LONDON DOC1IS AND WAREHOUSES. 



lichens from Valparaiso and the 

 Cape de Verde islands ; madder 

 from Holland, France, Spain ; tan- 

 ning bark from the oaks of Holland 

 and Belgium, with various other 

 tanning materials from India, 

 Smyrna, South America; spices 

 from Ceylon, India, China, and the 

 islands of the Eastern Archipe- 

 lago ; fruits, nuts, seeds, oils, and 

 balsams, vegetable juices and ex- 

 tracts, for food, luxuries, medicines, 

 agricultural and artificial uses. 

 The mammalia send us their skins 

 and furs, for ornament and use, 

 from the frozen north and the 

 sunny south, the buffalo, racoon, 

 and beaver of Canada, the otter of 

 Bio and Bahia, the Polar bear and 

 the African leopard, the Siberian 

 squirrel and the Indian tiger ; the 

 whale and the seal yield us oil, and 

 our tallow is supplied by the oxen 

 and sheep of Russia, Australia, 

 India, South America. The birds 

 of South America and the coast of 

 Africa provide our agriculturists 

 with the most valuable of manures, 

 of which 2800 tons were imported in 

 one year into Liverpool alone. The 

 tortoise of the west coast of Africa 

 sent two tons and a half of its shells 

 to Liverpool in one year for comb- 

 making. Fishes sxipply the isin- 

 glass we receive from Manilla, Peru, 

 and Maranham, and the cod-liver 

 oil of Newfoundland, now so fre- 

 quently and successfully employed 

 in cases of pulmonary disease. The 

 molluscs of the Levant afford 

 cuttle-fish bones for polishing metals 

 and making tooth-powder ; those of 

 the "Bahamas, the conch shells for 

 crmieos; those of the South Pacific, 

 of Manilla, and Panama, the mother- 

 of-pearl; and the elegant little 

 Cyprosa, moncta of the East Indies 

 is the cowrie, Avhich is brought to 

 this country, in hundreds of tons 

 every year, both dead and alive, 

 and 'exported to Africa to be used 

 as money. In the London market, 

 the cowrie sells 011 an average 



at 70s. to 75s.- a cwt. for bright 

 specimens, and 45s. to 48s. for tho 

 dead sort, and it forms a regular 

 entry in some London prices current 

 now before us. Our silks are the 

 produce of the worm which ulti~ 

 mately takes its place amongst in- 

 sects as the Bombyx mon,and other 

 insects yield the lac for varnishing 

 and dyeing, and the rich vermilliou 

 of the cochineal. Such are some of 

 the commodities imported into the 

 port of London, and stored up in 

 its capacious warehouses, and such 

 the elements of a trade in itself 

 unrivalled in any part of the world, 

 deriving from every country and 

 clime from men of every colour 

 and condition from plants and 

 animals from sea and land, the 

 materials of our clothing, our furni- 

 ture, our food, our luxuries, our 

 arts and manufactures a trado 

 which in one year employs for the 

 port of London alone, 3000 ships 

 and steamers of the aggregate bur- 

 den of 600,000 tons, and 35,000 men 

 and boys. In one year 6400 vessels, 

 foreign and British, with a capa- 

 city of a million and a quarter of 

 tons, have. entered the port of Lon- 

 don ; and the gross amount of cus- 

 toms duty derived from their car- 

 goes was 12,000,000 sterling. 



Before leaving tho warehouses, 

 we must visit the wine-vaults, for 

 which, by the courtesy of a London 

 merchant, we have been provided 

 with what is termed "a tasting 

 order," being the printed I'm-i.i 

 presented at the vault by intend- 

 ing purchasers, and ei'iil.-iinin^ tho 

 numbers and marks of the barrels 

 from which samples arc to Ix; drawn. 

 These orders are often granted to 

 >rs who have no other end 

 to serve than tho gratification 

 of their curiosity, by witnessing 

 the greatest quantity of wine accu- 

 mulated in one place to be seen in 

 the world. In tho vaults beneath 

 the warehouses of the London 

 Docks there is cellarage for 65,000 



