(, 326 ) 



articles of taste : elegant services of cut glass were little appreciated 

 by men accustomed to drink out of a horn or a cocoa-nut-shell ; and 

 brilliant chandeliers were still less valued in a country where only 

 lamps that afforded a gloomy light were used. Superfine woollen 

 cloths were equally ill-suited to the market ; no one thought them 

 sufficiently strong. An immense quantity of high-priced saddles, 

 and thousands of whips*, were sent out to a people as incapable of 

 adopting them as they were of knowing their convenience. They were 

 astonished to see Englishmen ride on such saddles ; nor could they 

 imagine any thing more insecure. Of the bridles scarcely any use 

 could be made, as the bit was not calculated to keep the horse or 

 mule in subordination : these articles were of course sacrificed. 

 Great quantities of the nails and ironmongery were useless, as they 

 were not calculated for the general purposes of the people. Large 

 cargoes of Manchester goods Avere sent ; and, in a few months, more 

 arrived than had been consumed in the course of twenty years pre- 

 ceding. No discrimination was used in the assortment of these arti- 

 cles, with respect either to quality or fineness, so that common prints 

 were disposed of at less than a shilling a yard, and frequently in bar- 

 ter. Fish from Newfoundland met with a similar fate ; also porter, 

 large quantities of which, in barrels, arrived among a people, of 

 Avhom a few only had tasted that article as a luxury. How the ship- 

 pers in London, and other British ports, could imagine that porter 

 would at once become a general beverage, it is difficult to conceive, 

 especially when sent in barrels. These cargoes, being unsaleable, 

 were of course warehoused, and of course spoiled. Newfoundland 

 fish, that was generally sold at from twelve to twenty dollars per 

 quintal, was now unsaleable at four, and in many instances did not 

 pay warehouse-room. Earthenware was perhaps rather more fa- 

 vourably received than many of the former articles, for plates, &c. 



* In Brazil the bridle is made of sufficient length to serve the purpose of a whip. 



