article of ladies' dress
written on it--a pillbox for a crest, and toothbrushes as
supporters--when an individual came on board and inquired whether I
wished 'to trade.' I greedily seized upon him, took him into my retreat,
and made him swallow three glasses of brandy in succession, after which
we commenced business.

I will not trouble my reader with the way in which we traded; regarding
the corsages, suffice it to say that he bought them all at what seemed
to me the enormous price of twelve shillings each, giving me a profit of
nearly eleven hundred per cent.

On my asking where the fair wearers of the article he had bought could
be seen, he told me that all the ladies had gone into the interior. I
hope they found my importations useful; they certainly were not
ornamental.

Elated as I was by my success, I did not forget the Cockles, and gently
insinuated to my now somewhat excited friend that we might do a little
more trading. To my disgust he told me that he had never heard of such a
thing as Cockle's pills. I strongly urged him to try half-a-dozen,
assuring him that if he once experienced their invigorating effects he
would never cease to recommend them. But the ignorant fellow didn't seem
to see it; for, finishing his brandy and buttoning up his pockets, he
walked on shore. I never thought of naming toothbrushes, for what could
a man who had never heard of Cockles know of the luxury of toothbrushes?
So I sat quietly down, and began to sum up my profits on the _corsages_.

I was deeply engaged in this occupation when I felt a heavy hand on my
shoulder. Turning round I saw my friend the trader, who, after having
smothered my boot in tobacco-juice, said, 'I say, captain, have you got
any coffin-screws on trade?' His question rather staggered me, but he
explained that they had no possible way of making this necessary article
in the Southern States, and that they positively could not keep the
bodies quiet in their coffins without them, especially when being sent
any distance for interment. As I had no acquaintance, I am happy to say,
with the sort of thing he wanted, it was agreed upon between us that I
should send to England for a quantity, he, on his part, promising an
enormous profit on their being delivered.

I cannot help remarking on the very great inconvenience and distress
that were entailed on the South through the want of almost every
description of manufacture. The Southern States, having always been t