ment is much subdivided; one person rears the mulberries, another breeds the worms, a third winds off the silk. Like opium, it is produced upon advances made by the company, who in that case require all the article to be delivered to them, which it is alleged, however, is not always faithfully done. In other respects there is no monopoly; but Mr. Ramsay states that private individuals have found the trade disadvantageous, and that the company even carry it on

with loss.

Sugar is extensively raised and consumed, being the chief ingredient of the sweetmeats, which form a most valued luxury. The cane, however, is considerably inferior in strength to that of the West Indies. The species produced in Guzerat, a province so fertile, is, according to Mr. Forbes, only converted into a coarse kind of molasses. In addition to this, the duty levied in Britain is higher than on that produced in the West,-a restriction claimed as due to the depressed state of the sugar islands, but which prevents the cultivation in India from being extended beyond the bounds of internal consumption. It is maintained, however, by many intelligent persons, that if European skill, capital, and machinery were applied to the production of this article, and if it were admitted on terms of equality, India could easily supply the whole British empire.

Tobacco was not originally raised in India. As soon, however, as the Europeans, who had found it in America, introduced it into the East, the singular fascination which this leaf possesses rendered it an object of research among the inhabitants. It came into general use; and, being well fitted to the soil, was cultivated in every quarter to the full extent of the demand in the native provinces, though without having ever become an article of exportation to Europe.

But the product which, in a commercial view, has now taken the lead of every other, is one that has been raised to its present height entirely by European skill and capital. This is indigo, which, from its value as a die, commands a sure sale in all the nations of Europe. Although, as the name implies, it was originally an Indian commodity, the supply, for several centuries after the discovery of America, was drawn almost wholly from that continent. Within the last thirty years a number of enterprising individuals have extended its culture in Bengal, and upwards.

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along the alluvial tracts bordering on the Ganges. It is carried on through the medium of the ryots, who are induced to engage in it by the assurance of a market, and in almost every instance by advances on the crops. Some individuals have 6000 or 7000 cultivators constantly engaged in supplying them with this vegetable. The crop is precarious; but the average produce of Bengal is estimated at 9,000,000 pounds, while upwards of 400,000 pounds are derived from Madras. The planters laboured at first under great inconvenience from the operation of a law which prohibits all but natives from holding land even under a zemindary tenure; being thus obliged to occupy it under the name of Hindoos, upon whom they became in a great degree dependent. Of late, however, they have been allowed, for this and other purposes, to possess farms on very long leases. At first they took from the cultivators the juice of the plant, called fœcula; but the Hindoos were found to conduct even the process of extraction in so slovenly a manner, that the substance could never be thoroughly purified so as to form the best indigo. It has become customary, therefore, to receive the plants, and have the whole process performed by Europeans. Mr. Ramsay represents the condition of the ryots in some districts as much deteriorated by being employed in this manner; but it is not easy to perceive how such an effect can be the result of so prosperous a branch of production. Mr. Harris and Mr. Crawford assert that the Bengal husbandmen engaged in it are in decidedly better circumstances than their brethren, and the latter gentleman states that the lands have doubled or trebled in value.

Pepper is likewise an important object of Indian agriculture. This spice, for which there is such a general demand, is raised amid the wooded hills of Malabar and Canara. Munro describes the pepper-gardens as formed in the deepest glens, shaded by mountains and dense forests, and as appearing only like specks in the wilderness by which they are surrounded. The pepper of Malabar is considered superior to that of Sumatra, as well as of all the other islands. It is exported in the two states of black and white, a distinction which arises from the different modes in which they are prepared.

India has been celebrated not only for the rich products
VOL. II.-Ee

of her soil, her manufactures also have enjoyed a high reputation from the earliest antiquity. This branch of national industry, as Lord Lauderdale has ingeniously shown, is materially influenced by the wants of the several classes into which society is divided. India contains a great number of inhabitants that are extremely poor, and a few who are immensely rich. To meet the demands thus created, she produces on the one hand a great mass of coarse fabrics, and on the other a small quantity that is exquisitely fine. To exhibit themselves in splendid robes is a favourite object of oriental luxury: accordingly, the labours of the loom had reached a perfection to which those of no other country except Britain, and that very recently, made even an approach. The delicate and flexible form of the Hindoo, the pliancy of his fingers, and the exquisite sense with which they are endowed, even his quiet indefatigable perseverance, all render him peculiarly fitted for this description of employment. The muslins of Dacca in fineness, the calicoes and other piece-goods of Coromandel in brilliant and durable colours, have never been surpassed. Yet they are produced without capital, machinery, division of labour, or any of those means which give such facilities to the manufacturing interest of Europe. The weaver is merely a detached individual, working a

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web when ordered by a customer, and with a loom of the rudest construction,-consisting sometimes of a few branches or bars of wood roughly put together. There is even no expedient for rolling up the warp; the loom must therefore be kept stretched to its full length, and becomes so inconveniently large that it cannot be contained within the hut of the manufacturer, who is therefore compelled to ply his trade in the open air, where it is interrupted by every vicissitude of the weather. That in an art which such pains have been taken to carry to the highest perfection no attempt should have been made to improve the machinery, and to remedy the most obvious inconveniences, is a striking example of that blind adherence to ancient usage which forms so prominent a feature in the Hindoo character.

The silk manufacture is also of great antiquity in India, and carried to considerable perfection, though not nearly equal to that of cotton. Bandanas, and other handkerchiefs, crapes, and taffetas, are the forms in which it is chiefly produced. The shawls of Cashmere, made from the wool of a species of goat, constitute an exquisite fabric, which bears a high price in every quarter of the world; but it belongs only half to India, being worked on its northern border, and consisting of a material entirely furnished by Tartary and Thibet.

The use of gold, silver, and precious stones forms another object of Indian ostentation. To her princes and great men no present is so acceptable; and hence no expense is spared in obtaining them. Besides being the instruments of his pomp, they serve as a convenient means for hoarding up wealth; his jewels are an important part of every prince's treasure, and are regarded as public property. There arises thus a demand for ingenious workmen in gold and silver, as well as for such as excel in the cutting, polishing, and setting of precious stones; and all these operations are performed with superior skill. Yet here, too, the instruments are extremely rude and defective. The ground is the workman's bench; his hands and feet the vice, and his tools only some misshapen pieces of iron. He carries on his trade in an ambulatory manner, waiting till he is sent for by a customer; when, packing up his little set of implements, he hastily obeys the summons.

The demand for the finer manufactures of Hindostan has within the last fifty years greatly diminished. All branches of industry have been deeply affected by the fall of so many great sovereigns and splendid courts, where alone remunerating prices could be obtained. The astonishing success with which they have been imitated by several nations of Europe, and particularly by Britain, has also very much reduced the quantity brought into this part of the world, and made them be regarded as little more than objects of curiosity. Nor is this all. The fabrics of Manchester, of Glasgow, and of Paisley, by the superior cheapness which they combine with their excellence, have superseded on their native soil the finest which India can produce. The only cloths that now meet a sure sale are those coarse cotton robes woven in almost every village for the use of the great body of the people.

The commerce of India, prior at least to the opening of that with Mexico and Peru, was considered the most copious source of wealth of any in the world. This impression, for reasons already hinted, was in some degree illusory; yet India always produced commodities of great value and beauty; and though the demand has somewhat diminished, in consequence of the improved state of manufactures in this country, an annual value amounting to more than five millions sterling, conveyed nearly 15,000 miles, marks it still as one of the most important objects of British enterprise. Cotton piece-goods, muslins, calicoes, though in a smaller degree than formerly, are still extensively exported. Silk manufactures and Cashmere shawls are only introduced in limited quantities. Opium, pepper, and indigo are articles in general use over the world, which are chiefly drawn from India. Thrown silk and cottonwool, though of secondary quality, make their way, by dint of cheapness, in the British market. Sugar, saltpetre, borax from Thibet, and various minor articles, form an addition to the cargoes of our Indian ships. The European returns have always been an object of considerable difficulty. The orientals, generally speaking, have shown very little taste for the productions of the West, and were wont to require that by far the greater part of their commodities should be paid for in gold and silver. This was a circumstance deeply afflicting to the commercial speculators of the old