doubt that it is an easy way to obtain a cargo, but I am of opinion
that it is a very dear one, particularly as the fair purchaser, who
has no other object in view but to invest his money, does not stay
on the footing of competitors, who make their payments with
Netherland bills of exchange, or wish to raise the prices of their
coffee which they may have on hand for sale.

Under these impressions, I desire that all the purchases of coffee
on my account be made from individuals, as far as practicable, and
if the whole quantity necessary to load the ship can not be
obtained at private sale, recourse must then be had to government
sales.

In many instances I have experienced that whenever I had a vessel
at Batavia, the prices of coffee at the government sales have risen
from five to ten per cent., and sometimes higher.

On the subject of coffee I would remark that, owing to the increase
of the culture of that bean, together with the immense imports of
tea into the several ports of Europe, the price of that leaf has
been lowered to such a degree as to induce the people of those
countries, principally of the north, to use the latter article in
preference to the first.

That circumstance has, for these past three years, created a
gradual deduction from the consumption of coffee, which has
augmented the stock on hand throughout every commercial city of the
northern part of the globe, so as to present a future unfavorable
prospect to the importers of that article. Indeed, I am convinced
that, within a few months from this date, coffee will be ten per