ing-glasses of a better kind,
knives and forks, beads, watches, printed calicos, blue Pondicherry
cloth, Salimpores, arms, powder, flints, lead or shot, razors, scissors,
handkerchiefs; in return for which you may get pearls, pearl-shell,
tortoiseshell, birds-of-paradise, nutmegs, etc.)

...

FIELD FOR ENTERPRISE.

I shall conclude this subject with some remarks of Mr. John Sullivan.
R.N., a gentleman who possesses a vast fund of information regarding the
Indian Archipelago, and to whom I am indebted for many details regarding
its commerce. He says:

To suppose that the almost countless islands in the ocean before-named
(the Pacific) do not give many valuable articles, and particularly
tortoiseshell and pearl, would be no less an error than to doubt the
existence of the islands altogether.

No, the case is otherwise; and it is needless to say that in the quarter
alluded to there are already a few American merchants, who have
discovered by their China, whaling, and sealing voyages many sources of
wealth, and who are at this moment reaping rich rewards for their toil,
while 999 out of every thousand of the European world know nothing at all
about it. Nevertheless there is yet a vast field open to the speculator,
which must ever promise ample recompense for his confidence and outlay.

CHAPTER 13. AT SWAN RIVER.

PLAN FOR RETURNING TO THE NORTH-WEST COAST. WHY ABANDONED.

On arriving at the Mauritius I found that my stay would be unavoidably
protracted from the state of my wound, which the want of rest and
attention had prevented from healing during the expedition, whilst my men
were still suffering under the effects of the hardships and privations
they had recently been subjected to; my first step therefore was to
discharge the Lynher, and the next to consider a plan for future
operations.

The rivers Fitzroy and Glenelg, simultaneously discovered by Captain
Wickham and myself, although of considerable magnitude, were only
sufficient to account for the drainage of a small portion of the vast
continent of Australia, and this interesting question, far from being
placed in a clearer point of view by our expeditions, was if possible
involved in deeper obscurity than ever. I was therefore anxious to return
to the north-west coast and solve the mystery that still hung over those
regions; but, after considering various plans and suggestions, in which I
was kindly assisted by the advice and opinions of Sir William Nic