Britain with fine gloves. Beaucaire has an important fair. The French colonies are Martinique, Guadaloupe, St. Lucia and Mariegalante in the West Indies; Cayenne in South America, Pondicherry, Chandernagore, and some other possessions in the East Indies, with several factories on the western coast of Africa and on both sides of cape Verde.

Italy. Although Italy possesses the most excellent harbors on the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas, and has a geographical situation uncommonly favorable for commerce, its trade, both domestic and foreign, is very limited. The cause is to be sought in the impolitic restrictions, heavy taxes and imposts, to which the commercial cities are subjected in this most fruitful, but, for the most part, badly governed country. The chief articles of export from Italy are corn, olive-oil, wine, brandy, silk, cotton, wool, hemp, flax, velvet, damask, barilla (soda), sulphur, sumach, gall-nuts, madder, velani or valonia, and other dye-stuffs, senna leaves, liquorice juice and root, juniper berries and other drugs, anchovies, almonds, figs, nuts, olives, currants, raisins and other fruits, rags, chip and straw hats, the skins of sheep and kids, and marble. The principal commercial cities are Florence, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Venice, and Ancona. Leghorn is the main channel of the trade of Italy with the Levant and the Barbary states, and the central point of the commerce of England in the Mediterranean. A great part of its trade is in the hands of the Jews. Silks, taffeta, satins, brocades, light woollen goods, velvets, &c., are the main articles of export from Florence. These pass through Leghorn, and sell readily in the Levant. Milan and Turin carry on a very extensive trade in their silk, which is celebrated throughout Europe for its admirable fineness and lightness. Ancona has intercourse with the first commercial cities of Europe. Its business is chiefly agency and commission business. Some silk is exported from Nice. The exports of Lucca are oliveoil, silk, damasks, fruit, &c. Much oliveoil is exported from Gallipoli. The trade of Genoa continues considerable. Its exports are velvet, damask (which, next to the Venetian, is the most esteemed in Europe), raw silk, fruit, olive-oil, alum, marble, corals, coarse paper, &c. Venice, once the greatest mart of the world, notwithstanding the disappearance of its ancient splendor, is still an important place for commerce, a great part of the trade of Europe with the Levant being yet in

its hands. The Venetian velvets, damasks, mirrors, and manufactured silks, in great quantities, form the most considerable constituents of the foreign trade of Venice. The exports of Naples are oliveoil, wool, silk, tartar, wines, raw and manufactured silk, fruit, sulphur and staves.

The Islands of the Mediterranean Sea. The exports of Sicily, a country on which nature, with profuse generosity, has lavished in abundance all her gifts (the benefit of which, however, is almost destroyed by the weakness of the government), consist of silk, grain, barilla, sulphur, oliveoil, wine, cantharides, sumach, manna, coral, rags, almonds, figs, raisins, nuts, anchovies, amber, goat, buck and sheepskins, pomegranates, oranges, lemons, &c., and pine-apples of remarkable size and exquisite flavor. The chief port is Messina; next to this comes Palermo.

The exports of Sardinia are, chiefly, grain of uncommon excellence, tunnyfish, hides, barilla, salt. Cagliari is the most considerable commercial city.

Corsica exports silk, olive-oil, and black, white and red corals. The silk goes mostly to Genoa and Lyons, and the corals are sold at Marseilles, where they are manufactured and polished, to be sent to Africa, to be sold to the Moors and Negroes. The Corsican ports are Ajaccio, Bastia and Porto Vecchio.

Malta, which is, like Gibraltar, a depot for British and colonial goods that are to be disposed of in the Mediterranean, exports cotton, oranges and other fruits.

The Ionian islands (Cephalonia, Zante, Corfu, Santa Maura, &c.) export wine, brandy, olive-oil, raisins, currants, citrons, melons, pomegranates, honey, cotton and salt. The raisins and currants are superior to those of the Morea in quality. The wine is Muscadel.

The commerce of the island of Cyprus is inconsiderable. It exports cotton, wool, silk, wine, salt, turpentine, Turkish leather, &c. Its largest commercial cities are Larnica and Rhodes.

The exports of the island of Candia, which, by its situation, is designed for the mart of the European, Asiatic and African trade, consist of oil, soap, wax, wine, linseed, raisins, almonds, laudanum, St. John's bread (the fruit of the ceratonia siliqua), &c.

The Netherlands and Holland. The chief cominercial cities of the Belgic Netherlands are Antwerp, Ghent and Östend. Antwerp is the mart of the commerce of the North of Europe. Since the opening of the Scheldt, it has been

gradually recovering its mercantile prosperity, and, in all probability, on account of its excellent central situation, its local advantages, and because it is the channel through which most of the commerce of the Dutch passes, will one day be of the first commercial importance. The exports of Antwerp consist, principally, of wheat, beans, clover-seed, linen, laces, carpets, tapestry, and all the manufactures of Brussels, Mechlin, Ghent and Bruges. The articles of export from Ghent are wheat, fine linen, flax, hemp, beans, &c.; those from Ostend are wheat, clover-seed, flax, tallow, hides, and the linen of Ghent and Bruges.-The chief exports of Holland, the commerce of which has revived since 1814, and employs, every year, 4000 vessels of various descriptions, are butter, cheese, linen, cloth, drugs and paints, fish, wheat, linseed, clover-seed, geneva (gin), dye-stuffs, paper, &c. The principal commercial cities in Holland are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Groningen; then follow Liege, Middelburg, and the ports of Briel, Delftshaven, Dort, Enckhuysen, Medenblick, &c. Before the decline of Dutch commerce, Amsterdam was one of the greatest commercial cities of the world, the mart of goods from the East and the West, and from the principal states of Europe. At the time when the Dutch were in exclusive possession of the spiceries of the East, of the silks of the East Indies and China, and of the fine East India cotton goods, they dressed in coarse cloth, and were satisfied with a very frugal mode of living. The fine cloths which they themselves manufactured, they destined wholly for foreign countries, and, for their own use, purchased coarse cloth in England. At that time, they likewise sold the superior butter and cheese which they made, and, for their own use, bought the cheaper sorts from England and Ireland. To the exchange and banking business, of which the channel was Amsterdam, the Dutch were also, in part, indebted for their great prosperity. With Hamburg, Amsterdam is yet the centre of the exchange business between the North and the South of Europe, although, from the time that the credit of the bank of Amsterdam diminished, this branch of business has declined, a great portion of it being transferred to Hamburg and London. The imports are grain, wood, coal, tallow, wax, rags, &c. For the colonial trade of Holland, the possession of Batavia, Amboyna, Banda, Ternate, and Macassar, in the East Indies, is of importance, as are also the

commercial settlements on the Coromandel and Malabar coasts, and those at Bantam, Padang, Japan, &c. In Africa, Holland has some forts in Guinea; in America, she possesses Surinam, and the West India islands of Curaçao, St. Eustatia and St. Martin.

Poland. The exports of Poland consist of corn, hemp, flax, lumber, linseed, tallow and salt. Its commerce is inconsiderable, and is almost wholly in the hands of the Jews. Warsaw and Cracow are the two largest commercial cities. The former has two fairs every year. Cracow has a situation very favorable to commerce, but the principal article of its trade is furnished by the celebrated saltmines of Wieliczka, situated in the neighborhood. At the fairs of Leipsic and Frankfort on the Oder, Poland is supplied with manufactures, and all articles of luxury, in exchange for hare-skins and other productions.

Portugal. The Portuguese exports are, chiefly, white and red Port wine, Lisbon and Calcavella wine, salt, oranges, lemons and other fruit, cork, silk, wool, sweet oil, &c. To England are sent Port wine, Lisbon, Calcavella, Madeira and Canary wines, salt, oranges, lemons, cork, &c.; in return for which the Portuguese obtain British manufactures and colonial goods, provisions, corn, meal, copper, lead, coal, &c. Their exports to the North of Europe are wine, salt, fruit, &c.; for which they receive hemp, flax, corn, iron, timber, tar, pitch, stock-fish, and Russian and German linen. The chief commercial cities are Lisbon, Oporto, and Setubal, commonly called St. Ubes. The foreign possessions of Portugal are, the cities of Goa and Diu in the East Indies, together with a part of Timor, the factory of Macao in China, the Azores, Madeira and Puerto Santo in the Atlantic, the cape Verd islands, those of St. Thomas, Angola, and some settlements in Guinea and on the western coast of Africa, with Mozambique, Melinda and other settlements on the eastern coast.

Russia. Russia exports, principally, iron, hemp, flax, cordage of all kinds, tallow, hides, fir and oak timber, boards, planks, laths, spars, pitch and tar, together with all kinds of grain, especially wheat, linen, canvass of various kinds, wax, honey, bristles, suet, soap, isinglass, caviare, leather, train-oil, hemp-seed, linseed and tobacco. The chief commercial cities are Tobolsk, Irkutsk and Tomsk, in Siberia; Astrachan, Orenburg and Kasan, in Asiatic Russia; Moscow and Novgorod, in

the interior of Russia; Archangel, on the White sea; Libau (though very much decayed) in Courland; Taganrog, Caffa or Theodosia, Odessa, Cherson, Sebastopol and Azoph, on the Black sea and the sea of Azoph; Riga, Pernau, Narva, Revel, Petersburg, Viborg, Fredericshamm and Arensburg; the places where the fairs are held, at Niznei-Novgorod, Irbit, &c., connecting the caravan trade of the East with the inland trade of European Russia, which is promoted by canals and rivers. By the Black sea and the sea of Azoph, Russia carries on a very lively trade with various Turkish ports; on the Caspian sea, with Persia; by way of Kiachta, with China; and, on the north-west coast of America, it is at present laying the foundation of its trade in the Pacific. Russia has lately sent an expedition from Kodiak northward, to make topographical surveys in the interior of North America, and to establish a commercial intercourse with the natives of this unexplored country. Her colonies in North America are well provided for. Her officers are gaining nautical knowledge in England, and numbers have been sent to the U. States of America, where models of nautical architecture and vessels celebrated for sailing have been purchased on Russian ac

count.

Sweden and Norway. The articles exported from the 28 Swedish ports are iron, steel, copper, pitch, tar, fir, alum and fish. The chief commercial cities are Stockholm, Gottenburg and Gefle. Carlscrona carries on considerable trade in iron, timber, pitch, tar, tallow, potash, linseed, &c., which articles are sent mainly to the French, Spanish and Italian ports, commonly in exchange for salt. The exports of Gottenburg are fish, iron, steel and boards. The institutions of Sweden for the promotion of commerce are the bank, the East India company, the West India company, the Levant commercial company, the association of industry, &c. From Norway are exported fish, oak and fir timber, deal boards, masts, alum, vitriol, fish and seal oil, pitch, hides, woollen stockings, iron, copper and tar. chief commercial cities are Christiania, Bergen, Drontheim, Christiansand, Drammer and Stavanger.

The

Switzerland. Switzerland has a considerable foreign trade. Its exports consist, chiefly, of fine linen, silks, velvets, imitations of East India goods and shawls, fine calicoes, clocks, watches, ribbons, wine, cheese, honey, &c. The most important articles of importation are colonial

and East India goods, from Holland; salt, grain, wool and cloths, from Germany; raw cotton, silk, &c., from Italy; manufactures, of various kinds, from England; wine and brandy from France. The principal commercial cities of Switzerland are Bâle, Berne, Zurich, Geneva and Neufchatel.

Spain. For three centuries, with the decrease of the industry of Spain, its trade has been on the decline. This country might have monopolized the commerce of the world, if it had understood and improved its situation. The natural wealth of the soil is, nevertheless, still the prop of its trade. The most important productions are wool, silk, salt, iron, copper, coal, quicksilver, barilla, rice, saltpetre, sugar, almonds, olives, oranges, lemons, figs, wines, brandy and fruit. In Segovia and Leon, about 1,000,000 arobas (q. v.) of fine wool are annually collected, of which about four fifths are disposed of to the French, Dutch and English. The excellent Spanish wines, brandy, fruit, barilla, &c., are profitable articles for the country. From the port of Barcelona, excellent silks, coarse cloths and cotton goods, with wine, brandy, almonds, nuts, and other productions, are exported; in return for which, the same port receives the silks of Lyons, the hosiery of Nismes, various kinds of stuffs and cotton goods, German linen and dried stock-fish from England, amounting to about $3,000,000. The exports of Valencia consist, principally, of silk, barilla (soda), coarse wool, dried fruits, wine and brandy. The latter is exported, chiefly, by the Dutch, and carried to Normandy and Bretagne. The English carry to Spain, chiefly, woollen cloth; the French, linen, woollen cloth, cutlery, groceries, &c. From the port of Alicant, the Spaniards export, chiefly, dried fruits, silk, wool, barilla, wine, Castile soap, olives, saffron, a kind of cochineal called grana, and salt; of which last, the English and Swedes annually take upwards of 9,000,000 pounds. In Carthagena and Malaga, also, much business is done. From the latter, wines, dried fruit, almonds, sumach, anchovies, olive-oil, &c., are exported. Cadiz has been one of the principal marts in the world, both in ancient and modern times. In 1792, its exports to the two Indies amounted to the sum of 276,000,000 reals, and its imports to upwards of 700,000,000 reals (8 reals make 1 dollar). Madrid, the royal residence, is likewise an important commercial place and depot. Seville carries on a considerable trade in oil and oranges, which are exported from

number of other kinds of European manufactures. The exports from Aden, an Arab city, on the straits of Babelmandeb, where many Jews reside for the purpose of trade, are coffee, elephants' tusks, gold, and various kinds of gums; for which it imports chiefly East India and Chinese productions. Muscat, a port in the Arabian province Oman, the key of Arabia and Persia, carries on considerable trade with British India, Sumatra, the Malay islands, the Red sea, and the eastern coast of Africa.

Well adapted as the geographical situation of Persia is for commerce, it is pursued, nevertheless, with very little energy, and little enterprise. Its exports consist mostly of horses, silk, pearls, brocades, carpets, cotton goods, shawls, rose-water, wine of Schiras, dates, wool of Caramania, gums, drugs of various kinds, &c. The chief places for Persian trade are the Turkish cities of Bagdad and Bassora. The harbor of Abuschar, or Buschir, on the Persian gulf, is also a mart for Persian and Indian goods. Bagdad, once the centre of a brilliant and extensive commerce, may still be considered as the great mart of the East, though it is by no means what it has been. From Bassora, the productions of Arabia, India, Persia and the Asiatic islands are sent to Bagdad, where they find a very good market, and from whence they are scattered through the other cities of the Turkish empire. By means of the Arab caravans, Europe supplies Persia with goods of all kinds, and even with the productions of America. On the other hand, it has nothing to give but dates, tobacco, and a very moderate quantity of woollen stuffs, its whole trade consisting in the distribution and sale of the products of other countries. Bassora is, by its situation, the mart of the active East Indian, Persian and Arabic trade, carried on in the Persian gulf. Its trade with the East Indies is very considerable, it being the channel through which the Ottoman empire is supplied with the groceries of the East, and with the manufactures of the British possessions in the East Indies.

Asiatic Turkey. The principal port of the Levant is Smyrna, a very important depot of the merchandise of the East and West. The articles exported from the Levant are coffee, cotton, wool, silk, madder, camels' and goats' hair, hides, raisins, figs, pearls, rotten-stone, whet-stones, nutgalls, opium, rhubarb and other drugs. Angora sends to Smyrna, by caravans, considerable quantities of Angora goats'

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hair, and stuffs made of the same material; for the Angora goats' hair is manufactured into camlet, in the Levant itself, and in Europe, especially in England, France and Holland, some of whose camlet manufactories keep agents in Angora, through whom they make their purchases. Damascus is the centre of trade in Syria, and does a good deal of business through the caravans, which go from the north of Asia to Mecca, and from Bagdad to Cairo. Aleppo has much commercial intercourse with Constantinople, Bassora, Bagdad, Damascus and Scanderoon, or Alexandretta, to which places caravans go every year, through Aleppo. Its exports are its own silk and cotton goods, the shawls and muslins of the East Indies, the gall-nuts of Curdistan, copper, pistachio-nuts, and drugs. Alexandretta has some trade of importance. Erzerum is the mart of silk and cotton goods, printed linens, groceries, rhubarb, madder, and East Indian zedoary. The British East Indies, and the Malay Peninsula. For the long period of 4000 years, the products of India, so important in commerce, have remained the same; for all the commodities and treasures of India, mentioned by the ancients, are, to this day, those for which the nations of the other quarters of the world resort thither, viz., rice, indigo, cochineal and other dye-stuffs, opium, cotton, silk, drugs, cinnamon, cassia, cocoa-nuts, &c. The East India trade is mostly in the hands of the English, under the management of the East India company. Next to the English, the U. States are most extensively engaged in the East India trade. Denmark carries on but an inconsiderable trade with the East Indies, and that once carried on by Sweden is now almost annihilated, although, prior to the late great changes in the government of that country, the Swedish East India company was, of all the commercial societies of Europe, the best regulated, and the most successful in its operations, next to the English. The trade of Portugal with the British possessions in the East Indies is of im portance; that of Spain, on the other hand, inconsiderable. Calcutta is the most important commercial city of the East Indies. Besides it, Benares, Guzerat, Oude and Moultan are worthy of note, among the commercial towns of northern India; Madras and Pondicherry, on the eastern coast; Bombay, Surat and Cochin, on the western; Goa, &c. From Queda, on the peninsula of Malacca, are obtained tin, rice, wax, fish maws and sharks' fins; at Salengore, Pahang and Trangano, cloves,