352 



COMMERCE. 



supplied with manufactures, and all articles of lux- 

 ury, in exchange fur hare-skins and other produc- 

 tions. 



Portvgal. The Portuguese exports are, chiefly, 

 white and red Port wine, Lisbon and Cnlcavella wine, 

 salt, oranges, bmons, and other fruit, cork, silk, wool, 

 >\vcet oil, &c. To England are sent Port wine, Lis- 

 bon, Calcavclla, Madeira, and Canary wines, salt, 

 oranges, lemons, cork, &c. ; in return tor 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. ; tor which they receive hemp, flax, corn, 

 iron, timber, tar, pitch, stock-fish, and Russian and 

 German linen. The chief commercial cities are Lis- 

 bon. Oporto, and Setubal, commonly called St I'bss. 

 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 G uinea and on the western coast of 

 Africa, with Mozambique, Melinda, and other settle- 

 ments on the eastern coast. 



Russia. Russia exports, principally, iron, hemp, 

 flax, cordage of all kinds, tallow, hides, fir and oak 

 timl>er, boards, planks, laths, spars, pitch and tar, 

 together with all kinds of grain, especially wheat, 

 linen, canvas 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 ; 

 Astracan, 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 cara- 

 van trade of the East with the inland trade of Eu- 

 ropean 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 founda- 

 tion of its trade in the Pacific. Russia lias lately 

 sent an expedition from Kodiak northward, to make 

 topographical surveys in the interior of North Ameri- 

 ca, and to establish a commercial intercourse with 

 the natives of this unexplored country. Her colonies 

 in North America are well provided for. Her of- 

 ficers are gaining nautical knowledge in England, 

 and numbers have been sent to the United States of 

 America, where models of nautical architecture and 

 vessels celebrated for sailing have been purchased on 

 Russian account. 



Sweden and Norway. The articles exported from 

 the twenty-eight Swedish ports are iron, steel, cop- 

 per, pitch, tar, fir, alum, and fish. The chief com- 

 mercial cities are Stockholm, Gottenburg and Gefle. 

 Carlscrona carries on considerable trade in iron, tim- 

 ber, pitch, tar, tallow, potash, linseed, &c., which 

 articles are sent mainly to the French, Spanish, and 

 Italian ports, commonly in exchange for salt. The ex- 

 ports ot Gottenburg are fish, iron, steel, and boards. 

 The institutions of Sweden for the promotion of com- 

 merce are the bank, the East India company, the 

 West India company, the Levant commercial com- 

 pany, 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. The chief 



commercial cities are Christiania, Bergen, Drontheim 

 ('hristiausand, Drammer, and Stavanger. 



Sieitzerland. Switzerland lias a considerable for- 

 eign trade. Its exports consist, chiefly, of line linen, 

 silks, velvets, imitations of East India go, ids 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 clotlis, from Germany ; 

 raw cotton, silk, &c., from Italy; manufactures, of 

 various kinds, from England ; wine and brandy from 

 France. The principal commercial cities of Switzer- 

 land are Bale, Berne, Zurich, Geneva, and Neufcha- 

 tel. 



Spain. For three centuries, with the decrease of 

 the industry of Spain, its trade has been on the de- 

 cline. This country might have monopolized the 

 commerce of the world, if it had understood and im- 

 proved 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, cop- 

 per, 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, excel- 

 lent silks, coarse cloths and cotton goods, with vine, 

 brandy, almonds, nuts, and other productions, are ex- 

 ported ; in return for which, the same port receives 

 the silks of Lyons, the hosiery of Nismes, various 

 kinds of stuff's and cotton goods, German linen and 

 dried stock-fish from England, amounting to about 

 6 75,000. The exports of Valencia consist, princi- 

 pally, 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, ban lla, wine, Castile 

 soap, olives, saffron, a kind of cochineal called grana, 

 and salt ; of which last, the English and SweUes an- 

 nually take upwards of 9,000,000 pounds. In Car- 

 thagena 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 

 (eight reals make one 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 Cadiz. Al- 

 most the whole Spanish coasting trade is in the hands 

 of the French, Dutch, and English. The independ- 

 ence of Spanish America has almost totally annihilat- 

 ed the colonial power of Spain. The situation of 

 Cuba may be considered dubious, like that of the 

 Philippines. See Philippines and South America. 



Turkey. The Turks are, as yet, very far from be- 

 ing a commercial nation, although their commerce 

 with Austria, France, Italy, Great Britain, Holland, 

 &c., by means of the Jews, Armenians, and Greeks 

 living in Turkey, who have the trade of this country 

 almost wholly in their hands, is by no means insigni- 

 ficant. The insurrection of the Greeks did, indeed, at 

 first, interrupt very much the commerce of Austria 

 and other states ; and the British were also formida- 

 ble rivals on the Ionian isles ; but Vienna, the centre 

 of the Greek trade, has, nevertheless, retained its 

 connexion with Turkey, while the productions and 



