248 Capt. M*^Konochie oii the most effective Employment 



well organized system of steam-towing, for which a tropical lo- 

 cality is also peculiarly fitted, from the frequent calms, cur- 

 rents, long prevailing winds in one direction, lee-shores, and 

 small number of ports along certain coasts, by which it is dis- 

 tinguished. In these circumstances, large ships, coming from a 

 distance, go about collecting freights for themselves at peculiar 

 disadvantage, — but they never do such a thing well. They in- 

 cur by it a great loss of time, and, by consequence, great ex- 

 pence ; they encounter many unnecessary dangers ; their masters 

 can seldom be acquainted with the native merchants ; they are 

 apt to despise small consignments ; and their stay in the country 

 being uncertain, being scarcely ever bound directly home from 

 any place, they do not really suit the individuals who would 

 otherwise be glad to employ them. Were steam-tugs, however, 

 constantly cruizing about, ready to take each man's own little 

 bark to some great port, where many ships would be constantly 

 loading direct for Europe, and where cargoes could be imme- 

 diately consigned to them, an extraordinary stimulus would be 

 given to the home-trade ; and that out would equally benefit, 

 for these little barks would load return-cargoes on their own ac- 

 count, and as suited themselves,— every description of export 

 would thus find its best market without risk of mistake, — every 

 petty native trader would be a British agent ; and the sys- 

 tem might thus subserve political purposes also of no trifling 

 value. A very small impost on the great transit trade which 

 would soon spring up at these principal ports, would yield a 

 great revenue. Were they further declared free ports, it might 

 be the price at which such a concession was made ; and the tri- 

 bute paid would be from foreign as well as domestic trade, and 

 conceded, not grudgingly to our power, but willingly to our 

 capital, machinery, and the use we should thus make of these 

 advantages. These ports would accordingly be sources of in- 

 fluence in our hands such as no military force could equal, eli- 

 citing the resources, stimulating the energies, and engaging 

 the affections of those who corresponded with them, whatever 

 almost the political state of these latter, their local or moral dis- 

 advantages, or their ignorance of the higher arts of commerce 

 or navigation. And the operation of the system would be 

 throughout liberal, beneficent, and pacific, without difficulty or 



