II. BAHAMAS. Their Formation-Population-Geographical Position-Productions-Eligi- bility as a Resort for Invalids-Wrecking-Sponge Business-Experiment of Emanci- IV. CITY POPULATION. Atlantic Cities-Population-Ratio of Growth - Overflow-Bos- ton and Vicinage-Manufactures-New York-Increase-Metropolitan Railroads -Pop- ulation by Wards-Movement of Business-Third City of the World-Real Estate Speculations-Extensive Recovery-Progress-Dwellings -City Divisions-Effect of Railroads-Lots on Manhattan Island-Density of Population-Tenement Houses- Brooklyn-City Railroads -Philadelphia-Population by Wards-Comparison -New- ark, N. J. -Baltimore-New Orleans-Valley Cities-Lake Cities-Interior Cities- Ag- gregate of Thirty-five Cities-The Northwest-Atlantic Capital-Future Progress.... 65 Periodical Disturbances-Credit System-Increased Caution-Panic of 1857-Political Events Renewed Distrust-Elements of Prosperity-Cheapness of Money-Foreign Balances- Specie in the City Resources of the West-Presidential Election-Bank Curtailment Danger of Suspension-Redeeming Banks -Low Rate of Bills-Meeting of Bank Officers- Exchange Committee-Clearing-house Exchanges-Boston Banks-Southern Banks -Specie Expanse of Loans -Internal Exchanges-Crop Movement-Rates of Money-Exchange- PAGE Foreign Insurance Companies in New York............. Foreign Fire Insurance Companies in Massachusetts.-Pennsylvania Insurance Law HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. JANUARY, 1861. Art. I.-COMMERCE OF THE PRAIRIES. THERE have been heretofore from time to time published in this Magazine, articles upon the extent of the commerce of the great Western prairies. The following is an interesting account of its present magnitude, for which we are mainly indebted to the New York Herald: Already, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, straggling adventurers, in search of game and mercantile profit, are known to have crossed the Plains by following up the Platte and Missouri rivers to their respective headwaters. No written record has, however, transmitted their exploits to posterity. The first authentic and explicit account of journeys across the Plains are those of the exploring expeditions of Lewis and Clarke, and Major Z. M. Pike. In Pike's official report we find a brief sketch of the experience of what appears to have been the first white man that ever traversed the Plains with a stock of mercantile It seems that in the spring of 1802, one Morrison, a merchant, residing in the old French town of Kaskaskia, in Southern Illinois, furnished a French Canadian by the name of Lalande with a trading outfit, which he desired him to dispose on joint account among the Indians of the South Platte Valley. Lalande set out, and reached the base of the mountains in safety. On hearing from the Indians of the wealth and populousness of the valley of the Rio Grande, he male for New Mexico, where he disposed of his goods at so great a profit that he forgot to return and divide it with his employer. He settled, lived, and died in New Mexico, after accumulating considerable wealth. wares. Major Pike also refers to the adventures of one James Purley, who, solitary and alone, found his way, with a limited supply of articles of trade, into the Mexican possessions, after extensive wanderings on the Plains. Upon the return of Major Pike to the Missouri River, his description of the agricultural and mineral resources of Northern Mexico produced a great excitement among the people of the border. Some of the fron |