NEW ARTICLES INTO COMMERCE. 13 
I am informed, that the novelty of the appearance, or the 
strangeness of the name, is more often the subject of jest, than 
the article is one of serious enquiry. At all events, the result 
usually is, that the article is sold at a price which does not 
pay its expences, and the planter is deterred from sending any 
fresh quantities. Further progress is, in that quarter at least, 
thus stopped, even at its commencement. 
Even without such impediments, the difficulties are consi- 
derable in bringing any new article into use in sufficiently 
large quantities to be an object of commerce. The natives of 
India, who are the universal cultivators or collectors of raw 
produce, being unwilling to enter upon practices or speculations 
unknown to their forefathers. Any European who, instead of 
following the established routes of commerce, endeavours to trace 
out a new one for himself, is, I am told, considered an unsafe - 
man—certainly with some truth, as long as his labours in a 
new field are so little appreciated or requited by the consumers 
in Europe. He is, moreover, while the value of a new 
article is unknown, subjected to the inconvenience of not 
having advances made in India upon what he may have shipped, 
as is the case with the ordinary articles of commerce. The mer- 
chants in India, or agents as they are usually called, are 
unwilling or unable to engage in the export of new articles; 
for the Bombay Chamber of Commerce have described how. 
difficult it is for the merchants resident in the capital to come in 
contact with the cultivators in the country, also that they are 
but a “small body,” “in most cases the agents of others, whose 
orders they must comply with ;” but Mr. Bracken explained that 
they are engaged in agency and banking in all its branches, as 
agents, and in making advances of money for commercial 
purposes. 
One great objection which is frequently made against en- 
tering into any speculation for the cultivation of any particular 
product in India, is the necessity of making some advances of 
money before the natives can be induced to undertake any 
particular culture or preparation. This is, no doubt, true, but 
it is the fashion of the country, which it would be extremely 
difficult to alter, and certainly not for a great many years. The 
advance can be effected, however, without much trouble and with 
little risk, if respectable dulals, or native agents, are employed. 
