350 



COMMERCE. 



go thither every year, from Egypt. One goes to 

 Sennaar, ami collects tlu> productions of this country 

 and Abyssinia ; another to Darfour, and the third to 

 Fez, whither the productions of Bornou, and all the 

 countries lying along the Nile, are brought. Other 

 caravans exchange Egyptian commodities for those 

 of the East Indies and Arabia. But the most con- 

 siderable is that which cnii-ists of the united caravans 

 of Abyssinia and Western Africa, and goes annually 

 to Mecca. The exports of Egypt are rice, com, 

 cotton, myrrh, incense, opium, dates, mother-of- 

 pearl, ivory, gums and drugs of various kinds, hides, 

 wax.Kr. , uuW of which go to Constantinople, the 

 Barbary states, Great Britain, Venice, and Marseilles. 

 It also exports the productions of Arabia, e. g., Mo- 

 ri la coffee. The chief commercial cities are Cairo 

 and Alexandria, since 1819 united again by a canal. 

 Cairo has two ports, Rosetta and Damietta. France 

 sends to Egypt woollen cloth, red caps, fringes of all 

 kinds, and ornaments of dress, ordinary china ware, 

 arms, &c. Britain sends muslins, and cloths of dif- 

 ferent kinds, alum, iron, lead, vitriol, giuis, &c. From 

 Florence, silks are imported. 



Guinea. Sierra Leone, and the Pepper, Ivory, 

 Cold, and Slave Coasts, where the Dutch, French, 

 British, and Danes have settlements, export gold 

 dust, ivory, gums, hides, &c.,and formerly slaves, in 

 exchange for woollen and cotton goods, linen, arms, 

 gunpowder, &c. The coasts of Lower Guinea (Congo, 

 Angola, &c.), and the Guinea islands, mostly occu- 

 pied by the Portuguese, export grain, provisions, cot- 

 ton, indigo, sugar, &c. The slave trade (q. v.) is 

 here prosecuted still by the Portuguese. Among the 

 other 



African Islands, the Azores raise, for exportation, 

 wine and fruits. About 20,000 pipes of the former 

 are annually exported by the British and Americans, 

 chiefly to the East and West Indies. The island of 

 St Michael sends, every year, to Britain and the 

 United States 60 80,000 boxes of oranges. The 

 oranges of the island of Pico are remarkable for 

 their superior quality. This island also produces 

 a beautiful kind of wood, which is almost equal to 

 mahogany. The staple productions of the Cana- 

 ries are archil, in its raw state, rose-wood, brandy, 

 and Canary wine. The last goes chiefly to 

 the West Indies and Britain, in the latter country 

 it is also sold for Madeira wine. The cape Verd 

 islands export archil in a raw state, and coarse cot- 

 ton cloths for the use of the Africans. The sta- 

 ple product of Madeira is valuable wine, which 

 is divided into five kinds, according to the mar- 

 ket for which it is designed. The most excellent 

 is called London particular. The next in quality is 

 also sent to the London market. Of inferior quality 

 is that destined for the India market. The kind that 

 goes to America holds the fourth rank, and the fifth 

 is designated by the name of cargo. Of this wine, 

 the British annually receive more than 7000 pipes ; 

 the United States about 3000. The Isle of Bour- 

 bon produces coffee, cloves, white pepper, cotton, 

 gums, benzoin, and aloes. Its trade is confined almost 

 wholly to Madagascar, Isle de France, the Comoro 

 islands, and the settlements of the Arabs on the 

 eastern coasts of Africa. The Isle de France, or 

 Mauritius, exports coffee, indigo, cotton, sugar, nut- 

 megs, cloves, ambergris, &c. The exports of Ma- 

 dagascar are cowries, betel-nuts, ambergris, wax, 

 cocoa-nuts and corn. 



IV. AMERICA. The extensive coasts of America 

 give it all the commercial advantages of the ancient 

 world, free from the obstacles presented by those 

 masses of- continents, the interior of which is so re- 

 mcte from the sea and destitute of navigable rivers, 

 like the whole of Africa and the boundless tracts of 



Asiatic Tartary and Siberia. In the abundance of 

 navigable rivers, both North and South America 

 have an immense advantage over the other quarters 

 of the world. The long chain of great lakes, and 

 numerous navigable rivers in North America are al- 

 ready the theatre of a very active commerce. The 

 great in land countries of South America are render- 

 ed accessible by rivers of gigantic magnitude, and 

 from the mouth of the river Plata to the gulf of 

 Darien. an inland navigation may be effected, almost. 

 without having recourse to the aid of jart. But there 

 still remains, for the promotion of American com- 

 merce, the execution of a great work the digging 

 through the narrow isthmus of Darien by which a 

 connexion between the Pacific and Atlantic would be 

 effected, the advantages of which would be incalcul- 

 able. The western passage to India, which Colum- 

 bus sought for, would then be effected. Alexander 

 von Humboldt points out three places as most adapted 

 to the execution of such a project. Nature herself 

 seems willing to assist, for, though the mountains 

 forbid the idea of forming a canal immediately across 

 the isthmus, yet, by starting in lat. 12 N., joining 

 the head of lake Nicaragua to a small river which 

 runs into the Pacific ocean, and forming a canal 

 thirty miles long, through a low, level country, a 

 communication between the two oceans might be ef- 

 fected. The governments which are most directly 

 interested in making such a canal, are at present too 

 weak and too unsettled to be able to carry it into ef- 

 fect. 



THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA. The 

 rapid progress which the United States have made, 

 in commerce and navigation, is unparalleled. Hardly 

 had this people appeared on the ocean, before every 

 coast of the earth was visited by their navigators 

 While they are seen covering the ocean with their 

 vessels, throughout the Atlantic coast, even to cape 

 Horn, whence they enter the broad Pacific ; in the 

 other direction, they press onward to the ice of the 

 north pole, and penetrate the deep recesses of Hud- 

 son's bay and Davis's straits. The coasts of the 

 whole southern hemisphere, the western coast of 

 America, and the eastern coasts of Asia, are visited 

 by them. It is a very common thing for an American 

 merchantman to make a voyage round the world, 

 starting from the United States, going round cape 

 Horn to the north-west coast of America, taking in 

 furs, sailing to China, and going thence, with tea, 

 &c., to the ports of Europe. The American whalers 

 are distinguished for skill and boldness. 



Agricultural Exports. The trade of the United 

 States for the year ending September, 1828, may be 

 assumed as the basis of the remarks to be made upon 

 the subject of this commerce. The exports of domes- 

 tic products for that year, according to the custom- 

 house estimates, were 50,669,669 dollars.* Those 

 of cotton, the great staple of the country, were 

 22,487,229 dollars, and, accordingly, nearly half of 

 the entire amount. The next greatest export is that 

 of tobacco, which amounted to 5,269,960 dollars. 

 Of rice, the export amounted to 2,620,696 dollars. 

 The value of these three articles, being over 

 30,000,000 dollars, thus constituted three-fifths of the 

 whole. In the annual returns made to congress, the 

 exports of domestic products are divided into those 

 of the sea, the forest, agriculture, and manufactures. 

 The three species of agricultural articles above men- 

 tioned are mostly the productions of the Southern 

 States, including Virginia and Kentucky. The other 

 exports, coming under the same head, are mostly fur- 



* In this and the other statements connected with Ameri- 

 can commerce, as they are somewhat minute in their details, 

 the currency of the country is retained, for the sake of 

 accuracy. 



