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beach began to assume a less crowded appearance ; some few of the 

 goods were taken to the residence of their owners, others were re- 

 moved ; but to what place, or by whom, there was no way of ascer- 

 taining ; and a very great proportion was sold at the custom-house 

 for the benefit of the underwriters. This stratagem, so frequently 

 practised, (and certainly deserving of the severest reprehension,) af- 

 terwards operated as a very serious injury to the regular sale of arti- 

 cles ; for, as the market was so overstocked, scarcely any one would 

 offer money for goods, except at the custom-house sales. As the de- 

 preciation continued, numberless packages were there exposed for 

 sale, in part damaged, or apparently so. Indeed, little more than 

 the mark of a cord on the outside of a single article, or a corner 

 discoloured, in a package however large, was a sufficient pretext for 

 presuming and pronouncing the whole to be damaged. By means 

 of this sentence, so easily obtained, great quantities of goods were 

 brought to the hammer in the custom-house warehouses, under every 

 disadvantage ; thus the owners recovered the amount insured for, 

 and the insurers lost the difference between that sum and the price 

 they were sold at, also the attendant expences. Many of the under- 

 writers will, no doubt, retain a lasting remembrance of the sales 

 which took place at Rio de Janeiro, and other parts of South Ame- 

 rica, /or their benefit. 



To the serious losses thus occasioned by an overstocked market, 

 and by the sacrifice of goods at whatever price could be obtained, 

 may be added another, which originated in the ignorance of many 

 persons who sent out articles to a considerable amount not at all 

 suited to the country ; one speculator, of wonderful foresight, sent 

 large invoices of stays for ladies, who never heard of such armour ; 

 another sent skates, for the use of a people who are totally unin- 

 formed that water can become ice ; a third sent out a considerable 

 assortment of the most elegant coffin-furniture, not knowing that 

 coffins are never used by the Brazilians, or in the Plata. To these 

 absurd speculations may be added numerous others, particularly in 



