times they take refuge among the masses of ice in the interior, and thus elude their pursuers. Occasionally a large tribe is seen running from one point of the ocean to another, and it is a little extraordinary that during certain years, a general retreat is made by the whales from off the fishing stations.

We have thus drawn the outline of the whale fishery as it is conducted in the United States. In its importance as augmenting the wealth of the country, it is not equalled by any other species of traffic, and presents a marked example of productive labor. It adds to the stock of national wealth by drawing from the great reservoir of the ocean an immense value to the public, both for use and exchange. The light by which we are now writing is composed of the fluid which once gave strength to the back of the monster whose character and capture we have endeavored to record. The arts in their various forms are in a great measure dependent upon this traffic; and our manufacturing establishments, as well as the engines of our steam. ships, and various other forms of machinery, are kept in motion by the oil of the whale, while those convenient implements by which we avert from our heads the sun and rains, are strengthened by its bones. The light that is furnished by the whale illuminates our streets. It cheers the hard-handed ploughman by the winter fireside, and adds a greater brilliancy to the gems which blaze in the palace. It glimmers in the cell of the anchorite, and guides the doomed scholar to the grave. It pours a flood of radiance upon the halls of fashion, points out the coast to the tempest-tossed mariner, and flames aloft upon the giddy spars of the ship as it struggles onward through the ocean. Of late years, as we have seen, the states bordering the Atlan tic, including the principal seaport towns of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and even the more inland states of New Jersey and Delaware, have embarked to a considerable extent in the whale fishery; and the luxurious edifices which adorn many of these cities, attest the enterprise of those who are engaged in the traffic, and the success of their labors. In a preceding portion of the present article, we have shown the amount of this commerce so productive of wealth to the nation. We think that it should be nurtured as a strong arm of domestic industry, and a severe but valuable nursery of that noble, hardy, and valuable class, the seamen of the country.

ART. II.-CONNECTION OF LEARNING WITH COMMERCE.

THE reciprocal benefits of commerce and agriculture have been often stated, and cannot be too strongly urged. In our country, this connection should be constantly kept in mind. The future prosperity of the United States depends on the recognition and practical observance of this great truth. Perhaps the connection of commerce and science is not less real, nor the less important to be recognised. Whatever tends to the increase and dissemination of science in a nation, must contribute to its improvement, and therefore to its true and permanent prosperity. If the morals of a people are not invariably in proportion to their knowledge, their character is generally improved by it, as to the arts of civilization and political

strength; but so long as they remain in a state of ignorance, there is far less hope, as well of their political power, as of their moral elevation. A reference to the history of past ages will show that learning and science have usually accompanied or closely followed commercial enterprise, and serve to ensure its just appreciation with enlightened and patriotic citizens, by suggesting an important consideration of its benefits, in addition to what is more commonly called the prosperity of a nation, its physical resources and wealth.

It is true indeed, that an intercourse between different countries, for the purposes of trade, may be, and in remote ages was, maintained chiefly by jand transportation; but since navigation has been known and improved, the other mode of conveyance has been in a great measure discontinued. And where the local situation of countries would permit, a preference has been given to navigation, since the age of Solomon; and probably as early as the exode of the Israelites from Egypt, five hundred years before the reign of that prosperous monarch. Three hundred years before Moses, trade was pursued between central and western Asia and Egypt, by means of land transportation. From Chaldea and Persia, and the Hither India, the caravansaries passed through Syria to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean and to Egypt, and some of them probably through Arabia across the Red Sea to Nubia-a country probably of a more early settlement than Lower Egypt. So Chaldea, and not Egypt, may justly be considered as the cradle of the human family, after the deluge; and the country, whence originated and were communicated the learning and science of early periods. Some of the grandchildren of Noah settled in Chaldea; and they had all the learning which survived the calamity of an universal deluge. As the descendants of the antediluvian patriarch, of the third and fourth generations removed, some east of the Euphrates, and others west and south, to Arabia, Syria, Nubia, Egypt, &c., an intercourse would naturally be maintained between these countries; and an exchange of the products of each would be made for the purpose of trade. The descendants of Noah, who remained in the fertile plains of Shinar, would be most likely to make greater progress in arts and in science than those removed to remote regions, and had to struggle hard for the mere necessaries of life. The merchants or traders to whom Joseph was sold, were Midianites engaged in traffic between their country (part of Arabia) and Egypt, passed through the land of Canaan, and probably first visited older settlements in the east, bringing thence various articles of great value. For they had not only balm and myrrh, but spices, which might in very early times have been conveyed across the Persian Gulf, though in boats comparatively small and fragile.

The early population of Arabia is implied, though not so expressly as. serted by Moses as that of Chaldea, Syria, and Egypt. There were men of learning and science in Arabia before Moses. Job and his friends had some acquaintance with astronomy, derived no doubt from their Chaldean ancestors; and a knowledge of astronomy, even when attended with some errors in theory, and destitute of the discoveries of modern times, presupposes some acquaintance with mathematics. The fact indeed is undisputed, that in Chaldea, Hither India, and Arabia, the science of numbers and of arithmetic was early cultivated.

The Chaldeans possessed all the information which Noah and his sons had communicated from the antediluvian race; and from the remotest pe

riods were celebrated for their study of the divine science of astronomy The kindred sciences, no doubt, were studied by them, and soon spread to distant countries. All other nations having originated from Chaldea, would readily receive knowledge from thence, and even revisit it both for trade and science. In very early ages, however, this intercourse, as already suggested, was chiefly maintained by land conveyance.

The first efforts in navigation are now unknown; but it is probable that they were as soon as the descendants of Noah spread to the Persian Gulf, and to Arabia, and the Red Sea, and through Canaan to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. It is supposed by some learned men, that the Phœnicians practised navigation as early as the time of Moses, (or soon after,) fifteen hundred years before the Christian era, and that they visited distant ports on that sea. When the people of Canaan were driven out of their borders by Joshua, some of them probably colonized places in the western parts of Asia Minor, in Greece, and on the northern coasts of Africa.

In the days of Solomon, navigation attracted great attention, and it was encouraged as the most efficient aid to commerce. Thus, it gradually became a substitute for land transportation, wherever it was practicable. The caravans were not, indeed, discontinued from central Asia to Pales. tine, and Asia Minor and Egypt, for centuries after Solomon; but in all places on the seacoasts, they were superseded by navigation; and the Per、 sian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean were then traversed for the purposes of trade.

It is true that the principal object of navigation, in the early periods of the world, was wealth. But the spirit which led men to adopt and pursue it, was indicative at once of enterprise and of curiosity. And the active, adventurous merchant was usually a friend of science, and a patron of the useful arts. He was eager to acquire a knowledge of the discoveries of other nations, and to communicate it to his own countrymen. For commerce tends to enlarge and liberalize the mind; and those who pursue it, are usually munificent encouragers of learning. Wherever commerce exists, the arts of civilization are known and cultivated; and commerce, literature, and science are seen to follow.* Leonardi, an eminent merchant of Pisa, in the beginning of the tenth century, brought the knowledge of algebra from Arabia, which he had visited for the sake of trade. It is supposed he travelled east or northeast of Arabia, whence the people of the latter country might have received that science. But whether they derived it from Chaldea or from Greece, as some suppose, is not material in the view here taken of the subject. It was not received in Italy and the west directly from Greece; and it is probable, that although the Greeks had a knowledge of geometry long before this period, that they were not the first people who were acquainted with algebra; but that it originated in Arabia, or in India, whence it was early conveyed to the Arabians.

Nations which have had no foreign commerce, have usually made but slow advances in science and the arts. The Romans were five hundred

Commerce," says Dr. Belknap, " is one of the most powerful causes which have contributed to enlarge the sphere of science; because it is stimulated by one of the most active principles of the human mind." And it is from a fortunate merchant and math. ematician of Florence that America derives its name; though, in justice, it should have borne that of a still more adventurous, and equally intelligent individual.

years without commerce, except to a very limited extent, and on a small scale. Except their necessary attention to agriculture, war was their em ployment and their trade. And though this may polish men's deportment in some measure, it has a far less tendency to improve or civilize than a commercial intercourse with foreign countries. The most savage and barbarous nations may be able warriors, while they make no progress in lit erature or the arts of civilized society. The pursuits of commerce only, will raise them from their uncivilized condition.

When Mexico was invaded and conquered by Cortez, near the beginning of the sixteenth century, though the population was great, and the inhabitants in some respects inventive, they were ignorant of many important discoveries which had been made in Europe for five hundred, and a thousand years. Their ancestors had probably emigrated from the northeast of Asia to the northeastern parts of America several centuries before the Christian era, and from a people far less enlightened than some nations were, even at that period, in the west of Asia and in Europe. After passing over to this continent, they spread far and wide, chiefly to the south and east, for a more genial climate; and they or their descendants successively, passed through parts of the present territory of the United States, on their way to Mexico, leaving a portion behind on the lands they traversed. They would have been far more advanced in the arts of life and in science, when visited by that conqueror, in 1520, had they pursued the business of commerce with distant countries.

The Chinese have been somewhat above a savage and barbarous condition ever since visited and known by Europeans, which is more than three hundred years; but their secluded state, and an aversion to intercourse with other nations, have no doubt prevented their making any advances in science or civilization for many centuries. They are probably descendants from the posterity of Shem, and carried with them to China the knowledge possessed by those inhabiting central Asia, five hundred years or more from the deluge. But their want of enterprise for foreign adventure and trade, has been an entire obstacle to their making such progress as many other nations have done, in which a portion of the people were engaged in commerce. And navigation having in a great measure superseded land conveyances between distant countries, where this is not encouraged, commerce is necessarily cramped and unprofitable.

The Phoenicians, one of the earliest people devoted to commerce and navigation, probably carried the knowledge of letters into Greece, before. any inquisitive individuals of that country visited Egypt for the purpose of discoveries in science or literature. The Phoenicians were engaged in commerce and navigation as early as the time of Moses, perhaps at a more early period. And when Joshua settled his countrymen in Canaan, many of the original inhabitants fled by sea to distant places in the Mediterranean. The chief object of the Phoenician navigators was wealth; but they were also patrons of the arts of civilization, and encouraged the propagation of useful knowledge and the physical sciences, from the cast to the then more ignorant and barbarous west.

To an extensive and prosperous commerce, Great Britain owes more for its wealth and civilization, than to any other cause. And, that her commerce with other nations is owing to her use of navigation, and the employ. ment of her own citizens in pursuing it, cannot be justly doubted. Had it been the policy of her rulers for five hundred years past, to discourage com

mercial pursuits, and to have no more trade than depended on the efforts and enterprises of other countries--had her citizens retired from the ocean and left the carrying trade to others, or shut themselves up from the rest of the world, their condition would have been far less elevated and glorious than it now is.

If the first settlers of Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, &c., had been content to confine themselves entirely to the cultivation of the soil, and to a few mechanic arts, necessary to subsistence, and had their descendants adopted the same narrow policy, and desisted wholly from navigation, and from trade with Europe, the condition of this country, and the character of the people, would have been far inferior in civilization and literature than it is at present.

If we look far back into remote ages, we shall find that the nations then existing, which had intercourse with one another for the purpose of trade, whether by land or water, were among the first which became distinguished for science and letters. Thus we find Chaldea and the Hither India, Ara. bia, Egypt, and Phoenicia, very early enjoyed a great degree of civilization, and had a knowledge of many useful arts, when the rest of the world was in a rude and barbarous state. If Greece was not early engaged in trade by navigation, it is evident that the merchants of the east visited that country, and carried thither the elements of science, then cultivated in Asia. In the time of Alfred, (850,) Britain had very little commerce, and the people were in a deplorable state of ignorance and barbarism. Edward I., in the thirteenth century, encouraged commerce, and civilization and learning soon followed. From the tenth century, many nations of Europe advanced in knowledge, civilization, and wealth; and this improvement may be justly attributed to trade and commerce, more than to any other cause; though the crusades to the holy land by Europeans, led indirectly to the dissemination of literature and science in the western parts of the old continent. Thus, it will be found that the first and greatest advances were made in maritime towns and their vicinity.

Venice was early a place of trade, and its enterprising merchants contributed greatly to the civilization and learning of Europe. They were considered as "citizens of the world," on account of their commercial enterprises; for they thus became more liberal in their views, and more courteous in their manners. At Genoa, the birthplace of COLUMBUS, navigation and trade early flourished. Vienna soon after became a place of trade, of letters, and of the arts; and thence civilization and learning extended to the more northern parts of Germany.

At a more remote period, Marseilles was a mart for foreign commerce. It was early visited by the merchants of Tyre and Sidon; and in its vicinity probably was situated the ancient Tarshish, if, indeed, it were not the

same.

The Saracens also, who conquered Spain, conveyed the knowledge of arithmetic, astronomy, and algebra, to that country from Arabia; but it was not their disposition or object to disseminate either art or science for the benefit of other nations. They were warriors, and promoters of the Mahomedan faith, rather than merchants or patrons of civilization and

science.

We are fully justified, then, in asserting the connection between commerce and letters, the favorable influence of the former on the latter, and in urging upon the attention of our citizens the consideration of the vast