FARMERS' REGISTER— GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS. 



517 



more rich in those thousund wonders that win the i the Avestern wfiters. He observes that on the 1st 



female h'^art: they are sulTicient to turn the head of 

 every Parisian laily, and make Cleopatra jump 

 with envy in lier tomb. 



"These bijoux arc subjected to a heavy duty on 

 their entrance into France; but f;)r an insurance of 

 five per cent. Mr. Beautte miderlakes to smuggle 

 them; the bargain between the buyer and seller is 

 made as publicly as if there were neither custom- 

 houses nor custom-house officers in the world. It 

 is true that Mr. Beautte possesses marvellous ad- 

 dress in bafiling these harpies: one anecdote out of 

 a tliousand will show how justly he is entitled to 

 this compliment. 



" When the Count de St. Cricq was director- 

 general of the customs, he heard so much of the 

 ingenuity that baffled the vigilance of his agents, 

 that he resolved to ascertain personally if these re- 

 ports were true. He went to Geneva, presented 

 himself at Beautte's warehouse, and bought 

 jewellery to the amount of 30,000 iVancs, on con- 

 dition that it should be sent duty-li-ee to his resi- 

 dence in Paris. Mr. Beautte accepted the condi- 

 tions like a man accustomed to such bargains; he 

 merely presented the purchaser with a private 

 bond, stipulating that he should pay five per cent, 

 for insurance. The latter smiled, took the pen. 



of January last, an oflicial list of the boats em- 

 ployed in this navigation which was obtained from 

 an authentic source, gave the whole number at 

 230, whose aggregate capacity amounted to about 

 39,000 tons. Ot'this number, 60 exceeded 200 

 tons, 70 were between 120 and 200 tons, and 100 

 were under 120. Of those, whose capacity ex- 

 ceeded 200 tons, 25 were employed between Lou- 

 isville, New Orleans, and Cincinnati, seven be- 

 tween Nashville and New Orleans, four between 

 Florence and New Orleans, tour in the St. Louis 

 trade, and seven in the cotton trade. Before the 

 introduction of the steamboat in 1817, about twen- 

 ty barges, averaging about 100 tons, aiTorded the 

 only facilities for the transportation of merchan- 

 dize from New Orleans to Louisville and Cincin- 

 nati, and as they made but one trip within the 

 vear, furnished the means of bringing np only 

 2000 tons. The present tonnage employed in this 

 trade exclusively, may be supposed to give occa- 

 sion to the conveyance of considerably more than 

 a million tons. From five to eight dollars for one 

 hundred pounds was the old price of the carriage 

 of goods from the seaboard in Pittsburg. With- 

 in the last five years, merchandize has been de- 

 livered in Cincinnati, fi-om Philadelphia by the 



and subscribed /)<; St. Cricq, direcior-general of way of New Orleans, at one dollar per hundred 

 - — The writer gives also a statement of what he 



calls the mortality among steamboats, from the 

 autumn of 1831 to that of 1833. During that 

 period, 15 were abandoned as unfit for service ; 

 seven were lost by ice ; 15 were burnt ; 24 were 

 snag;o-ed, and five were destroyed by collision with 

 other boats, so that, after deducting those which 

 were abandoned as nnsea^vorthy, fifty-one were 

 lost by accidents peculiar to the trade : equal to 

 an annual loss of 12 per cent, upon the whole 

 number, and of ten per cent, upon the amount of 

 tonnage employed. 



It is stated in addition, that there is a vast 

 amount of surplus tonnage, and that the business 

 is entirely overdone : the capital invested in boats 

 has been, as a general rule, a losing investment, 

 and in many cases, a total sacrifice. 



the French customs, and then handed the paper to 

 Mr. Beautte. The merchant looked at the signa- 

 ture, and making a low bow, simply said 'Mon- 

 eieur director-general of customs, the articles 

 which you have done me the honor of purchasing, 

 shall be in Paris as soon as yourself The Count 

 felt himself thrown on his mettle; he scarce gave 

 himself time to dine, when he ordered post-horses, 

 and was on the road an hour after the bargain was 

 concluded. 



" As he passed the frontiers, the Count made 

 himself known to the officers who came to search 

 his baggage; told their chief of the recent trans- 

 action, recommended the most active vigilance 

 along the entire line, and promised a reward of 

 thirty louis (Tor to the officer Avho should discover 

 the prohibited goods. Not a single officer got a 

 wink of sleep during the next three days. 



"In the mean time the Count reaches Paris, 

 alights at his residence, embraces his wife and 

 children, and goes up to his dressing-room to 

 change his travelling attire. 



" The first thing he sees on his mantel piece is 

 a beautiful box, of singular workmanship, with 

 whose appearance he was unacquainted. He 

 goes over to examine it, and reads on a silver plate 

 Ho 31. the Count de St. Cricq, director- general nf 

 French customs;'' he opens it — and finds the jew- 

 ellery he had purchased in Geneva! 



"Beautte had a secret understanding with the 

 waiters of the inn, and they, while aiding the 

 Count's servants to pack his baggage, had slipped 

 in the prohibited box. On their arrival in Paris, 

 the Count's valet de chambre, seeing the beauty of 

 the casket, and the particularity of its direction, 

 had carried it direct to his master's apartment. 

 The director-general of the customs was the ohief 

 kingdom." 



IMPORTAKCE 



OF GEOLOGICAL 

 VIRGINIA. 



SURVEYS TO 



[The letter referred to in the following editorial re- 

 marks of the Southern Literary Messenger, was first 

 published in the Farmers' Register, (page 504, Vol. I.) 

 and therefore a knowledge of it has not been necessa- 

 rily confined to the few readers of our public docu- 

 ments. But this mistake, though requiring the correc- 

 tion here given, does not affect the object, nor impair 

 the main value of the prefatory remarks which we co- 

 py below. We are gratifiid to have the aid of another 

 able advocate for a geological survey of Virginia— an 

 object which we consider all important to a proper 

 knowledge and full developement of the value, the re- 

 sources, and the improvement of our country:] 



From tlie Southern Literary Messenger. 

 The following interesting communication from 

 Peter A. Browne, Esq. of Philadelphia, was sub- 

 mitted last winter, by the Governor of Virginia, 

 to the General Assembly. It was printed with 

 the documents accompanying the annual mes- 

 A writer in the Western Magazine, stages some sage, and bound up with the legislative journals, 

 interesting facts, relating to eteam navigation upon i but has had no other publicity. It is therefore 



STEAMBOATS. 



