The commerce of the port may be divided into three branches: first, the trade with Ireland, whence a variety of produce, chiefly grain, cattle, &c., is imported, the gross value of which has amounted annually to £4,497,708, exclusive of linen and manufactured wares. Liverpool enjoys about two-fifths of the Irish trade. The chief exports are British manufactured goods, salt, coal, and general merchandise. The second principal branch of trade is that with the United States of America, of which it engrosses more than three-fourths of the whole commerce of the kingdom. The chief import is cotton wool, and from this port Manchester and the manufacturing districts are supplied with the raw material. Tobacco is also imported to an _alarming_ extent. The average quantity annually introduced for the contamination of our atmosphere, being 7,623 _hogsheads_—what a fearful store of materials for smoking the brains, and dusting the nostrils of our fellow-creatures! A great quantity of American flour is also imported. The third branch of the trade is that with the West Indies, which commenced about the middle of the seventeenth century, and which was previously engrossed by London and Bristol. Sugar, rum, and coffee, are the chief luxuries we receive thence through the other ports. The trade with the East Indies is smaller; the imports are cotton, indigo, hides, ginger, pepper, and sugar. With the ports of the Mediterranean and Levant seas, Liverpool has considerable traffic, importing wine, fruits, lemon and lime juice, olive and other oils, barilla, and brimstone. From Egypt is brought cotton; and from the Baltic sea-ports, timber, tallow, &c. The gross receipts of the customs at this port alone, exceed the sum derived from the nine other principal ports of the three kingdoms (London excepted), viz., Bristol, Hull, Newcastle, Leith, Glasgow, Greenock, Dublin, Belfast, and Cork. Vessels from, and bound to, all parts of the globe, are congregated here; and there is scarcely a place in the world accessible to the British flag, to which a ready conveyance is not afforded from this enterprising port. The harbour is capacious and secure: at the entrance of the river is the Black Rock Lighthouse, erected on a point of rock on the western coast. A floating light is also placed eleven miles seaward from the mouth of the river.