Calcutta,] 



ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



exported by private traders from January to December, 1822, is stated at 

 880,040, a very small portion of which was probably destined for England. 

 The quantity exported to Great Britain by private traders in 1821, was but 

 71,800 pieces ; and on an average of 7 years, 208,382 pieces. The quantity 

 of piece-goods exported to all ports, exclusive of Great Britain, in the three 

 years ending 1821, was as follows: — 



E. f. Co. Priviitr Trudirs. Total. 



Puvct. flMMk Picea, 



1819 11,428 ~ 3,000,901 3,912,329 



1820 2,992 2,417,277 ™ 2,420,269 



1821 54,760 « 2,826,510 2,881,276 



The improvement in the cotton manufactures of Britain has not merely 

 diminished the import of Indian piece-goods, but has opened a market for 

 them in India itself. The lightness as well as cheapness of the British 

 calicoes and muslins has rendered them the chief article of dress amongst 

 all classes of people in England, and annihilated the manufacture of many 

 of the lighter kinds of woollens and worsted stuffs, formerly so much in use. 

 The demand for, and the use of, these articles are proportionate to their 

 cheapness and elegance. India, however, maintains her superiority in the 

 finer kinds of muslin, some of which are of most exquisite beauty and fine- 

 ness. The common kinds are also preferred, on the score of enduring great 

 hardships, and retaining their whiteness better; and in respect to the 

 coloured, or prohibited goods, for the foreign markets, they will always 

 retain their superiority. In the article of Guinea stuffs manufactured at 

 Surat, and in request on the Coast of Africa, many attempts have been 

 made to imitate them, more particularly by the French, but in vain. The 

 Moors discover merely by the touch whether they have been manufactured 

 in Europe or India ; nor is it even to their feel and colour which they 

 chiefly trust — they ascertain by their smell, as the indigo with which they 

 are died, gives them a peculiar smell which cannot be imitated. 



Rice (Oryssa Satiua) is the principal article of food amongst the Eastern 

 nations, and of an extensive trade from Bengal to other parts of India, and 

 China. The kinds of rice are numerous, and the native names of the plant 

 various. It is called paddy in its native state; each grain is fastened to a short 

 stalk, joining to a main stem, and furnishing a bunch of grain, somewhat re- 

 sembling an ear of oats, and sometimes containing from 150 to 300 grains of 

 rice. There arc two methods of clearing it from the husk ; one by scalding, 

 which occasions the rice to swell and burst its shell ; the other by pounding 

 in a mortar, and afterwards winnowing it. The export trade is principally 

 in what is denominated cargo rice, of a coarse reddish cast, but peculiarly 



