Early Relations betzveen the United States and China. 59 



China. In 1837 the "Clay," WilUam Driver, master, made a 

 voyage, selling her cargo in Manila. -° She was vv^recked on her 

 trip back to the Islands.-' Records of voyages are extant for 

 the "Peru," 1830-1833,-^ for the "Emerald," 1833-1836,^'' for 

 the "Charles Daggett," 1832,^° for the "Pallas," 1832-1834, 

 for the "Eliza," i833-i835,='i and for the "Mermaid," 1836- 

 1839.^^ In 1834 the East India Marine Society of Salem said 

 that fourteen ships from that port had been or were engaged in 

 the trade.^=^ Thus for ten years or more (1827 to 1837) there 

 was an extensive South Sea trade from the little New England 

 town. 



The South Sea trade was a dangerous one, as the stories of 

 frequent shipwrecks and of troubles with the natives, show. It 

 appealed as a rule to men of adventurous disposition, and not 

 to large firms. Benjamin Morrell of New York, who was typical 

 of his class, made at least four trips to the South Seas, dis- 

 covering new islands, alternately trading and fighting with the 

 natives, and returning each time to Manila with his cargo of 

 beclie de mcr, tortoise shell, and pearls.^* Such names on the 



3:218-222. This also gives a long description of the way in which it 

 was cured. 



""Journal of the ship "Clay" in a Voyage from Salem to the Fiji 

 Islands and Manila .... 1827-1829. MS. in Essex Institute. 



^ Dix, Wreck of the Glide, also Journal of a Voyage of the ship Glide 

 to the South Pacific Ocean, Henry Archer, Jr., master, 1829-1830. MS. 

 in Essex Institute. 



"^Journal of a Voyage on Board the Barque Peru from Lintin to the 

 Fijis, etc., MS. in Essex Institute. 



^Voyage of the ship "Emerald" to the Fijis, Tahiti, and Manila, 

 1833- 1836. MS. in Essex Institute. 



^" Felt, Annals of Salem, 2:559. Charles Erskine, Twenty Years before 

 the Mast, Boston, 1890, p. 153. 



^' MS. Journals of the "Pallas" and the "Eliza" in Essex Institute. 



**■ Journal of a Voyage from Salem to New Zealand, the Society, Fegee, 

 Friendly, and other Islands in the Pacific, and home by way of Manila 

 and China, in the Brig "Mermaid," .... 1836-1839. MS. in Essex 

 Institute. 



^^ Memorial of E. India Marine Society in Reynolds, Address, pp. 

 167-170. 



" The accounts of these voyages are by participants. Morrell, Voyages. 

 Abby Jane Morrell, Narrative of a .Voyage to the Ethiopic and South 

 Atlantic Ocean, Chinese Sea, North and South Pacific Ocean, in the years 



