324 INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE. 



ment is much subdivided ; one person rears the mulberries, 

 another breeds the worms, a third winds off the silk. Like 

 opium, it is produced upon advances made by the company, 

 who in that case require all the article to be delivered to 

 them, which it is alleged, however, is not always faithfully 

 done. In other respects there is no monopoly ; but Mr. 

 Ramsay states that private individuals have found the trade 

 disadvantageous, and that the company even carry it on 

 with loss. 



Sugar is extensively raised and consumed, being the 

 chief "ingredient of the sweetmeats, which form a most 

 valued luxury. The cane, however, is considerably infe- 

 rior in strength to that of the West Indies. The species 

 produced in Guzerat, a province so fertile, is, according to 

 Mr. Forbes, only converted into a coarse kind of molasses. 

 In addition to this, the duty levied in Britain is higher than 

 on that produced in the West,— a restriction claimed as due 

 to the depressed state of the sugar islands, but which pre- 

 vents the cultivation in India from being extended beyond 

 the bounds of internal consumption. It is maintained, 

 however, by many intelligent persons, that if European 

 skill, capital, and machinery were applied to the production 

 of this article, and if it were admitted on terms of equality, 

 India could easily supply the whole British empire. 



Tobacco was not originally raised in India. As soon, 

 however, as the Europeans, who had found it in America, 

 introduced it into the East, the singular fascination which 

 this leaf possesses rendered it an object of research among 

 the inhabitants. It came into general use ; and, being well 

 fitted to the soil, was cultivated in every quarter to the full 

 extent of the* demand in the native provinces, though with- 

 out having ever become an article of exportation to Europe. 



But the product which, in a commercial view, has now 

 taken the lead of every other, is one that has been raised 

 to its present height entirely by European skill and cap- 

 ital. This is indigo, which, from its value as a die, com- 

 mands a sure sale in all the nations of Europe. Although, 

 as the name implies, it was originally an Indian commodity, 

 the supply, for several centuries after the discovery of 

 America, was drawn almost wholly from that continent. 

 Within the last thirty years a number of enterprising indi- 

 viduals have extended its culture in Bengal, and upwards 



