Page:Tales in Political Economy by Millicent Garrett Fawcett.djvu/100

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TALES IN POLITICAL ECONOMY.
[IV.

journey empty no longer. The next time he was in San Francisco he laid out all the money he had earned as commissions on his former voyages in commodities which either could not be produced at all in the island, or could only be produced by much more labour there than at San Francisco. Among the former articles were wines, brandy, various useful medicines, books, and cutlery; among the latter were boots and all leather goods, wool, tallow, hides, and cloth. Getting a large cargo of these things on board the Carrier Pigeon, he set sail for the island. When he arrived he was pleased to find that his cargo of goods commanded a ready sale; the islanders were very pleased with the San Franciscan things. "Look at these boots," said one; "I bought them for 18s. I couldn't have got them here under 30s., and they'd not have been near such good ones." Mrs. Collins was delighted with the cloth; she could buy for 3s. a yard cloth much superior to that which was made in the island and sold there for 4s. 6d. The result of the general satisfaction was that the captain was commissioned not to bring back