524 FOURTH BULLETIN OF [1846. 



particularly not to gel into broils oti tlie subjr-ct of slivory. The wisest course for 

 an American to pursue abroad in lliis respect is to waive the subject, or quit the 

 company, as it is of very little use reasoning with (breignors in the matter. If you 

 cannot make up your mind to pursue either of these plans, give your opponent a 

 clout in the face, when, us is most likely, you will gut a return, which will cud in 

 set fisticuffs, when you will be satisfied, if a hero. 



If any Aniericau gentlemen should conclude lo travel in India, they ought to bo 

 careful to do so in the heallhy season, that is, from November to Marcii. 



There are some valuable and unique agricultural, religions, and scientific jour- 

 nals published in India, which are invariably filled with orij^imil matter relatin); to 

 the country. There are also agricultural societies in Cjylon, C.ilcutia, Bombay, 

 and Madras, &c., which every year give a vast fund of information to the agri- 

 culturists of the country. There are Iikcvviso superior breeds of dairy and work- 

 ing cattle, goats, hogs, horses, poultry, and slieep, in India, which might be intro- 

 duced with great and undoubted success in our Southern country. On the Mala- 

 bar coast there is a superior breed of long-horned cattle, as there is also of sheep 

 and goats, and likewise the celebrated Cochin fowls. I have seen from the north 

 of China a superior kind of long silky-haired sheep and goals, with branching 

 horns, which I am convinced would be a great improvemeut on some of our 

 breeds. 



There is a kind of sheep mentioned by Moorcroft in his travels in Upper India, 

 as having wool of very superior quality, and the flavor of the mutton very fine — of 

 one kind the breed is so small that ai their iiiaturily tiioy are no larger than our 

 lambs five or six months old. These are called Purik sheep ; they inhabit a region 

 very similar in temperature and latitude to our extreme southern Alleghany chain. 



In the north of India, in the Ham.ilayas, is found a large species of sheep, used 

 by the natives for carrying burdens of thirty or forty pounds. It has large branch- 

 ing horns, and in winter the hair is very fine, and they assume a long iiiiijcstic 

 beard. Some of the wool is as fine as the hair of the cashmere goat. It is called 

 barrel in these parts. In Nopaul they have another variety of small sheep, with 

 fine wool, called kahgai. 



There is another subject which might be mentioned. Why could not Chinese 

 emigrants be introduced into our Southern country as agriculturists and mechanics. 

 They are good sugar and rice growers, bricklayers, carpenters, and blacksmiths, 

 and could be imported very cheap. DoublL'ss one day some plan will bo formed 

 to carry into effect a scheme of emigration at a cheap rate. The Chinese brick- 

 makers make very handsome sun-hurni bricks, withv\liich they build all tlioir 

 houses. They cannot afford wood to burn them properly. The plasterers are 

 likewise very skilful in making figures in lime and mortar, with which every con- 

 siderable Chinese house is adorned. Thny have a curious water-wheel, made by 

 connecting a number of paddles on hinges of bamboo or ratan, and turned by a 

 wheel worked by two persons. This wheel is used forcmplying ponds, mines, and 

 cellars, for irrigation of land, filling casks, &.c. The whoh> is made of wood, 

 and works on a similar principle to the water-band, and can be made for ten or 

 twelve dollars. It is transported from placs to |)lace on two men's shoulders. 

 Their hlacksniilhs likewise make capital Ciirpentors' and other mechanics' tools by 

 the simplest processes, generally using charcoal for fire. Their stonecutters' 

 chisels are very hard steel, and the liamnjr ho uses of soft iron. They are capi- 

 tal stone-drefBcrs. 



The Chinese preserve eggs in the following manner: Thcv take soft clay and a 

 small quantity of salt, and mix together lo form a paste, and smear the eggs with 

 it. They will keep a long time in this. In India eggs are kept fresh for long 

 periods— perfectly fresh, in the poorer kinds of salt, which are about tho consis- 

 tence of sugar found at tho bottom of molasaes casks. If some cheap jilan could bo 

 formed foi jircserving eggs in our Westi'rn Slates, they would form a large article 

 of export to the West India islands and lingland. 



There are two articles which are singular in their nature and of great value, 

 which are of great consumption in China, viz : bird-nesis and the sea-slug, called 

 bechedemar. Tho bird-nests are taken in all the islands and mainlands of the 

 China seas, and are sold at from eighty dollars to two hundred dollars per picul ! 

 The beclio do mar is caught on the coral reefs in the neighborhood of New Guinea, 

 Palawan, lioruco, tho north of New Holland, Torres Straits, the Fejco Islands, and, 



