Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/531

 ARTICLES OF IMPORTATION. 515 now use a variety of our glass and crystal manu- factures. The most suitable kinds are vase-shaped lamps, candle shades, small neat lustres, glass-ware for the table, common looking-glasses, formerly brought of a bad kind from China ; convex, con- cave, and ordinary mirrors, shewy, but not expen- sive. Like our glass-ware, our em^thenware also has, within the last two or three years past, come into request. The Indian Islanders and Chinese colonists had always required and received a supply of coarse porcelain from China. Common table sets of blue and white earthenware already sell in considerable quantities, and finer kinds, of every variety of pattern, are in more limited demand. Independent of the superior cheapness and better quality of our earthenware, we possess one great advantage over the Chinese importer. The out- ward bound freight, as at least one-fourth of the tonnage is not occupied, is a mere trifle ; whereas the freight of this bulky commodity from China is considerable, even at present, from the nature of the investments, and would be much greater if teas were imported as the principal cargos, as would certainly be the case in a natural and unrestricted state of the trade. There is a market for many minor articles, which it will be unnecessary to describe, such as a variety of medicinal drugs, as cinchona^ calomel, &c. with