opened between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and a trade with the whole world offered to the islands of the Pacific that will in time become gigantic in its proportions. To encompass this, it is safe to predict that the great maratime powers will contend.

Commercial cities like New York, Boston, New Orleans and San Francisco will grasp at the facilities offered by the short routes created by the canals, and the sails of all nations will dot the southern seas.

A personal experience among the islands of the Pacific in commercial and other ventures, leads me to write on this subject, with a little knowledge and a great deal of interest. While it would take volumes to do justice to this subject, in a detailed account, it shall be my endeavor to present such features and facts in a condensed form as may interest and prove of value to many readers. Among the myriads of islands, which I have placed in groups, as will be seen in the tables, I have given but a short description of one or more in a group. It being understood that the description may be accepted as generally applicable to all the islands of a particular cluster, excepting perhaps, the number of inhabitants, size and locality.

SOUTH SEA BUBBLE.

One of the obstacles to be surmounted in favorably presenting the vast interests to be found in those garden-spots of the world, the Pacific Islands, is the ban put upon all concerted ventures that have been attempted in these regions by the great financial crash of the South Sea company in years long passed away. In fact, the term "South Sea Bubble" is generally used as a synonym for all enterprises not

based upon solid foundations, the popular impression prevailing that the great failure of this company came from commercial and other ventures made in the South Sea.

The truth is, the company had no ventures or interests in that region resulting in failure, for if we except one vessel only, that made a trading voyage in 1717, and that, too, to Spanish South America, in the interests of the corporation, there are no accounts of practical commercial operations entered into in the Pacific by this company. True, they had some valuable privileges from the English Government, as well as from Spain, that theory and misrepresentation easily built into a supposed practical trading monopoly, although their operations were principally financial and stock jobbing, and confined altogether to London.

The fabulous stories and traditions of the Spanish South American countries, among which were Chile and Peru, the vast wealth in gold, silver and jewels, to gether with well concocted stories of the wonderful pro ductions of the soil, and the supposed exclusive rights obtained from the king of Spain, formed the cornerstone of the South Sea Company. After the treaty of Utrecht, Spain withdrew all grants and privileges made to the corporation, yet the wealth and power of its directors, with the prestige of a long list of rich. stockholders, enabled the company to retain a footing in great financial circles. As a valuable support to the schemes of the corporation, the wonderful products of the Pacific Islands, then making their way into all parts of Asia and Europe, were used as a lever in its advancement. The shells, pearls, fruits and spices, the whalebone and oil, the rich results

of land and sea, were cunningly interwoven into a project that at one time set all Europe wild with greedy anticipation.

In 1711, the Earl of Oxford, who was Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom, finding the credit of the Government somewhat impaired, conceived the scheme of funding a portion of the national debt of Great Britain, then amounting, in round numbers, to $155,000,000. Of this sum, he proposed to fund $50,000,000 by issuing bonds of the Government, which were to be paid, interest and principal, by special regular duties upon silks, wines, tobacco, and some of the other most valuable importations. Purchasers of the bonds were to receive a certain amount of South Sea stock with each Government bond, that stock being then considered of sufficient value to offer a tempting bait in attempting to float the amount required. The credit of the Government, with the six per cent. interest, together with the shares of the South Sea Company, and certain trading privileges allowed to the corporation in trade with South America, made it an easy matter to fund the $50,000,000.

Meantime, the company was using every influence to establish and enlarge its credit, and though partially opposed in its schemes by many of the great statesmen and financiers of Europe, the Bank of England and the East India Company, the advancement of the "bubble" interests met with a curious success on every hand. But it was not until 1720 that the company reached the zenith of its influence and power, which culminated in offering to take the whole national debt of Great Britain on its shoulders at a reduced interest, but otherwise on similar terms to the first loan. In 1719, so many and great had become the

schemes of the company, that it was found necessary to increase its capital stock to nearly $60,000,000, with shares set at a par value of $500.

The Bank of England, fearful of the rapidly-growing power of the South Sea Company, made a similar proposition to the Government, offering as a premium $15,000,000. This offer was more than doubled by the South Sea Company. Under the wing of even royalty itself, and with emissaries and agents in every quarter promulgatiug the most fabulous stories, backed up by the free use of money and presents of stock, the corporation had their offer accepted in both Houses of Parliament, by a vote of 83 to 17 in the House of Lords and 172 to 55 in the Commons. So well were the plans laid, and so general was the desire for speculation, that the shares of the company were eagerly sought after at $1,500 per share. On the 14th day of April, 1720, subscription books were opened to the public, of $10,000,000 of stock at $1,500 per share, and was almost immediately taken, with $1,000,000 more before the books were closed. On the 30th of April of the same month and year, a further amount of $5,000,000 was offered at $2,000 per share, and the amount taken in a few days, and $2,500,000 in addition. As an illustration of greed and infatuation of a speculative people, hoodwinked by stories only found in sober moments in the "Arabian Nights" and tales of like ilk, history furnishes but few equals. Rich and poor alike parted with the most substantial securities, many leaving them in the hands of the company to secure a preference of shares, without limit as to price. The stock rose rap idly to $2,500, $3,000, $3,500, with many fluctuations, and reached the top figure of $5,000 per share, equal to $300,000,000-when the bubble burst. It gradually

leaked out that the chairman of the company, Sir John Blunt, a man of low origin but extraordinary financial ability, and one of the chief projectors of the scheme, together with the favored few having the management of its affairs, were selling out. The ruin and desolation that followed-the disappointment, rage and desire for revenge of the deluded ones-turned all England into a chaos of financial distress.

Parliament was convened, and measures immediately taken for the punishment of the schemers, who, but a little while back, were lauded as the kings of finance. Many of the leaders were arrested and imprisoned, and a fine of $10,000,000 imposed and collected, to be distributed among the deluded stockholders. The Bank of England and the East India Company were induced to come to the rescue, they taking and sustaining millions, and easing down one of the greatest.financial crashes in the history of any country. Enough of the stock and bonds of the company were secured, together with the fines imposed, to enable the Government to declare a dividend among the stockholders of nearly forty per cent., still leaving an immense sum to be carried and taken care of by the Government.

One hundred and twenty-five years after the incipiency of this scheme, I find the following in a financial statement of the funds of Great Britain:

South Sea Debt and Annuities.-This portion of the debt, amounting, on the 5th of January, 1836, to 10,144,584 pounds sterling, or $50,722,920 of our money, is all that now remains of the capital of the once famous, or rather infamous, South Sea Company. The company has, for a considerable time past, ceased to have anything to do with trade, so that the functions