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always abundant, and other woods may have been articles 
of export in ancient, as they are even in modern times to 
Arabia. The metals probably had their properties, as in 
the case of steel, first investigated in India ; and were then 
sought for, and found, in countries which first procured 
them from a distance.* 
The antiquity of the commerce of Indian products is, 
however, incontestably proved from our finding, even in the 
earliest records we possess, mention of the spices and 
aromatics, the precious stones, and probably also the 
cotton, wood, and metals of the East ; a term in which 
India must be included, as the names of some of the 
substances mentioned appear to be derived from eastern 
sources, and often from the Sanscrit language. 
Though in the earliest chapters of the books of Moses, we 
read of the working in metals, this probably alludes to gold, 
silver, and copper, all common in the ancient world, and 
easily worked, as well as iron, when found in sand or in a 
magnetic state. But silver, iron, tin, and lead, are described in 
* The above view of the natural fertility, richness, and variety of the 
products of India, may strike many as contradicted by the fact of these 
being now chiefly noted for their inferiority, when they come into compe- 
tition with those of other parts of the world, where similar products are 
grown. " This, it strikes me, was owing to the early cultivation of the 
mind, and the advancement of science among the Hindoos, which must 
have greatly influenced agriculture, as well as all the other arts of life. 
Since then, if India has not retrograded, she has certainly remained sta- 
tionary, while the rest of the world has been advancing, and applying every 
fresh acquisition in science to the improvement of the varied arts and 
manufactures of civilized life." Conceiving it perfectly feasible, by the 
application of principles to practice, and by the adoption of other means 
suited to the end in view, to give an impulse to the improvement and 
multiplication of the products, and consequently to the resources of India, 
I was induced, in conjunction with the Right Hon. Holt Mackenzie, for- 
merly Territorial Secretary to the Indian Government, and lately a member 
of the Board of Control, to offer some suggestions, and write a paper on 
this subject, which is printed in the Proceedings of the Royal Asiatic 
Society, 19th March, 183G. 
