipping entered, and 944,799 cleared, from the ports of the U. States; and that 130,743 tons of foreign shipping entered, and 133,006 cleared, during the same period. (See the valuable Statistical Tables, by Watterston and Van Zandt, Washington, 1829.)

THE CANADAS, NOVA SCOTIA AND NEW BRUNSWICK. The trade of the two Canadas was long confined to the bare produce of the fisheries and the fur trade. But, in consequence of the improvement of the British colonial system, and of the embargo which was imposed on the American trade during the last war of the U. States →ith Great Britain, it has much increased. its exports are wheat, flour, corn, biscuit, fish, oak and pine timber, staves, masts, lumber, Canadian balsam, spruce beer, pot and pearl ashes, cast-iron, furs and skins, castoreum, ginseng, &c. The imports are wine, rum, sugar, molasses, coffee, tobacco, salt, coal and British manufactures. Since 1825, the trade of Canada has increased rapidly. (See Canada.) The trade is mostly with the British West India colonies and with the mother country. They do some business, however,

with the U. States. (q. v.) The trade which they have with the Indian tribes, consists merely of barter.-Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have nearly the same exports. In Haliburton's Nova Scotia, vol. i, p. 233, is an interesting table of the prices of different articles, estimated in spring beaver, as settled by government in 1761. The trade of Nova Scotia has lately again increased, particularly with the West Indies. (See the statistical table in Th. C. Haliburton's Histor. and Statis. Account of Nova Scotia, 2 vols., Halifax, 1829.)

MEXICO. The commerce of Mexico is, at present, checked by natural and political causes. The want of river communication is a great impediment to its internal commerce. Roads lead from the plateaux to the seaports, but they are very imperfect, and beasts of burden, therefore, are preferred to carriages, which would not be able to make their way. A much easier communication between the Mexican Atlantic seaports and those on the coast of the Pacific, would be effected in case of the execution of the great canal across the isthmus of Tehuantepec, so much spoken of. The principal objects of export are gold and silver, either in bullion, coined, or worked up in various ways; cochineal, sugar, flour, indigo, salt meat, dried vegetables, tanned hides, sarsaparilla, vanilla, jalap, soap, Campeachy wood, and pimento of Tabasco. Among the articles imported are woollen cloths, silks of Lyons, linen from Germany, white and printed calicoes from France, England and the U. States, paper, china, spirits, cacao, quicksilver, iron, steel, wine, wax, jewelry, watches and clocks, and all kinds of ornaments. In 1826, 1267 vessels entered the ports of the republic. The chief port of Mexico is Vera Cruz. Mexico, the capital, is a commercial place, as we might easily suppose to be the case in a country in which very little is manufactured, and which is so fertile. A part of the commerce of the U. States with Mexico is carried on by means of caravans, which go from the state of Missouri to Santa Fé, in Texas. The smuggling trade in Mexico is very great. The chief commercial cities of Mexico are Acapulco and Vera Cruz. Acapulco, or Los Reyes carries on a considerable trade with the Philippines, and the coasts of Quito and Peru. To Manilla a galleon used to be sent from this port every year, freighted with silver, cochineal, cacao, sweet oil, Spanish wool and European toys. This brought back muslins, printed linen, silks,