The principal commerce of the Papuans is with the Chinese, of whom they purchase their different instruments and utensils. They give in exchange ambergris, sea snails, tortoiseshell, small pearls, birds of Paradise, lories, and other birds, which they stuff with great dexterity. The women appear to be industrious; they fabricate mats and earthen pots, and handle the hatchet well. The shores of Papua are bold, and covered with cocoa trees; the mountains of the interior adorned with wood; the nutmeg and clove tree flourish there, and nature has made it one of the finest countries on the surface of the globe. (Sonnini.) The Moluccas, like the Philippines, contain many volcanos, which are, probably, only different mouths of the same furnace. That of Siao is one of the most considerable; in its most active eruptions it covers all the neighbouring islands with cinders. NOTES TO VOLUME II. Note I.--Page 14. It is here stated, that in 1709 the Chinese were expelled the Philippines, and the reason assigned for that expulsion is their application to commerce in lieu of agriculture, with a view to which latter their residence was originally countenanced. Whatever employment, in any community, offers the most productive results with the least labour will naturally be resorted to by those whose residence, like that of the Chinese, is merely temporary. They are acknowledged to be a submissive and industrious people, and we must conclude that the profits of agriculture were so much less secure or less productive than those of commerce, that the latter was preferred; and their habits of industry being far superior to those of the indolent Spaniard, and the more indolent native, we cannot wonder at their retreat, with their acquisitions, from a country the government of which, so far from encouraging them with a permanency of establishment, drew from them, in the person of the Governor, a large revenue, as a tax on their temporary residence. Sonnerat says, that the expulsion of the Chinese was the cause of the decline of arts and commerce, and that they have never since recovered. "Misery and depopulation have been the fatal consequences of this mal-administration." It is evident, however, that since that period, either the fallacy of the policy which dictated the measure has been discovered, and the prohibition been removed, or, which is more likely, the interest of the respective Governors has produced a relaxation in favour of these industrious foreigners; for Mr. Guise, who resided there several years, assures the translator, that when he quitted Manila, about fifteen years ago, there were on the island from fifteen to twenty thousand Chinese permitted to remain as residents, and engaged in agriculture and commerce.