turity from the tree on the ground, where they are picked up chiefly by women and children, and carried to the mill. "The machinery employed in expressing the oil is of the rudest kind, and, no doubt, numerous improvements might be introduced, not only into this branch, but into that of cultivating the olive tree. The peasantry, however, and, in the kingdom of Naples, those who stand higher in the scale of fortune and rank, are too often but boors in intellect, are obstinate in their attachment to old practices, and are apt, when any of these are reprehended, to stop discussion by saying-Faccio come faceva la buon' anima di mio padre, e cio basta. (I do as my father of blessed memory did before me, and that's enough) "The poor people of the country make culinary uses of the same oil that is exported, and which in England is only used in manufactures or burnt in lamps; but in the houses of the gentry I have often tasted oil prepared with more care, which was truly delicious, being equal to that of Sorrento, Vico, and Massa, or even to the best oils of Tuscany or Provence."--(Pp. 200-204.) The caricatori of Bari and Monopoli furnish oils for the consumption of Upper Italy and Germany, through the medium of Venice and Trieste. They also draw supplies from Brindisi and Otranto. The caricatori of Taranto, of Eastern Calabria or Retromarina, and of Western Calabria, the principal of which is Gioja, furnish supplies for Marseilles, &c. But the caricatori now mentioned, having no conveniences for clarification, produce only the thick oils used for soap-making. The oils of Sicily, like those of Tunis, are too thin to be used singly in the making of soap; and being used only for mixing, are less valuable than most others. The oil trade in the provinces is in the hands of respectable houses, which purchase by retail of the several planters. The oil thus collected is sold in Naples at a profit equal to the difference between the size of the measures by which it is bought and those by which it is sold. To facilitate transactions, orders or cedules are circulated, representing quantities of oil deposited in the provincial caricatori. These orders are negotiable, like bills of exchange, and are endorsed by the intermediate holder, who receives their value in cash, without, however, becoming liable for their due satisfaction. The only responsible parties are the drawer and drawee. The latter is obliged to deliver the oil at sight of the order, or to hold it, at the bearer's disposal, till the 10th of November for the caricatori of Apulia, and till the 31st of December for those of Calabria. If the contract be for time, that is, from one year to another, the oil is usually placed at the purchaser's command on the 1st of March. Purchases for time are effected by means of a contract, wherein the vendor undertakes to deliver the oil by the end of January, on receiving payment of the money; but the oil, as observed above, is not really at the purchaser's disposal before the beginning of March. Hence, in time bargains, the payment of the money precedes the delivery of the oil more than a month: scarce an instance is on record of an engagement of this sort having been broken, and the order is as readily negotiable as any other security. In purchases of oil at command, payment likewise precedes the delivery of the article; but in this case the advance is confined to the 5 days necessary to transmit the order to the caricatore where the oil is kept for delivery. The oil remains in the caricatore under the care and responsibility of the vendor, to be delivered on demand to the bearer of the order, free of all costs and charges whatever for the first year; but for every successive year from 25 to 30 grains per salma are charged for keeping, and for renewal of warranty. (We are indebted for these details to a brochure of M. Millenet, entitled Coup d'Eil sur le Royaume de Naples. Naples, 1832.) (In consequence of petitions and representations from the woollen manufacturers, setting forth the serious injury they sustained from the oppressive duty of 81. 8s. a tun laid on olive oil (p. 253.), it has been reduced 50 per cent., or to 47. 4s. a tun.- -(4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 89. § 15.) The reduction does not, however, extend to oil brought from Naples or Sicily; but her Majesty is empowered, if she see cause, to reduce the duty on such oil to 41. 4s. a tun, by an order in council. This exception is understood to have been made in the view of facilitating the negotiation now in progress with the King of Naples for a reduction of the exorbitant duties laid on pilchards and other British articles imported into his dominions. It is to be hoped that these negotiations may be speedily brought to a satisfactory conclusion; for the largest portion by far of the olive oil made use of here being brought from Naples (Gallipoli, see p. 254.), the continuance of the high duties on it goes far to nullify the measure. Those who take into view the importance of olive oil in the arts, particularly in the woollen manufacture, and are aware that the revenue derived from it has not exceeded 50,000l. a year, will probably join with us in opinion, that the duty should either be repealed, or reduced to, at most, 21. 2s. a tun.-Sup.) OMNIUM, a term used at the Stock Exchange to express the aggregate value of the different stocks in which a loan is now usually funded. Thus, in the loan of 36,000,000l. contracted for in June, 1815, the omnium consisted of 1301. 3 per cent. reduced annuities, 441. 3 per cent. consols, and 101. 4 per cent. annuities, for each 1007. subscribed. The loan was contracted for on the 14th of June, when the prices of the above stocks were-3 per cent. reduced, 54; 3 per cent. consols, 55; 4 per cents., 70: hence the parcels of stock given for 1001 advanced, were worth 1301. reduced, at 54 441. consols, at 55 107. 4 per cents., at 70 which would be the value of the omnium, or 11. 8s. per cent. premium, independently of any discoun for prompt payment. ONION (Ger. Zwiebel, Fr. Oignon; It. Cipolla; Sp. Cebolla; Rus. Luk), a well known bulbous plant (Allium Cepa Lin.) cultivated all over Europe for culinary purposes. The Strasburgh, Spanish, and Portuguese varieties are the most esteemed. ONYX (Ger. Onyx; Fr. Onix, Onice; Sp. Onique; Lat. Onyx). Any stone exhibiting layers of 2 or more colours strongly contrasted is called an onyx; as banded jasper, chalcedony, &c., but more particularly the latter, when it is marked with white, and stratified with opaque and translucent lines. But the Oriental onyx is considered a substance consist ing of 2 or more layers or bands of distinct and different colours. A sard, or sardoine, hav ing a layer of white upon it, would be called an onyx; and according to the number of layers it would be distinguished as an onyx with 3 or more bands. Some of the antique engravings are upon onyxes of 4 bands."-(Mawe's Treatise on Diamonds, &c.) OPAL (Ger. Opal; Fr. Opale; It.Opalo; Sp. Opalo, Piedra iris; Port. Opala; Lat. Opalus), a stone, of which there are several varieties, found in different parts of Europe, particularly in Hungary, and in the East Indies, &c. When first dug out of the earth it is soft, but it hardens and diminishes in bulk by exposure to the air. The opal is always amorphous; fracture conchoidal; commonly somewhat transparent. Hardness varies considerably. Specific gravity from 1958 to 2:54. The lowness of its specific gravity in some cases is to be ascribed to accidental cavities which the stone contains. These are sometimes filled with drops of water. Some specimens of opal have the property of emitting various coloured rays, with a particular effulgency, when placed between the eye and the light. The opals which possess this property are distinguished by lapidaries by the epithet Oriental; and often, by mineralogists, by the epithet nobilis. This property rendered the stone much esteemed by the ancients.-(Thomson's Chemistry; see also Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvii. c. 6., where there are some very curious details as to this stone.) Mr. Mawe gives the following statement with respect to the precious opal, or opal nobilis-"The colour of the opal is white or pearl grey, and when held between the eye and the light is pale red, or wine yellow, with a milky translucency. By reflected light it exhibits, as its position is varied, elegant and most beautiful iridescent colours, particularly emerald green, golden yellow, flame and fire red, violet, purple, and celestial blue, so beautifully blended, and so fascinating, as to captivate the admirer. When the colour is arranged in small spangles, it takes the name of the harlequin opal. Sometimes it exhibits only 1 of the above colours, and of these the most esteemed are the vivid emerald green and the orange yellow. When the stone possesses the latter of these colours, it is called the golden opał. "The precious opal is not quite so hard as rock crystal: it is frequently full of flaws; which greatly contribute to its beauty, as the vivid iridescent colours which it displays are occasioned by the reflection and refraction of light, which is decomposed at these fissures. It is never cut in facets, but always hemispherical. It is generally small, rarely so large as an almond or hazel nut, though I have seen some specimens the size of a small walnut, for which several hundred pounds were demanded. At present, a pretty opal may be bought at from 1 to 3 or 5 guineas, sufficiently large for a pin or ring stone. It requires great care and judgment in the cutting, as it is fragile and easily spoiled. "The opal, in all ages, has been highly esteemed: the history of the Roman senator, who preferred death rather than give up his opal ring to the Emperor Nero, is familiar to every one. Among the Eastern nations, the opal ranks higher than in Europe. "A spurious substance is sometimes sold for black and green opal, and often set in jewellery: it occurs of the size of a small almond, but more commonly not larger than a lentil or pea. This precious gem is nothing more than the cartilage of the hinge of a large shell. Glass, and even scoria, having an iridescent appearance, have also often been sold for opal."-(Treatise on Diamonds, &c. 2d ed. pp. 123-125.) OPIUM (Ger. Mohnsaft; Fr. Opium; It. Oppio; Sp. and Port. Opio, Lat. Opium; Arab. Ufyoon, Hind. Ufeem; Turk. Madjoon), the concrete juice of the white poppy (Papaver somniferum), which is most probably a native of Asia, though now found growing wild in the southern parts of Europe, and even in England. Opium is chiefly prepared in India, Turkey, and Persia; but the white poppy is extensively cultivated in France, and other parts of Europe, on account of its capsules, and of the useful bland oil obtained from its seeds. It has also been cultivated, and opium made, in England; but there is very little probability of its ever being raised here to any considerable extent. The poppy is an annual plant, with a stalk rising to the height of 3 or 4 feet; its leaves resemble those of the lettuce, and its flower has the appearance of a tulip. When at its full growth, an incision is made in the top of the plant, from which there issues a white milky juice, which soon hardens, and is scraped off the plants, and wrought into cakes. In India, these are covered with the petals of the plant to prevent their sticking together, and in this situation are dried, and packed in chests lined with hides and covered with gunny, each containing 40 cakes, and weighing 2 maunds or 149 lbs.; they are exported in this state to the places where the opium is consumed. Turkey opium is in flat pieces, covered with leaves, and the reddish capsules of some species of rumex, which is considered an indication of its goodness, as the inferior kinds have none of these capsules adhering to them. According to Dr. A. T. Thomson, Turkey opium has a peculiar, strong, heavy, narcotic odour, and a bitter taste, accompanied by a sensation of acrid heat, or biting, on the tongue and lips, if it be well chewed. Its colour when good is a reddish brown, or fawn colour; its texture compact and uniform. Its specific gravity is 1.336. When soft, it is tenacious; but when long exposed to the air, it becomes hard, breaks with a uniform shining fracture, is pulverulent, and affords a yellowish brown powder. East Indian opium has a strong empyreumatic smell; but not much of the peculiar narcotic, heavy odour of the Turkey opium; the taste is more bitter, and equally nauseous, but it has less acrimony. It agrees with the Turkey opium in other sensible qualities, except that its colour is blacker, and its texture less plastic, although it is as tenacious. Good Turkey opium has been found to yield nearly 3 times the quantity of morphia, or of the peculiar principle of the drug, that is yielded by East Indian opium. Opium is regarded as bad, when it is very soft, greasy, light, friable, or of an intensely black colour, or mixed with many impurities. A weak or empyreumatic odour, a slightly bitter or acrid, or a sweetish taste, or the power of marking a brown or black continuous streak when drawn across paper, are all symptoms of inferior opium.-(Dispensatory.) The raising of opium is a very hazardous business; the poppy being a delicate plant, peculiarly liable to injury from insects, wind, hail, or unseasonable rain. The product seldom agrees with the true average, but commonly runs in extremes; while one cultivator is disappointed, another reaps immense gain; one season does not pay the labour of the culture; another, peculiarly fortunate, enriches all the cultivators. This circumstance is well suited to allure man, ever confident of good fortune.-(Colebrooke's Husbandry of Bengal, p. 119.) In England, opium is little used, except as a medicine. In 1831 and 1832, the quantity entered for home consumption amounted, at an average, to 28,097 lbs. a year. The principal part of our supply is brought from Turkey. Opium from the latter was worth, in the London market, in December, 1833, 16s. to 17s. per lb. The duty is 4s. Consumption and Trade of Opium in China.-Opium is pretty extensively used, both as a masticatory and in smoking, in Turkey and India; but its great consumption is in China and the surrounding countries, where the habit of smoking it has become almost universal. The Chinese boil or seethe the crude opium; and by this process the impurities, resinous and gummy matter, are separated, and the remaining extract only is reserved for use. Thus prepared, the drug loses its ordinary strong and offensive aromatic odour, and has even a fragrant and agreeable perfume. A small ball of it inserted in a large wooden pipe with some combustible matter, is lighted, and the amateur proceeds to inhale four or five whiffs, when he lies down and resigns himself to his dreams, which are said to have no inconsiderable resemblance to the sensations produced by inhaling the oxide of azote. Those who do not carry the indulgence to excess, do not, it is said, experience any bad effects from it. The supplies for the Chinese market are derived from India and Turkey, but principally from the former. The government of China has issued edict upon edict, forbidding the importation and consumption of the drug, but without effect. Most part of the authorities openly connive at the proceedings of the smugglers, while the few who might be desirous to enforce the law are wholly without the power; so that the trade is conducted with the greatest facility, and almost perfect security. It was at first carried on at Whampoa, about 15 miles below Canton; next at Macao, whence it was driven by the exactions of the Portuguese; and now the principal entrepôt is in the bay of Linton. The opium is kept on board ships, commonly called receiving ships, of which there are often 10 or 12 lying together at anchor. The sales are mostly effected by the English and American agents in Canton, who give orders for the delivery of the opium; which, on producing the order, is handed over to the Chinese smuggler, who comes alongside at night to receive it. Frequently, however, the smuggler purchases the opium on his own account, paying for it on the spot in silver; it being a rule of the trade, never departed from, to receive the money before the drug is delivered. When it is landed, the laws are equally set at defiance in its conveyance throughout the country; and public smoking houses are said to be every where established! The consumption of opium in China is rapidly extending. During the first 10 years of the present century, the exports from India to China were about 2,500 chests (of 149; lbs. each). In 1821-22, after the introduction of Malwa opium into the markets of Calcutta and Bombay, the exports increased to 4,628 chests; and, owing, no doubt, to the greatly increased supply and lower price of the article, the exports in 1831-32 exceeded 20,000 chests, worth above 13,000,000 dollars!-(See vol. i. p. 299.) The whole of this immense trade is in the hands of private individuals; the Company not choosing to engage in a business prohibited by the Chinese government. The imports of Turkey opium into China are believed to amount at present to about 1,000 chests. Smyrna is the principal Turkish port for the export of opium. (See SMYRNA.) Cultivation of Opium in India. Monopoly.-The cultivation of opium in India is a government monopoly, and is confined to the provinces of Bahar* and Benares, and Malwa in Central India. Every one within the prescribed limits may engage in the opium cultivation; but the drug, when prepared, must all be sold at a fixed price to the Company's agents. The price is very far below the price at which it is afterwards sold for exportation; and the circumstance of its being fixed and inadequate deprives the cultivators of most part of the favourable chances in the lottery previously alluded to by Mr. Colebrooke. Indeed, Mr. C. distinctly tells us (Husb. Bengal, p. 118.) that, except in a few situations that are peculiarly favourable, its cultivation is unprofitable. The peasants engage in it with reluctance; and are tempted only by the immediate advances the government agents are obliged to make to enable them to carry on the business. The monopoly has sometimes produced a net revenue of about 1,000,0001, a year. Latterly, however, this revenue has been materially diminished. This has been occasioned, partly by the conquest of Malwa, and the impossibility of extending the same sort of monopoly into that province that was established in Bahar and Benares, and partly to the introduction of Turkey opium into the Chinese market by the Americans. The system under which the Indian opium trade has been conducted, has been the theme of much eulogy, and has been supposed to afford the only example of an unexceptionable monopoly! By confining the cultivation of the plant to particular districts, and taking care that the whole produce raised in them shall be exported, we prevent, it is said, the use of this deleterious drug from gaining ground in India; while the high price at which it is sold produces a large revenue to the Company's treasury. It is affirmed, too, that even the interests of the Chinese are consulted by the system; that they obtain the drug in a state of purity, which would otherwise be adulterated; and that the high price they are obliged to pay for it merely acts as a wholesome restraint on their vicious propensity to indulge in what is so very injurious. We doubt, however, whether there be much foundation for these eulogies. There can be no question that opium is a very excellent subject for taxation; and the higher the duty can be raised on it, without encouraging sinuggling, the better. It is not, however, so clear, that the monopoly system is the best way of accomplishing this; and, though the system had been originally a good one, it is no longer possible to enforce it. To imagine, indeed, that the illicit cultivation of, and traffic in, opium can be prevented, now that it is raised in most parts of the extensive country of Malwa, is altogether ludicrous. As to the supposed influence of the monopoly in insuring the purity of the drug, it is sufficient to observe that Malwa opium, which is produced under a comparatively free system, has been rapidly improving in its quality, and now very often fetches a higher price than the opium of Bahar and Benares, where the strictest surveillancs is kept up. The latter, indeed, has sometimes been nearly unsaleable, from the careless way in which it has been prepared, and the extent to which it was adulterated.-(Crawfurd on the Monopoly of the East India Company, p. 55.) It is needless, however, to say more on this point, than that Turkish opium maintains, in respect of purity and careful preparation, a decidedly higher reputation than any produced in India.--(Thomson's Dispensatory.) The opium of Bahar is known in commerce by the name of Patna opium. We doubt, too, whether the use of opium, when taken in moderate quantities, be really so injurious as has been represented. That it may, like spirits and wine, be abused, is abundantly certain; but it has not been shown that it is more liable to abuse than either of these articles. No one doubts that the Chinese, by whom it is principally consumed, are a highly industrious, sober, frugal people; but though it were otherwise, we really do not see that the East India Company are warranted in subjecting a profitable article of cultivation in India to the fetters of monopoly, that the morals of the Chinese may be preserved! It is unnecessary, however, to dwell upon this view of the matter. The Turks and Americans have no scruples of this sort; and the only effect of the Company's attempting to force up the price of opium to an extravagant height, would be to throw a still greater proportion of the trade into the hands of their active competitors, to the great injury of the Indian cultivators. Neither must the interests of the cultivators in India be lost sight of, who are materially injured by the existing system. Even were it in other respects proper, their allowances are far too small. Upon the whole, therefore, we do not see any solid grounds for supposing that this monopoly forms an exception to the common rule; and we agree with those who think that the better way would be to establish the same system, as to the trade in opium, that is established with respect to the spirit trade in this country; that is, to allow every one to cultivate it upon taking out a license, and to lay an excise duty on the prepared article. Such a plan would put an end to some most oppressive regulations; and while it would open a new source of wealth to the cultivators, the revenue derived by government would be materially augmented. Besides the works previously referred to, we have consulted, in compiling this article, Ainslie's Mat. Indica; Milburn's Orient. Com.; Bell's Review of the Commerce of Bengal; Evidence on East Indian affairs, before the Parliamentary Committee, in 1830 and 1831, &c. &c. (Account of the Quantity and Value of the different Sorts of Indian Opium imported into China during the Nine Years ending with 1835–36. Sup) [In March, 1839, a special commissioner was appointed by the Emperor to cause the laws prohibiting the importation of opium into China to be rigidly enforced. By means of stopping for a time the whole commerce of Canton with foreigners, as well as by imposing restraints on the personal liberty of the foreign merchants then in that city, the latter were obliged to deliver up to the commissioner, it is said, no less than 20,283 chests of opium, valued at £3,000,000, or near $15,000,000. And the opium trade has, in consequence, been entirely discontinued. Much stress has been laid by the Chinese government on the injurious and even destructive effects on the human system of the use of opium, in justification of the course which has been pursued by it in relation to this article. But "The export of sycee silver," we quote the words of a petition of certain British merchants resident at Calcutta, in the East Indies, to the Queen's Privy Council in England, "is also contraband in China, and as bullion was always received in payment for opium, it is to this fact that the recent violent proceedings of that government may be chiefly attributed. The export of silver, by the law of China, is death. Like other half civilized nations, which understand not the principles of political economy, the Chinese consider the export of bullion as injurious to their well-being, and thunder edicts against the 'leakage of sycee' and 'the oozing out of dollars,' as though such exports were actually a loss to the State. It is necessary to say but little in proof of this fallacy. China possesses silver mines of immense value, but which are worked only to a limited extent, and the circulation of whose products the government would fain restrict exclusively to the imperial domains. These mines are exhaustless, save in the fear of their government, whose proceedings in prohibiting the export of bullion are truly lamentable. As reasonable would it be for the British government to prohibit railroads and steam vans, because the one might exhaust the iron, and the other the coal mines, of Great Britain. The export of opium from India, which has thus defeated the restrictive policy of the Chinese government, and which has caused the mines of that empire to be wrought far more extensively than would otherwise have been the case, in order to replace the vacuum in circulation created by the continued export of sycee from China, has thus been of essential benefit to commerce; for it has drawn forth the resources of the most fertile and populous empire in the world, and the bullion thus brought back in exchange for opium, has covered vast tracts of British India with smiling fields and flourishing population; it has enormously extended the import of British manufactures throughout Hindoostan; has increased largely the shipping and general commerce of these seas: has brought into the British Indian Treasury a revenue exceeding the tand revenue of an entire Presidency-that of Bombay; and has thus paid in London the dividends of the proprietors of India Stock, amounting to 630,000l. per annum, if not indeed the whole surplus, of 2,000,000l. sterling, required for the expenses of the home government of India.” "The extent to which the trade had been carried on will be understood from the undermentioned extract from the custom-house books of Calcutta, where the proportion of opium shipped to China direct, and that sent to all other places whatever, is separately specified. It appears from this table, that of an aggregate of 79,446 chests actually despatched from Calcutta 1.6 years, 67,083 chests were exported to China direct" The following Table is from the New York Journal of Commerce : Value of Opium delivered at Lintin in China during the Seasons from 1816 to 1818, ending 31st March of each year; exclusive of Turkey. The opium trade upon the coast of China east of Canton began to be of importance in the years 1832-3, since then it has rapidly increased, and bids fair to exceed that carried on at the Lintin station. Fractions of chests and of dollars in fine are rejected, which would make the table appear incorrect if critically examined.-Am. Ed.] OPOBALSAM. See BALSAM. OPOPONAX (Ger. Opoponax; Fr. Opopanax; It. Opoponasso; Sp. Opoponaca; Arab. Jawesheer), a gum-resin, obtained from the Pastinaca Opoponax, a species of parsnep. It is a native of the south of Europe and Asia Minor. The stem rises to the height of 4 or 5 feet, with a thick branched yellow-coloured root. The roots being wounded, a milky juice flows from them, which, being dried in the sun, is the opoponax of the shops. It is in lumps of a reddish yellow colour, and white within. Smell peculiar. Taste bitter and acrid. Specific gravity 1.622. It is imported from Turkey. Being used only to a small extent in medicine, the consumption is inconsiderable.—(Thomson's Chemistry; Ainslie's Mat. Indica.) OPORTO, OR PORTO, a large city and sea-port of Portugal, situated on the north bank of the river Douro, about 2 miles from its mouth, in lat. 41° 10′ 30′′ N., lon. 8° 37′ 18′′ W. It is a beautifully situated, well-built city; and is supposed to have contained, before the late hostilities, 70,000 inhabitants. Harbour. The harbour of Oporto is a bar harbour, and can only be entered, at least by vessels of considerable burden, at high water; and it is seldom at any time practicable for vessels drawing more than 16 feet. On the north side of the entrance is the castle of St. Joao de Foz, whence a ledge of rocks, some of which are at all times above water, extends in a south-west direction. The outermost of these rocks, named Filgueira, which is always visible, is left on the left or larboard side on enter ing. Cabedelo Point, forming the southern extremity of the entrance, is low and sandy. The bar being liable, from the action of the tides, and of sudden swellings or freshes in the river, to perpetual alterations, it is exceedingly dangerous for any vessel to attempt crossing it without a pilot. Pilots are always on the alert, and ready to offer their services when a vessel comes in sight, unless the weather be so bad that they cannot go off. On some few occasions of this sort, vessels have been detained for 3 weeks off the port, without having an opportunity of entering. The chapel of St. Catharine in a line with that of St. Michael leads over the bar. The ordinary rise of spring tides is from 10 to 12 feet, and of neaps from 6 to 8 feet. A light-house with a fixed light is erected on a hill about 600 yards N. N. W. of St. Joao de Foz. The swellings of the river, or freshes, as they are called, most commonly occur in spring, and are caused by heavy rains, and by the melting of the snow on the mountains. The rise of water at such times is frequently as much as 40 feet; and the rapidity and force of the current are so very great, that no dependence can be placed on anchors in the stream. Fortunately, a fresh never occurs withont previous warning; and it is then the practice to moor with a cable made fast to trees, or stone pillars erected on the shore for that purpose.-(For further information as to the harbour of Oporto, see Mr. Purdy's valuable Sailing Directions for the Bay of Biscay.) Trade.-Oporto is the emporium of a large portion of the kingdom of Portugal, and enjoys a pretty considerable foreign commerce. The well known red wine, denominated Port, from its being exclusively shipped at that city, forms by far the largest article of export. The exports vary in different years, from about 16,500 to above 40,000 pipes. England is much the largest consumer of port. The high discriminating duties on French wine originally obtained for it a preference in the British market, to which, though an excellent wine, it had no natural claim; and its long continued use has so confirmed the taste for it, that it is probable it will maintain its ascendancy notwithstanding the late equalisation of the duties. At an average of the 10 years ending with 1833, there were shipped from Oporto for England 22,121 pipes a year; but exclusive of the port shipped from Oporto, a considerable quantity of red wine is now brought from Figueira. Next to England, Brazil, Russia, and |