dle Street, had to suspend, and the commercial distress
was frightful.

"But it left its lesson behind it; and since that time Bombay has patiently
and painfully regained its former solid prosperity. It has recovered what
it lost, and is now steadily increasing in population and wealth."

"I never heard of the South Sea Bubble of which you speak," said Louis.

"That is not strange, as it was an affair of one hundred and eighty-one
years ago," replied Lord Tremlyn. "I have not time now to describe it in
full. The floating debt of England at that time was L10,000,000; and the
Earl of Oxford concocted a scheme to pay it off, and formed a company of
merchants for that purpose. The riches of the South Sea Islands, including
South America, were most extravagantly estimated at that time, and the
monopoly of the trade was secured by the company formed. The 'South Sea
Company' was bolstered up by the pledge of the duties on the imports from
these far-off regions, and the shares sold like wild-fire, increasing in
price in the most extraordinary manner. Shares at a par of L100 were quoted
at L550 in May, and L890 in June.

"The failure of the Mississippi Scheme, projected in France by John Law to
develop the resources of the American State of Louisiana, alarmed the
shareholders; but the managers declared that they had avoided the errors of
Law in their finances, and the enterprise still prospered. A mania for
stock-gambling spread over England, and the people seemed to have lost
their wits. The most tremendous excitement prevailed. The crisis came, and
it was realized that the scheme was a fraudulent one. Some of the biggest
operators sold out their stock, and a panic ensued. Consternation came upon
the bubble capitalists, and financial ruin stared them and their dupes full
in the face.

"The country was stirred to its very foundations. Parliament was called
together, and the books of the company were examined. The 'Bubble' had
burst, as it did in Bombay. The private property of the directors was
confiscated. The ruin brought about by this enterprise, rightly called a
'Bubble,' was beyond calculation; but it taught its lesson, as such affairs
always do."

"We are approaching the harbor," said Mrs. Woolridge, who was not much
interested in the South Sea Scheme, though her husband and Louis listened
to the explanation very attentively.

"We are, madam. You see to the northward of us two peninsulas. The one the
more distant ha