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known by the names of restali, puttaputti, maracabo, and chittuwasun, some of which would well deserve to be introduced into the new continent. See also respecting the sugar of the provinces of Benares, Bahar, Rengpur, and Mednipur, Remarks on the Husbandry of of Bengal, p. 127-136.

On the Quantity of Gold and Silver used by Goldsmiths.

We have entered in the eleventh chapter (vol. iii. p. 451.) upon the important question; What is the quantity of gold and silver extracted from the mines of the two continents, and annually consumed by goldsmiths in different works? As old plate is frequently melted down, and the greatest part of the new plate is merely a change of form, we can only form a very vague idea of the quantity of precious metals which is every year added to that which for centuries constitutes the mass of wrought gold and silver. M. Necker thought that this augmentation was for France alone, about the year 1770, nearly ten millions per annum*. M. Peuchet affirms that at the period of the revolution the gold wrought into plate, lace and trinkets, annually

See also Gerboux sur la demonetisation de l'or, p. 70.

amounted to twenty millions. The following are the most recent data :

In 1810 there was wrought at Paris alone, 1,213 kilogrammes of gold, and 47,403 kilogrammes of silver. These numbers merely indicate the materials on which the duty was levied by the government; but we may safely conclude, that notwithstanding the activity and vigilance of the officers, there was always a third or fourth at least more used than the quantity registered at the mint. It appears then that there is annually wrought in France by the goldsmiths, although the maritime war is an obstacle in the way of exportation,

Francs.

In Gold, 3,300 kilogrammes, or 11,365,000 In Silver, 80,000 or 17,760,000

Total value, 29,125,000

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It would be interesting to procure similar information respecting England, Germany Russia and Italy. For want of this information we suppose that the produce of gold and

silver used by goldsmiths in France, is to that of all Europe, in the proportion of one to four, and we find that the value of the total fabrication of Europe must amount to 120 millions of francs per annum.

I shall not discuss what part of these me tals is derived from the melting of old plate but I believe we may conclude from the data we have laid down, that the quantity of gold and silver extracted from the mines of Europe and Siberia (vol. iii. p. 451.) is very far from replacing the mass of the precious metals annually employed in Europe in plate, lace and gilding, or dissipated by an extreme division, or actually lost.

On the Data which served for Foundation to the Geographical Maps and Physical Sections of this Work.

In the Map of Mexico and the conterminous frontiers, the following points are founded on astronomical observations made by me in the navigation from Cumana to the Havanah, in crossing the Bank of la Vibora, and in the passage from Batabano to Carthagena.

* See Geographical Introduction, p. xc.

These positions were discussed in the Recueil d'Observations Astronomiques, which were jointly published by M. Oltmanns and myself, Vol. II. p. 7, 11, 13, 56, 66, 68, 109, 112. Cape Morant which according to M. de Puységur is in 17° 57′ 45′′ of latitude, and 78° 35′ 23′′ of longitude, was placed by M. Poirson 5' farther to the east. The more easterly position is justified by several Spanish

maps.

As to the position of the town of Washington, we have not thought proper to adopt the longitude assigned to it by the Connoissance des Temps for the year 1812, which is 78° 57′ 30′′ or half a degree too far to the east. Were this position accurate, the geographers of the United States would be at a loss where to place Baltimore and Cape Hatteras. The occultation of Aldebaran, of the 21st January, 1793, observed at Washington, was calculated by Lalande, who deduced from it no doubt, the longitude of 5h 15′ 51′′; but the calculation was made a second time by M. Wurm *, who found. 5h 17' 16", or 79° 19' 0". This last result agrees very well with the observation of an eclipse of the sun made by M. Ellicot, in 1791, at George Town, near Washington, to the west, which gives 5h 17′ 40′′ or 79° 25′ 0′′.

*Zach, Mon. Corresp, 1803, Nov. p. 382.