been prosecuted to some extent in the State, there being thirty-seven vessels annually built, comprising a tonnage of 7,226 tons, the whole being valued at $338,575; and there are, moreover, 454 boats built annually, which are valued at $22,770.

The consumption of oil, coal, &c., consumed in manufacturing, is considerable. It appears by the report, that there are consumed in the enterprise of manufacturing, 88,005 gallons of sperm oil, which are valued at $85,419; 43,053 gallons of whale oil, which are valued at $8,332, and 66,887 gallons of all other oil, which are valued at $43,860. The value of the coal which is consumed in the various factories, is also great. There are 24,770 tons of anthracite coal consumed, which are valued at $136,481; 4,432 tons of bituminous coal, which is mined in the United States, that are valued at $16,743, and 1,329 tons of foreign bituminous coal, which are valued at $9,071. The value of all the American products, excepting cotton, wool, and iron, which are consumed, is $721,315; and the value of all foreign products, excepting as above, which are con. sumed, is $303,258.

In considering the products of Connecticut, the next source of wealth to the State to which we would direct our attention, is the fishery. This profitable branch of enterprise is principally confined to that part of the State lying within the county of New London, and bordering Long Island Sound, and the Atlantic Ocean. The whale fishery was soon introduced into this part of the State, after it had obtained a firm footing in Massachusetts; and the adventurous mariners and fishermen of this section of the coast pushed their enterprises not only in the seal and whale fishery, but also in the shad, cod, mackerel, and other fisheries, with considerable success. There are now employed in the whale fishery, which is prosecuted in the particular part of the State to which we have alluded, 230 vessels, embracing a tonnage of 40,631 tons, producing 157,250 gallons of sperm oil, which are valued at $136,991; 2,600,528 gallons of whale and other oil, which are valued at $867,633; and 830,395 pounds of whalebone, which are valued at $299,694. There are, moreover, 143 vessels sent out from its shores, with a tonnage of 3,745 tons, taking yearly 19,106 barrels of mackerel and shad, which are valued at $198,127, codfish to the value of $12,027, and other fish to the value of $251,619.

We now come to the exhibition of the agricultural products of Connecticut, which are but small in amount when compared with the principal agricultural States of the Union. With the exception of the fertile tract which borders the Connecticut, the land yields but sparsely the products of tillage, and its industrious population look to other enterprises than the cultivation of the soil, as sources of their prosperity. In stock husbandry, there are within the bounds of the State, 31,108 Saxony sheep, 95,749 merino sheep, and 162,717 of all other kinds, the value of the whole being $315,004. There are 90,094 pounds of Saxony wool produced, 244,608 pounds of merino wool, and 514,486 pounds of all other wool, the value of all the wool being $306,290. The number of asses and mules is ninety-three, which are valued at $2,840; the number of horses 32,319, valued at $1,249,521; the number of neat cattle, 206,225, valued at $2,808,352; and the number of swine, 138,990, valued at $1,144,756.

The amount of cereal grains must, of course, bear a proportion to the measure of enterprise which is devoted to agriculture. There are but 1,570,825 bushels of Indian corn produced in the State, which are valued

at $1,183,159, and 32,338 bushels of wheat, which are valued at $38,633 ; 619,680 bushels of rye, valued at $495,080; 40,649 bushels of barley, valued at $26,835; 173,471 bushels of buckwheat, valued at $88,566 ; 1,358,266 bushels of oats, valued at $571,434; and 2,832,161 bushels of potatoes, which are valued at $1,115,367. Besides those products, there are 717,208 bushels of other esculents produced, which are valued at $181,387.

There are, moreover, eighteen tons of millet yielded in the State, which are valued at $249; 380,645 tons of hay, valued at $4,213,724; 60,600 pounds of flax, which are valued at $6,669; 2,009 bushels of fruit, valued at $294,026; and 4,521 pounds of hops, which are valued at $968. The State produces also a considerable quantity of tobacco, there being yielded annually 3,467,940 pounds of this product, which are valued at $243,805; there are likewise produced 606 pounds of raw silk, that are valued at $2,744; teazles to the number of 15,952,500, valued at $9,553; 6,031,481 pounds of butter, which are valued at $918,839; cheese to the amount of 5,286,020 pounds, which are valued at $344,451; honey to the amount of 110,331 pounds, and valued at $16,043; beeswax to the amount of 3,669 pounds, and valued at $1,441; charcoal to the amount of 4,122,263 bushels, and valued at $225,756; bark to the amount of 4,974 cords, which are valued at $21,800; beans to the amount of 8,719 bushels, which are valued at $11,155. There are 46,860 pounds of broom corn produced, and 2,729 bushels of broom corn seed, the value of which is $4,348. The number of shingles produced is 3,156,000, which are valued at $12,915; and the value of the miscellaneous articles that are manufactured and produced throughout the State is $4,472,300.

We have now concluded a statistical exhibition of the products of the State of Connecticut in their various branches, as shown by the accurate report which has been made under the sanction of the legislature, and when we consider the narrow extent of territory, and the comparative barrenness of the soil, we can hardly fail to be impressed with the fact, that the people of the State have directed their enterprises into the most available channels, and that they have secured the greatest benefits from the advantages which they possess. The general prosperity which here prevails, it will be easily perceived, is derived less from the natural resources of the State, than from the persevering industry which has applied itself to the most available objects of pursuit. Originally colonized from the bordering State of Massachusetts, its people possess all those persevering, industrious, and moral traits which characterized the earliest founders of New England. If they have not, from the want of local resources, been able to produce all the materials of labor, they have yet added to the solid value of these materials by their own industry, in converting them into new forms. Deprived, by the natural barrenness of their territory, of the motives to agricultural enterprise, they have ploughed almost every sea with the keels of their whaling ships, and reaped their harvest from the ocean. The architectural beauty of some of their principal cities, and many of their villages, gives evidence of their taste, and some of the most magnificent steamships which float upon the waters enter their ports. Although foreign importations were extensively prosecuted in the State, at an early period, yet this species of commercial enterprise has been more recently concentrated in the large cities; and the shipping that plies from her principal sea-port towns, not engaged in the whale fishery, is, in a

great measure, employed in the coasting trade. There is another circumstance which has contributed in no small degree to the prosperity of Connecticut, and that is, the modern system of rail roads which has been ex. tended through the principal points of the interior, furnishing motives for travel, convenient channels of intercommunication, and safe avenues for the distribution of the products of the interior to their respective markets, as well as for the transportation of the various articles from abroad, to the numerous points in which they are required within its bounds.

Art. VI-COMMERCIAL SKETCHES OF SIERRA LEONE.

LOCATION AND POPULATION-MERCHANT SERVICE-ARTICLES OF IMPORT AND EXPORT-TRADING FACTORIES-BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS-GERMAN HOUSES-AMERICAN CARGOES-TRADING WITH THE NATIVE KINGS-DANTAGA, OR ROYAL PRESENT-CURRENCY-AGRICULTURAL AND OTHER

PRODUCTS.

SIERRA LEONE is, it is well known, a colonial establishment of Great Britain, on the West Coast of Africa, consisting of a peninsula about twenty-five miles in length, North and South, washed by the Atlantic on the Northwest and South, and partly bounded on the East by a bay formed by the Sierra Leone River. It was founded as a colony as long ago as 1787. It had, in 1839, a population of 42,000, all black or colored, except about 100 Europeans. It is considered the most unhealthy situation in which Europeans have ever attempted to establish a settlement.

We give below some instructive and interesting extracts, derived from a work on the colony of Sierra Leone, preparing for press by Whitaker Shreeve, Esq., a six years' resident in the colony. The portions of the work which we lay before the readers of the Merchants' Magazine, treat of the commercial relations of Sierra Leone, its trade, imports, exports, customs, &c.

MERCHANT SERVICE.-Agreements with clerks are usually made in England, by the agent of the house, and are generally for three years, at a trifling salary, generally upon the following scale :-£40 for the first year, £60 and £80 for the second, and with board and lodging for the third, and a passage out. This very small allowance is soon found to be inadequate to the expenses incurred; and the termwhich is three years-is seldom completed. It would be much more to the interest of the merchant to allow a liberal salary-indeed, a man should be bribed to dare the climate; and, apart from other considerations, no less salary than £200 should be offered or accepted. The result of paltry remuneration is dissatisfaction with themselves and employers, and indifference to the business with which they are entrusted. I can honestly recommend the clerk, who is offered an engagement upon the present system, to sweep the streets of his native home rather than accept it, the proposition being £40 a year, for forty to one against his life, half of the chances against him arising from an approximation to starvation. And I can, with equal honesty, also recommend the merchant to pay liberally, or his interest will not be attended to; fair remuneration will secure attention. It is too much the custom for employers in the colony to send their newly-arrived clerks to su perintend the loading and discharging of vessels at the town, and up the rivers and creeks. This occupation requires a constant exposure to the sun, or malaria from the mangrove bushes and decayed vegetation, from all of which he is liable to become attacked by fever, and the probability is that he never survives; and, should he battle it out, he is wrecked and debilitated for months, and is rendered of little service to himself, and none to his employer. No clerk should consent to go up the rivers or creeks until he has become seasoned to the climate by

residence in the town. The acclimatised colonists alone should venture on these hazardous expeditions, which, to new-comers, are almost certain death.

The IMPORTS are rum, tobacco, blue and white bafts, gunpowder, in small kegs, guns, Tower muskets, swords, cutlasses, flints, tools, iron bars, iron pots and hoops, cutlery, prints, satin stripes, romalls, tom coffees, red taffety, silk and cotton handkerchiefs, bandanas, hosiery, lace, muslin, silk and cotton umbrellas; stuffs, orange, scarlet, and blue figured; blue and scarlet woollen cloths, superfine and coarse; Turkey red handkerchiefs, red woollen caps; nankeens, blue and yellow; white yacht shirts, flannel, blankets, white and brown drills, India goods, ribbons, black cloth and crape, coral beads, mock coral, blue cut beads, glass, amber, trinkets, small looking-glasses, hardware, crockery, boots and shoes, paper, porter, ale, brandy, wine, sugar, tea, coffee, butter, flour, soap, thread, medicines, perfumery, &c., &c., and generally of English goods.

EXPORTS Consist chiefly in teak timbers, ivory, gold in dust, bars and rings; wax, hides, superior camwood, gums, palm-oil, &c.; small quantities of coffee, arrow-root, ground-nuts, pod pepper, cotton, lignumvitæ, starch, gums, &c. Indian corn is grown to any extent, and the supply could only be limited by demand.

TRADING FACTORIES are generally without the jurisdiction of the colony, and in the territories of the native kings or chiefs, from whom they are held by the merchants on payment of a certain amount of bars annually. The chiefs are expected to defend the tenants from the depredations of their subjects, and settle all disputes in the fulfilment of contracts. These palavers-as termed—are held in the Barre, or court-house, of which there is one in the centre of every town.

The principal factories are in the Timmanee country, Port Logo, Rokelle River, and the Quia Magbilly; from the latter, the finest camwood is procured. In the Mandingo, Soosoo countries, the Scarcies, Mallicouri, Fouricarria Bagga, timber, gold-dust, ground-nuts, palm-oil, hides, gum, and wax, are found in great quantities.

BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS are in cash, or quarterly credits, and produce paid for half in cash and half in goods. Timber and other articles purchased from the natives in the Mandingo, Soosoo, Sherbro and Timmanee countries, are paid for wholly in (Calla) goods by the bar, a native term, the value of which is from two shillings to two shillings and sixpence-a fathom of cloth (two yards) is equivalent to a bar, a musket to seven or eight bars, half a gallon of rum to one bar, and so on; but to give the reader a more detailed knowledge of transactions in bars, a table (which we here omit, it being in the possession of the author for private use) is subjoined, but it is to be remembered that the bar varies in different parts of the coast, and that this table applies to countries around the colony.

GERMAN HOUSES, from Hamburgh, have been lately established in the colony, and the introduction of German manufactures has become general, but they are neither of a useful nor durable character, and, in some instances, the houses have suffered in mercantile respectability. One-Scheoning's-is noted for having purchased condemned vessels in the slave trade; one, the Isabella Hellen, which has afterwards appeared, on two occasions, before the Mixed Courts for adjudication; and another, Nagal Effenhauson, the Hamburgh consulate, has been severely fined for attempting to defraud the revenue, by introducing a large quantity of rum.

AMERICAN CARGOES frequently arrive in the colony from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Salem, and other parts, and consist chiefly of provisions-flour, tobacco, tea, butter, &c., the whole of which generally meet with a ready sale: manufactured goods, such as those of Manchester and Birmingham, they never import, showing their inability to compete with England in price and quality.

TRADING WITH THE NATIVE KINGS has its peculiar forms and customs. Upon the arrival of a trader, he is expected to wait upon the king, or headman, with a present, which, amongst the Soosoos, is called making dash, or "dantaga," and Timba amongst the Timmanees, the value of which varies with the will or ability of the donor, the "royal" attention and good-will being proportioned to the gift. The following "dash," or "dantaga," (which would be considered as coming

down handsomely,) will give some idea of negro majesty, which, however, is not so humble in the eyes of its sable subjects as may be supposed by those who bow to more enlightened thrones and dazzling splendor.

DANTAGA, OR ROYAL PRESENT.-One jug of rum, two to four bars; tobacco, four bars; romall, one piece; one keg 1-10ths powder.

The court of Soosoo prefers gin, whilst that of Timmance rejoices in rum, "Ne gustibus non est disputandum." After presentation, the king introduces the trader to his chiefs and headmen, and informs them of the nature of his business, and then provides him a landlord, who becomes his interpreter and factotum; trade is then commenced by showing the landlord the commodities for sale or barter. The factor's property is considered safe whilst he is the king's stranger, and in the event of any dishonesty or dispute between the parties, on complaint to the king, he orders his " callaiguay" (a large drum) to be sounded, and immediately his chiefs, headmen and counsellors assemble in the barre (court-house,) when, after hearing the case, the palaver (talk or argument) is settled, and the counsellor receives the fee of a couple of bars as remuneration for his forensic eloquence.

Two or three days before the trader wishes to leave, he waits upon the king to inform him of his intention, who in return makes such presents as he thinks proper.

The case of a Timmanee barre may be consistently introduced here, to show how such affairs are frequently managed, and by which it will be found that justice is not always the influencing deity; the kings and chiefs being, in every sense of the word, rapacious and dishonest, and will proceed to any extreme to satisfy their

covetousness.

The cause here alluded to was between a European factor and an African trader, both subjects of the colony. The former had a number of marked timber logs stolen by some natives, which were purchased by the latter; and, though identi fied, were refused to be given up. Shortly after, a canoe of goods was landed at the European's beach by the African, and were immediately seized by the other party according to the country law, and became a question in barre. On the first day no decision was made, evidently from the want of something. In the meantime both plaintiff and defendant took the hint, and employed themselves in bribing the judges and counsellors. Next day the cause appeared more definitive, yet not quite transparent; but, on the third evening, the European's purse appearing invincible, the African was obliged to strike, and so lost not only the cargo, but forfeited the canoe. The verdict would have been a correct one upon the merits of the case; but, as all the law or equity of the barre is confined to the merits of the purse, the European was solely indebted to the excellence of its case for his success. Such is a sample of proceedings in a Timmanee court, where the judges are a king, chiefs, and headmen, and the counsellors maraboots, or bookmen. CURRENCY, by the last order in Council, in 1843, is as follows:

All kind of English coin current.

Spanish, Mexican, American, Bolivian, and Peruvian doubloons,.
Do. do. do. dollars,......

French five-franc piece,..

English 3d. and 14d. silver pieces, farthings, and half farthings. Great quantities have been sent out lately to accommodate the small African hawkers and poor traders. The navy and army are paid by the commissariat, in sterling, and bills upon London, &c.

£ s. d.

3 4 0 0 4 2 03 10

AGRICULTURE AND OTHER PRODUCE may be introduced here under this general head of commerce. The subjects, from apropos situations, have been so frequently touched upon in the preceding pages, as to leave but few further observations necessary.

The greatest drawback to honest industry, in the cultivation of farms, is the fear that those who plant will not reap the fruits of their labor. For instance, the Maroons are the owners of a large tract of land called King Tom Freetown, which is almost entirely neglected, from the circumstance that, after having bestowed much time in its cultivation, they were continually plundered by those who were idle and dishonest.