ted for, in this
instance, by the political events which threw the trade out of its
regular channels.

The principal manufactories of orchilla in England are London and
Liverpool, but there are many others in different parts of the country.
The chief manufacturers are Messrs. Henry Holmes and Sons of Liverpool,
and Mr. Samuel Preston Child of London. The manufactured orchilla is
frequently shipped to Germany, Holland, &c. in its fluid state, with a
small proportion of weed in each cask for the satisfaction of the
purchasers. The inferior qualities of the weed, and also a variety of
mosses that have the same properties as the orchilla, only in a minor
degree, are dried and ground to a fine powder, which is denominated
cudbear, and is applicable to the same purposes as the weed itself.[9]

It is a curious illustration of the importance that is attached to the
weed generally, and to the weed of the Canaries in particular, that,
within the last twenty years, the latter production was considered in
London as a remittance equivalent to specie, and was invariably quoted
in the usual channels of commercial intelligence with the price of gold
and silver, thus:--

Doubloons per ounce
Dollars ditto
Orchilla Weed per ton

A bark called the Cape Packet, bound on a whaling voyage in the
Pacific, arrived and sailed again to-day. Our consort the Diadem
transport arrived this afternoon, and sailed the following evening,
being _Saturday 25th_.

_Sunday, August 26th_.--The Consul General, with his wife and sister,
came on board to attend divine service, and pass the remainder of the
day.

_Monday, 27th_.--Very fine weather. At 7 in the morning, I accompanied
the Rev. Mr. Davy to pass the day with the Consul's family. A bark from
England, bound to the Cape of Good Hope, anchored in the roads to-day.
A brig, loaded with timber, bound from Sierra Leone to England, was
cast away on this island some time since, and the wreck was purchased
by our Consul. He accordingly made an agreement with some people for
the purpose of having it broken up, with the understanding that he was
to retain the copper bolts, and they were to have the wood for their
labour. I fear that this did not prove a good speculation on the side
of the Consul, as he found it necessary to be nearly always on the
spot, from a very reasonable suspicion that the workmen would steal
some of his bolts. It is not unlikely, that so great an expo