through such practices, several buckets full of broken ivory have been taken out of the hold of a Bombay ship, and claims have been made by consignees for deficient weights. Scrivelloes and teeth are always better packed in strong iron-bound cases. Packages of ivory from Alexandria are of most irregular form and weight, with the points of the tusks protruding and thus making them difficult to stow, especially when in contiguity to other packages which they are likely to damage considerably; they should be well blocked off with billet wood. Bombay ton 50 cubic feet of elephants' teeth in cases, and 16 cwt. in bulk. A tusk averages 60 lbs.

591. JACKWOOD. Bombay ton 50 cubic feet.

592. JAVA. VERITAS, in a letter to the Shipping Gazette of 29th September, 1869, says with reference to Home Chartering from Java, "If shipowners and shipmasters charter home from Java, they should look well into the charter-party that there is not inserted therein that they will get paid freight for tobacco at the rate of 15 cwt. pton. Tobacco is not mentioned in the original East India Company's scale, but, of course, if the captain or owner has agreed per charter-party to take it at such a rate, he cannot expect to be paid else. It is only a roundabout way (not to use another word) for the merchants to make a large profit out of a ship so chartered. Tobacco should pay on an average at the rate of 9 cwt. per ton. Accordingly, if 15 cwt. are inserted, and have been chartered at £8 10s. pton, only £2 2s. ton will actually be got. The profit for the merchants on this article is too large to give the ship anything else than sugar for ballast if they can get it. There are several other articles, as arrack, hides, and so on, on which the merchants can get a nice profit by chartering on the East India Company's scale (they getting paid according to the Dutch tariff,) but this is only a small loss to the owners in comparison with loading tobacco. There should be inserted in the charter-party, also, that rattans should only be shipped as dunnage, and as much as the master requires, otherwise he may expect that the charterer's agent at Java will threaten to give him nearly a full cargo of rattans if he does not agree to all their extra demands; and as rattans pay at the rate of 20 cwt. P ton, the ship would not make a third of the freight expected. Again, let the quantity of casks of arrack be limited to say 50 or 100, for the merchant also makes a nice profit out of this, they get paid for each cask, while the ship should get paid for gallons delivered. It has occurred that a ship was loaded only with arrack and rattans. It is best to stipulate that at least two-thirds of the cargo should consist of sugar and (or) coffee, for with light goods the ship will make only

a poor freight; although sugar is also bad for the ship, in particular when loaded in Batavia, where the baskets tare at least 7 cent."

593. JUTE consists of the fibres of two plants, the chonch and isbund, which are extensively cultivated in Bengal. It is shipped in the East Indies all the year round, but chiefly during the north-east monsoons; nearly all at Calcutta; very little at Bombay; some from Manilla. Bales are accepted at an average of 300 lbs. each; and sales are often made by anticipation in England at that weight. For freight a ton consists of five bales; this rule prevails at Manilla, where the bales weigh almost invariably 280 lbs.-24 cwt. Ballast the same as for cotton-say 300 tons to 1,000 tons register. Jute is very liable to ignite through friction, and for this reason special · attention should be paid when it is stowed in the same hold with other goods liable to be loosened by the movements of the ship at sea. Some masters will never stow jute near spirits, turpentine, or other inflammable liquids, for by the proximity of two such dangerous articles, there would be no chance for the escape of the ship should fire commence in the locality. With grain in the same hold a height of other goods should intervene. Bales of jute are roped very tightly but they have a tendency to swell, and there is some degree of danger in taking a full cargo, especially if damp, or if the ground tier becomes wetted. The bales require to be closely examined when shipped to ascertain that they are not damp inside, the more so should they have been packed during the rainy season. Where the previous heated state of the jute has been observed, and the fore and after hatches have been opened, and windsails let down while passing through the tropics, the ship has been saved. The liability to spontaneous combustion, arising from being packed green, or imperfectly dried, is stated to be at an end long before the termination of a voyage from Calcutta to England. When a portion only of the cargo consists of jute, due regard should be paid to its position in the hold, on account of this dangerous property.

594. The ship James Pattison, Capt. CROMARTY, was burnt to the water's edge when off the Azores in 1840; she had a large quantity of jute; the fire commenced in the hold. The James Baines (77 days from Calcutta) was destroyed by fire in the Liverpool docks, in April, 1858. She registered 2,275 tons, was 250 feet long, 41 feet broad, and 28 feet deep. The 'twixt decks were discharged, and the lower hatches taken off in the presence of surveyors, on the 21st, when no damage of any kind was perceptible. On the 22nd smoke was observed, and a fire which commenced in the main hold soon destroyed her. The cargo remaining consisted of 2,200 bales jute, 6,213 bales

linseed, 6,682 bags of rice, and 40 bales cow hides; the fire was attributed to spontaneous combustion. The Sutlej, Capt. JAMES, was destroyed by fire in Calcutta in January, 1859; she had in saltpetre and jute, and it is conjectured that the latter became ignited, smouldered all night, and burst into flames in the morning, when the hatches were removed. As the fire reached the saltpetre loud reports were heard below, which terrified the crew, most of whom jumped overboard; five were drowned. The fact of spontaneous combustion in the vessels named, is disputed by masters who have brought full cargoes in good order, and by some experienced London merchants, who consider that the balance of evidence was "totally opposed to it; " they find that jute packed damp or green will be reduced to powder (in which condition it often arrives in England), but it will never fire. The manufacturers in Dundee, where large quantities are used, do not believe in spontaneous combustion. It is stated that jute has been tried in England in large quantities, mixed with oil and placed under glass to see if it would ignite, but it failed. It is also said that in England, fire has never yet been discovered to have commenced from the inside of a pile. The London Dock Companies and the Insurance Offices consider jute very inflammable, and require for it in warehouses a higher premium than for Russian hemp or flax, of which jute merchants complain. Through the fineness of the fibre, a portion of which is always exposed on the outside of a bale, jute will ignite with the least flame, which will run along a pile, but if there is no body of tow to come in contact it will die out. No unprotected light should be ever taken near it. Rope bands are preferable to iron, the rust of which destroys jute. It is said that jute hemp is capable of being loaded with its own weight of tar.

595. An owner writes to the Shipping Gazette, 8th December, 1865,-" I placed one of my ships in the hands of a house in India, to charter home. They engaged a certain quantity of jute, of five bales to the ton, but owing either to their unusually large size, or some other cause, the ship could not take the number they engaged, although she has not the quantity or number of tons of cargo in by 200 tons she has carrying capacity for, or what she had in before. Can I have the cargo re-measured on landing in this country, and claim freight according to such re-measurement; or am I to be a loser of the freight on the 200 tons deficient, and can the agent charge me with any extra freight for the jute shut out and shipped by another ship?" [The editor says "The ship has a right to be paid at the rate of five bales to the ton on the quantity of jute

actually delivered, and to have the cargo re-weighed or re-measured to ascertain its real quantity and weight. The master should have objected to the manner in which the cargo was shipped, and protested against the same at the time. If the ship can show she was not in default she can claim for dead-freight."]

Tonnage. Bengal and Madras ton 50 cubic feet in bales. At Calcutta 5 bales weighing 15 cwt., and measuring 46 cubic feet, go to a ton; when badly screwed, 50 cubic feet; when shipped by measurement only, 50 cubic feet compressed, in bales, weigh sometimes 17 cwt. Another authority says, a ton weighs 10 cwt., and measures 50 feet. A third authority says, 5 bales of jute at Calcutta are usually calculated to occupy 64 cubic feet, but they are stated to occupy 52 feet only. Calcutta bales loaded at Bombay, have measured 12 feet 6 inches each62 feet to the ton. Every removal increases the bulk of a bale.

596. KAOLIN, a porcelain earth, derived from the decomposition of the feldspathic granites, and much used for fine pottery. It is found in Assam and other parts of Asia, whence the name is derived.

597. KID GLOVES from England to some distant parts, are so liable to become spotted, that naval officers abroad, instruct their outfitters to wrap each pair separately in paper, place the whole in a bottle, and have it securely corked and sealed.

598. KING'S YELLOW and Orpiment, being a sulphuret of arsenic, is a poisonous material. Bombay ton 20 cwt.

599. LABRADOR AND NEWFOUNDLAND. The exports hence consist almost wholly of the produce of the fisheries, viz.: seal and cod oil and blubber, in puncheons, hogsheads, tierces, and barrels ; salted seal skins in bulk or in bundles of five skins each; dry codfish in bulk or in drums (rather shorter than American flour barrels but about the same diameter) containing a Portuguese quintal of 128 lbs. and boxes of one quintal 112 lbs.; and pickled fish (salmon and herrings) in tierces of 300 lbs., and barrels of 200 lbs. each. Oil, blubber, and skins are usually shipped to Great Britain and the United States; dry cod-fish in bulk to Great Britain and Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and the Mediterranean; dry cod-fish in casks (all sizes) and boxes to the West Indies, Azores, and Madeira; dry codfish in drums and boxes to the Brazils; pickled fish (salmon and herrings) to Great Britain and Ireland, and the United States,salmon to the Mediterranean and herrings to the West Indies. Dry cod-fish in casks is never exported from Labrador, consequently, pickled fish, which usually forms only part of a cargo, are not sent thence to the West Indies. The first shipments of the current year's catch and manufacture of fish and oil, generally commençes

thus pale seal oil and seal skins in June; coloured seal oil in July; dry cod-fish both from Newfoundland and Labrador in August; cod oil in September; pickled fish in September or October. Shipments from Labrador are not generally made after October, while from Newfoundland they are made until as late as May, and sometimes June, in the following years.

600. In reference to the Newfoundland trade an experienced merchant says "it is customary for the ship to find longering and the shippers dunnage and rinds, and beds and quoins for stowage. When loading dry fish in bulk, it is recommended to have sufficient longering (say firewood) in the bottom and bilges, and dunnage (say spruce boughs) over, to a depth altogether of six inches in the bottom and nine in the bilges. It is desirable to have rinds on the dunnage in the bottom to preserve the lower lines of fish from dampness, and it is necessary to have them against the topsides, bulkheads, pumpwell, and masts; those in the bottom and as high as the hold beams, are generally placed transversely: those above longitudinally or fore and aft. The outside of the rinds next the fish is sometimes preferred, though they are as often placed the contrary way. In placing them fore and aft, and against bulkheads, &c., lap them so as to throw any drainage against the sides and bulkheads, and fasten them with scupper nails, or battens of small hoops, or sennet, to prevent their slipping down. Stow the bottom lines of fish face up and then reverse, beginning all the lines from forward; you can then work from all three hatchways at once, by stowing three separate lines at one time, for dispatch, which is desirable when the weather is uncertain; and if a wet day or two should intervene the settlement will be so much the greater. In receiving lots from different shippers, divide them by turning the lower line of each face up and extend them fore and aft; or divide them also into separate bulks athwartships, if necessary, by turning the last fish of every line the contrary way straight across the hold, and keep this division perpendicular to prevent the fish from being broken. By this means you can get at different lots at one time when discharging. If your vessel loads by the head, baulk forward when you get well up, or vice versa, and when your lading is completed and the fish settles down, spread spare sails over all, if you can, to keep the fish dry: in fact, it is well to do so when between whiles as your loading progresses. With mixed cargoes of fish, oil, &c., have regard to your vessel's trim, and place the oil, which is lightest, forward or aft, or a proportion in each end. Put blubber and pickled fish under the oil; keep the chimes of the casks as perpendicular as you can next the bulk fish,