The next and a still more important point to attend to, and to (p. 005) keep in mind, is to have always in readiness, and at well-selected stations, a sufficient quantity of coals to supply each boat: without such are at command, no movement can take place; and unless the supply is ample, and always at hand, no regular communication can ever be carried on. Wood, indeed, may be procured in some stations in the West Indies, but not in all; while even where it can be obtained, it will be found to be dearer than coal. The quantity also necessary for a vessel of large power, and for a voyage of any considerable length, would far exceed the room that could be afforded, in a vessel of properly regulated tonnage. A supply of coals, moreover, could be had at all the places to be brought into notice by care, and foresight, at moderate rates, and at the rates taken in the subsequent calculations. Merchant vessels, bound to all quarters, so soon as they perceived that they were sure of a market, would take a proportion of coals as ballast; and others would be glad to take a portion even beyond that, to aid them in completing their cargoes, instead of remaining, as vessels both at Liverpool, Glasgow, &c. frequently do, some time, till they can obtain a sufficient quantity of goods to enable them to do so: while such vessels could at all times furnish in this way a sufficient supply of coals, at moderate rates, and still afford to them a fair profit; such assistance in loading, by enabling vessels to sail at short and regularly stated periods, would become of the most essential service to the commercial interests of this country.