INTRODUCTION. 3 



Borneo, Celebes, Java, and Sumatra. The Hindoo race will, in 

 preference, seek a home in Ceylon and the peninsula beyond the 

 Granges. 



From what quarter will emigration issue to stock the Carib- 

 bean Archipelago ? The United States are, probably, the source 

 from which the African race will, by degrees, drain off into the 

 Western isles, there to form free communities under the joint pro- 

 tection of Europe and America, or to become naturalised subjects 

 of the various governments to which those possessions at present 

 respectively belong. But this is a question which requires mature 

 consideration, and which I shall afterwards more fully examine. 



The present condition of the Eastern Archipelago is cheering 

 and highly encouraging ; its prospects are those of prosperity and 

 peaceful progress. The present condition of the Western Archi- 

 pelago is one of hard struggle, and discouraging in the extreme ; 

 whilst its prospects are still veiled in obscurity. 



The Indian Archipelago is on the highway from Europe to 

 China and Japan, by the Cape of Good Hope, and lies between 

 the southern kingdoms of Asia and Australia. Those kingdoms 

 produce similar articles of food and commerce, viz., rice, sugar, 

 cotton, and indigo ; Australia, wheat, wool, and gold. But the 

 latter is also capable of producing cotton, indigo, and sugar. 

 However, New Zealand, Van Diemen's Land, and the southern 

 colonies of New Holland, may be regarded as growing and highly 

 promising markets for the Eastern isles. 



The Western Archipelago is on the track from Europe, 

 through Central America, to Japan, China, Australasia, and the 

 western coast of America ; stretching between the southern States 

 of the great American Republic and the northern shores of 

 South America ; and lying opposite the rich countries of Mexico, 

 Guatimala, Nicaragua, &c. The different regions which are in 

 the vicinity of the Western Archipelago produce, or are capable 

 of producing, the same staples which form the basis of its ex- 

 ports ; and, most unfortunately, negro slavery is still in those 

 regions the agent of that production. But, as a compensation 

 for all these disadvantages, there is the geographical position of 

 the Archipelago, its proximity to Europe and the rising countries 

 of North America; also, the greater fertility of its islands, 

 whether arising from the composition of the soil, or from the 

 greatest part of their surface being still covered with virgin forests. 

 The Caribbean isles are in general fertile, some of them 

 remarkably so, and they can be made to yield all intertropical 

 productions, such as sugar, coffee, cotton, indigo, cacao, spices, 

 rice, and the best tobacco in the world. They can also produce, 

 for the support of their own population, an abundance of ali- 

 mentary substances, particularly plantains, corn, rice, cassada, 

 and other farinaceous roots, with all sorts of vegetables and fruits ; 



A 2 



