378 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



They bring birds, wax, honey, mats, fossils, and other things 

 which they collect, and here barter them for swords and iron 

 tools of different kinds. If they have not brought wherewith 

 to make the purchases they covet, they will let themselves for 

 so many days, as wood-cutters, an employment in which they 

 are expert. 



The navigation of the Maranyo has one great advantage 

 over that of the Mississippi, that the trade-wind perpetually 

 blows up-stream. Thus the wandering vessels have always a 

 current either of water or of air to move by. The shipping 

 which comes down to New Orleans with produce, seldom re- 

 ascends : so laborious and incessant is the human effort requi- 

 site to quant the vessels back : they are commonly sold off as 

 lumber in some of the Atlantic sea-ports. But the shipping 

 built in the Maranyo will there become an attached property, 

 and will contribute, no less than the stationary dwellings on its 

 banks, to employ industry, to diffuse plenty, to promote con- 

 sumption, and to bring prosperity to anchor. 



All the British West Indies would be benefited by free ac^ 

 cess to the interior of South America. All the other parts ot 

 the British dominions would be benefited. Extent of empire 

 answers the same purpose as the adoption of liberal principles 

 of commerce. Could all nations trade with all, free from pro- 

 hibition or restriction, without issuing a bounty or levying a 



