Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/453

 ARTICLES OF EXPORTATION. 437 being by nature limited and incapable of being aug- mented. The value of the labour expended in bringing birds' nests to market is but a trifling portion of their price, which consists of the high- est price which the luxurious Chinese will afford to pay for them, and which is a tax paid by that nation to the inhabitants of the Indian islands. * There is perhaps no production upon which human industry is exerted of which the cost of production bears so small a portion to the market price. The lac insect exists in most of the forests of the Indian islands, but especially in those of Su- matra and the Malayan Peninsula. Its produce is, however, inferior to that of Bengal, and especially of Pegu, which countries chiefly supply the large consumption of the market of China, while the lac of the Indian islands is principally confined to home consumption. • " When a commodity is at a monopoly price, it is at the very highest price at which the consumers are willing to purchase it. Commodities are only at a monopoly price when, by no possible means, their quantity can be augment- ed ; and when, therefore, the competition is wholl}' on one side — amongst the buyers. The monopoly price of one pe- riod may be much lower or higher than the monopoly price of another, because the competition among the purchasers must depend on iheir wealth, their tastes, and caprices." — Principles of Political Economyy by David Ricardo, Esq. B. XV.