689 



I am ignorant of the business of a mer- 

 chant : but I know more who have been 

 unsuccessful than otherwise. As to those 

 persons termed store-keepers, British goods 

 are often sold by them for as little, at their 

 auctions, at Baltimore, as they cost in Eng- 

 land. But this answers their purpose : 

 for it raises what is wanted to purchase 

 sugar, rum, &c. from the West-Indies : — it 

 is absolutely borrowing the money of the 

 English merchant, to buy West-India pro* 

 duce with. 



I consider the business of a store-keeper 

 in America as dangerous. It is common to 

 give twelve months' credit for goods to the 

 planters and farmers : and as the land is so 

 poor, and the crops precarious, both as to 

 tobacco and grain, if the crop fail, the 

 payment likewise must of course. These 

 two crops are the chief: all others, in the 

 parts I was in, were of only a very small 

 assistance. 



As to sheep, I never heard any man men- 

 tion them with an idea of profit : they are 



