346 APPENDIX. 



complete a cargo of five hundred quarters in three or four 

 hours. These granaries are situated on an island formed by 

 the Motlau, and are guarded by twenty or thirty ferocious 

 dogs of large size, among which are blood-hounds. The dogs 

 are let loose at 11 o'clock at night, and are kept within their 

 districts by large higli gates across the end of eacli of the 

 streets leading to the main one. No light is allowed, nor any 

 person suffered to live on this island. The dread of the dogs, 

 it is said, is the most powerful means which could be used to 

 keep the property secure amidst the hordes of Poles, Jews, &c. 

 which are met with at Dantzic. No fire or robbery was ever 

 known, and the expense to each building, with tlie immense 

 property it contains, is very small. Vessels lying alongside 

 these warehouses are not allowed to have a fire or a light of 

 any kind on board, nor is a sailor or any other person suffered 

 even to smoke. 



These corn-stores of Dantzic, and the care taken to preserve 

 them, are interesting and important topics; but the general 

 inquiry will be at what season and to what extent are these 

 stores available to us ? Now we find that the Prussian and 

 Polish landlords employ brokers at Dantzic to dispose of 

 their wheat for delivery the following spring, and that the 

 wording of the corn-contract generally fixes the period for the 

 fifteenth of May, depending, however, on the weather for the 

 exact fulfilment of the contract, as the breaking up of the ice, 

 "first open, water," may take place at an earlier or later 

 date. 



The deliveries of grain, therefore, commence about the 

 middle of May at that port, and are generally of great extent ; 

 but the supplies vary greatly with the state of the adjacent 

 countries, in some of which there may be prohibitions against 

 the exportation of wheat, on account of a deficient crop. 



Next to Dantzic, Hamburgh is considered the greatest corn- 

 market of Nonhern Europe, being the depository for large 

 quantities of Baltic corn, as well as for the produce of the 

 countries bordering the Elbe. The price of wheat at this port 

 is in general much lower than at Dantzic; but this is owing to 

 the inferiority of Holstein and Hanover wheat, which abounds 

 in this market. 



Hamburgh owes its importance, as a commercial town, en- 

 tirely to its situation at the mouth of the Elhe. This fine 

 river, in its long ana winding course, intersects a vast, extent 

 of country, and affords great facilities for trade. Natural ad- 

 vantages are also enhanced by artificial means, a water com- 



