EAST OP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 191 



meat in proportion, the venture was a good one, but when to this was 

 added the purchase of 100 to 200 sheep at from $10 to $50 each, and 

 their sale in the United States at from $100 to $ 150 each, the profit on 

 one trip was a fortune. Indeed, many merchants and sailing masters 

 made profits on one cruise sufficient to pay all expenses, to pay for the 

 vessel entire, and leave a comfortable surplus. Mr. Jarvis was one of 

 the first to consign his sheep to parties in Boston, New York, Philadel- 

 phia, Alexandria, Baltimore, Norfolk, and Eichmond, in which he was 

 followed by Goold Bros. & Co., of Lisbon, and others. But the busi- 

 ness was not done by two or three houses alone; every merchant at 

 Lisbon and Cadiz that could do so bought sheep, and every skipper 

 was an importer. Mates, supercargoes, and sailors were dealers. A 

 seafaring man who had the confidence of his friends would load a ves- 

 sel with sui^plies, make a quick trip across the Atlantic, drop anchor 

 in the Tagus or Bay of Cadiz, sell his cargo, buy and load up with 

 Merino sheep, and be back in a New England port in less than three 

 months, with a fortune. It is not to be wondered at that the trade was 

 an infectious one, and that at one time in January, 1811, over one hun- 

 dred and forty sail of American vessels were at Lisbon port, with 

 nearly a hundred more at Cadiz. Among the early arrivals at Cadiz, 

 August 2, 1810, was a schooner, thirty-six days from Connecticut, with 

 live oxen, claimed to be the first vessel whichever crossed the Atlantic 

 Ocean with such a cargo. 



Vessels with Merino sheep began to leave Lisbon and Cadiz in 

 respectable numbers in July and August, and in September, 1810, there 

 were thirty-eight arrivals at various ports in the United States from 

 Boston in the North to Charleston in the South. They started singly 

 and in company, and made the trip in an average of thirty-six days; 

 some arrived in thirty days; some were never heard of after sailing. 

 James Murdoch, sailing from Lisbon, dropped anchor at Philadelphia 

 the same day that Sally made the port of New York, and John L. Keias 

 arrived at Norfolk, on the same day that Sally and Mary arrived at 

 Philadelphia. James Wells left Lisbon with the Four Sisters; they 

 sailed in loving company all the way across the Atlantic, and came into 

 New York harbor together on January 7, 1811, To chronicle the 

 adventures of the vessels thus carrying on this trade, as told in their 

 log books, would fill a volume, and one not altogether creditable to 

 American statesmanship or apt to enhance American pride. At first 

 the American sailor and shipper had nothing but the indifference of his 

 own Government and the elements to contend with, but when his trade 

 was at its highest English cruisers and French privateers put them- 

 selves across his course, stopped him, boarded his vessel, stole his stores 

 and his sheep, robbed him of money and clothing, and then, in one case 

 at least, burned and sunk his ship. It is humiliating, even at this late 

 day, to read of these outrages. In some cases the captains report 

 that after being overhauled and boarded they were treated "politely"; 



