quering Arabs, when they had become followers of the false prophet, extended their sway over all this coast as far as the twenty-fifth degree of south latitude. The remains of their power, of their comparative civilization, and of their religion, are found throughout to the present day; and notwithstanding that their rule had greatly declined when the Portuguese discovered these parts four hundred years ago, it was still strong and extensive, and constant commercial intercourse was maintained with India.

No portion of the African continent has, however, excited less modern interest than the eastern coast; and this singular fact must, in a principal measure, be attributed to the extreme jealousy with which the Portuguese have guarded its approach, and withheld the limited information gained since the days of Vasco de Gama. "The treasure and the blood

of the metropolis have been wasted in wars with the native powers, and the relations of commerce on every occasion postponed for those of conquest and dominion.' The illiberal spirit of the government, the monstrous cruelty of the traffic, and the nature of the system pursued, both civil and ecclesiastic, have had the natural effect of degrading those maritime tribes placed in immediate juxtaposition with the white settlers, and of effectually repelling the more spirited and industrious inhabitants of the highlands, whose prudence and independence have baffled attempted inroads. Many a fair seat of peace and plenty, vitiated by the operation of the slave trade, has been converted into a theatre of war and bloodshed; and the once brilliant establishments reared by the lords of India and Guinea, now scarcely capable of resisting the attacks of undisciplined bar. barians, here, as elsewhere, exhibit but the wreck and shadow of their former vice-regal splendor.

Although free to all nations, the eastern coast, from Sofala to Cape Guardufoi, has in later years been little frequented by any, save the enter prising American, whose star-spangled banner is to be seen waving to the breeze in parts where others would not deign to traffic; and who, being thus the pioneer to new countries, reaps the lucrative harvest which they are almost sure to afford. English ships from India have occasionally visited the southern ports for cargoes of ivory and ambergris, but the trade being yet in its infancy, admitted of little routine; and in the absence of any rival, the Imam of Muscat is, with his daily increasing territories, fast establishing a lucrative monopoly, from Mombas and Zanzibar.

In most of the interior countries lying opposite to this coast to the south of Shoa, the people unite with an inordinate passion for trinkets and finery a degree of wealth which must favor an extensive sale of European commodities. In Enárea, Cafia, Gouráguê, Koocha, and Susa, especially, glass-ware, false jewelry, beads, cutlery, blue calico, long cloth, chintz, and other linen manufactures, are in universal demand. That their wants are neither few nor trifling may be satisfactorily ascertained from the fact that the sum of $500,000, the produce of the slave trade from the ports of Berbera, Zeyla, Tajúra, and Massowah, is only one item of the total amount annually invested in various foreign goods and manufactures, which are readily disposed of even at the present price of the monopolist; who, being generally a trader of very limited capital, may be concluded to drive an extremely hard bargain for his luxurious wares.

It would be idle to speculate upon the hidden treasures that may be in

* Lord Brougham's Colonial Policy.

store for that adventurous spirit who shall successfully perform the quest into these coy regions-for time and enterprise can alone reveal them. But it is notorious that gold and gold-dust, ivory, civet, and ostrich feathers, peltries, spices,* wax and precious gums, form a part of the lading of every slave caravan, notwithstanding that a tedious transport over a long and circuitous route presents many serious difficulties; and that the overreaching disposition of the Indian Banian and of the Arab merchant, who principally divide the spoils on the coast of Abyssinia, offer a very far from adequate reimbursement for the toil and labor of transportation.

No quarter of the globe abounds to a greater extent in vegetable and mineral productions than tropical Africa; and in the populous, fertile, and salubrious portions lying immediately north of the equator, the very highest capabilities are presented for the employment of capital, and the development of British industry. Coal has already been found, though at too great a distance inland to render it of any service without water communication; but the fossil doubtless exists in positions the most favorable for the supply of the steamers employed in the navigation of the Red Sea. Cotton of a quality unrivalled in the whole world, is everywhere a weed, and might be cultivated to any requisite extent. The coffee which is sold in Arabia as the produce of Mocha, is chiefly of wild African growth; and that species of the tea-plant which is used by the lower orders of the Chinese flourishes so widely, and with so little care, that the climate to which it is indigenous would doubtless be found well adapted for the higher-flavored and more delicate species so prized for foreign exportation.

Every trade must be important which will absorb manufactured goods and furnish raw material in return. Mercantile interests on the eastern coast might therefore quickly be advanced by teaching the natives to have artificial wants, and then instructing them in what manner those wants may be supplied through the cultivated productions of the soil. The present is the moment at which to essay this; and so promising a field for enterprise and speculation ought no longer to be neglected or overlooked. The position of the more cultivated tribes inland, the love of finery displayed by all, the climate, the productions, the capabilities, the presumed navigable access to the interior, the contiguity to British Indian posses

Ginger is exported in great quantities from Gurague; and among other indigenous spices, the kurarima, which combines the flavor of the carraway with that of the carda

mon.

† Chaat is a shrub very extensively cultivated both in Shoa and in the countries adjacent. It is in general use among the inhabitants as a substitute for tea, which in all its properties and qualities it closely resembles. The plant is said to have been brought originally from the western mountains, of which the elevation being from five to eight thousand feet, agrees with that of the Chinese tea districts, while the average temperature does not exceed 60° Fahrenheit. In a light gravelly soil it attains the height of twelve feet; and the leaves being plucked during the dry season, and well dried in the sun, fetch from one penny to two pence the pound. They are either chewed, or boiled in milk, or infused in water; and by the addition of honey, a pleasant beverage is produced, which, being bitter and stimulative, dispels sleep if used to excess.

The virtues of the chaat are equally to be appreciated with those of the yerba mate, recently introduced into England from Brazil and Paraguay. It is already known under the appellation of "Celastrus edulis," and belongs to Pentrandia Monogynia Linne, and to the natural family of Celastrineæ, or to that sub-family of the Rhamneæ, which have in the flower the stamens alternating with the petals. The family of Rhamneæ, namely, the genus Rhamnus itself, supplies to the poorer classes in China a substitute for tea, and is known under the name of Rhamnus Theezaus L.

sions, and the proximity of some of the finest harbors in the world, all combine inducements to the merchant, who, at the hands even of the rudest nation, may be certain of a cordial welcome.

If, at a very moderate calculation, a sum falling little short of $500,000, can be annually invested in European or American goods to supply the wants of some few of the poorer tribes adjacent to Abyssinia; and if the tedious and perilous land journey can be thus braved with profit to the native pedlar, what important results might not be anticipated from well-directed efforts, by such navigable access as would appear to be promised by the river Gochob? The throwing into the very heart of the country now pillaged for slaves a cheap and ample supply of the goods most covet. ed, must have the effect of excluding the Mohammedan rover who has so long preyed upon the sinews of the people; and this foundation, judiciously built upon by the encouragement of cultivation in cotton and other indigenous produce, could not fail to rear upon the timid barter of a rude people the superstructure of a vast commerce.

At a period when the attention of the majority of the civilized world, and of every well-wisher to the more sequestered members of the great family of mankind is so energetically directed toward the removal of the impenetrable veil that hangs before the interior, and fosters in its dark folds the most flagrant existing sin against nature and humanity, it could not fail to prove eminently honorable to those who, by a well-directed enterprise, should successfully overcome the obstacles hitherto presented by the distance, the climate, and the barbarity of the continent of Africa. But lasting fame, and the admiration of after ages, are not the only rewards extended by the project. A rich mercantile harvest is assuredly in store for those who shall unlock the portals of the Eastern coast, and shall spread navigation upon waters that have heretofore been barren.

Although peopled by one hundred and fifty millions of souls, the present exports of Africa do not equal in value those of Cuba, with only twelve hundred thousand inhabitants. This limited commerce, and the nature of the commercial system, have long been, and still are, among the chief causes of her misery and thraldom. Few, if any, of the commodities bar

*The following statement from the "United Service Journal," touching the introduction of American and British cotton manufactures into Africa, will be read with interest by friends of free trade, and domestic industry in the United States.-[Ed. Merchants' Magazine.]

"Barburra, the place where the great annual fair of Northeastern Africa is held, is situated on the African side of the Arabian Gulf, and in lat. 10° 30′ North. It is not a permanent town, but merely a low, sandy peninsula. Here the great Kufalahs or caravans from the interior and unexplored regions of Africa come to exchange their articles of merchandise for the production of the civilized nations. Cotton goods are the principal article given in exchange by the Bunyans from Porebunder, Cutch, Surat and Bombay, (who monopolize the principal part of the trade at the Fair,) to the natives. The manufactures of England were almost entirely excluded from the market by American cloth; which is brought here from Mocha and other ports of the Red Sea visited by American traders. This cloth can be purchased at a considerably less price than the English cloth. Indeed the American trade in cotton is fast superseding the English, both in the ports of Yeman, and also Muscat and the Persian Gulf; and should the British government of India in their wisdom declare Aden a free port, the merchants of Bombay may say farewell to British commerce with Arabia, as in that event Aden, as well as Mocha and Muscat, will form an entrepot for American cottons, which will afterwards be circulated in the interior, to the exclusion of British manufactures."

tered with other nations are the production of capital, labor, or industry; and in the minds of the whole population, the ideas of prosperity and of a slave trade are therefore inseparable. But if all that is coveted could be placed within honest reach in exchange for the produce of the soil, the hands which should cultivate it will never afterward be sold.

"Legitimate commerce," writes Sir Fowell Buxton, "would put down the slave trade, by demonstrating the superior value of man as a laborer on the soil, to man as an object of merchandise. If conducted on wise and equitable principles, it might be the precursor, or rather the attendant, of civilization, peace and Christianity to the unenlightened, warlike, and heathen tribes, who now so fearfully prey upon each other to support the slave markets of the New World; and a commercial system upon just, liberal, and comprehensive principles, which guarded the native on the one hand, and secured protection to the honest trader on the other, would therefore confer the richest blessings on a country so long desolated and degraded by its intercourse with the basest and most iniquitous portion of mankind."

The average cost of a seasoned slave in Cuba is 1207. sterling; but it has been seen that in Enárea and other parts of the interior he may be purchased for ten pieces of salt, equivalent to two shillings and a pennyfor a pair of Birmingham scissors, or even for a few ells of blue calico. Hence it is only fair to infer that the hire of the freeman would be in the same ratio; and if so, it must be sufficiently obvious that this cheap labor, applied to a soil not less productive than that of the most favored countries in the world, must enable Africa to raise tropical produce that will beat in every market to which it may be introduced.

Able advocates of the cause of humanity have upon these grounds clearly demonstrated that, in order to suppress completely the foreign traffic in human flesh, it is only necessary to raise, in any more commanding and accessible point, which affords the readiest outlet, sugar, coffee, and cotton, and to throw these yearly into the market of the world, already fully supplied by expensive slave labor. The creation of this cheap additional produce would so depress the price current in every other quarter, that the external slave trade would no longer be profitable, and it would therefore cease to exist.

But few people are more desirous or more capable of trading than the natives of Africa; and the facility with which factories might be formed is sufficiently proved by the reception heretofore experienced in various parts of the continent. Abundance of land now unoccupied could be purchased or rented at a mere nominal rate, in positions where the permanent residence of the white man would be hailed with universal joy, as contributing to the repose of tribes long harassed and persecuted. The serf would seek honest employment in the field, and the chiefs of slave-dealing states, gladly entering into any arrangement for the introduction of wealth and finery, would, after the establishment of agriculture, no longer find their interest in the flood of human victims, which is now annually poured through the highlands of Abyssinia.

To descant, therefore, upon the importance of such a communication as the Gochob may prove to the countries in which it is situated, or with which it promises an easy access, would be a work of supererogation. Much has been written, and great praise most justly bestowed, upon the policy which has seen, in many a barbarous location, the future marts of VÓL. XVI. NO. I.

3

a boundless and lucrative commerce-the centres whence its attendant blessings, knowledge, civilization, and wealth, would radiate among savage hordes. Here are no deserts, but nations already prepared for improvement, and countries gifted by nature with a congenial climate and with a boundless extent of virgin soil, where the indigo and the tea-plant flourish spontaneously, and where the growth of the sugar-cane and of every other tropical production may be carried to an unlimited extent-regions producing grain in vast superabundance, and rich in valuable staples-cotton, coffee, spices, ivory, gold-dust, peltries, and drugs-all, in fact, that is requisite to impart value and activity to exchange.*

Art. III.-COMMERCE AND RESOURCES OF ALTA CALIFORNIA.

THIS vast and fruitful territory, which, by the energy and promptitude of Commodore Sloat, has lately been added to our wide-spread Republic, is, we understand, to be fortified, (that is, its most important points,) and a naval station to be established at San Francisco. This Bay is probably unequalled for extent of safe anchorage; and, from its proximity to the cruising grounds of our twenty millions of dollars' worth of whaling ships, is unquestionably the best position which could be selected for such a purpose, on the shore of the Pacific.

The following important information, obtained from a highly intelligent officer, lately returned from our squadron in those waters, we have much pleasure in communicating, for the benefit of such of our merchants as are or may be engaged in commercial adventures to that quarter; or such of our enterprising fellow-citizens as may be inclined to settle there.

Alta or Upper California is situated between the thirty-second and fortysecond degrees of North latitude, and the parts which border on the ocean are between the hundred and seventeenth and hundred and twenty-third degrees of West longitude. Its boundaries on the East have been considered the Rocky Mountains, although the part that has hitherto been settled, is a strip of land on the shores of the Pacific, not exceeding sixty miles in width.

The establishment of Catholic missions was first commenced 1769, by the Jesuits, on the following plan: On one side of a large square stands the church, a suite of buildings for the habitations of the priests, for travellers, and a guard-house; on the other sides are granaries, work-shops for various trades, cellars, wine-presses, and separate apartments for the Indian boys and girls; at a distance are the habitations for the adults. Attached to each of these missions is a large garden, orchard and vineyard. Besides these missions, twenty-one in number-the last of which, San Francisco Soland, was founded in the year 1822-there are four Presidios or towns, viz: San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara and San Diego; two villages, Pueblo de los Angeles and Pueblo de San Jose, and a hamlet called De Branceforté. The garrison of each Presidio comprised about eighty cavalry, with a few infantry and artillery soldiers. The Commandant of each Presidio was the Captain of these troops, and decided all disputes, previous to 1822-till then there were no civil authorities.

*The Highlands of Ethiopia, by Major W. Cornwallis Harris, of the Honorable East India Company's Engineers.