Narratives of Depletion

With respect to raw materials, we shall most likely have, from all quarters of the globe, specimens of animal and vegetable life, as well as of minerals,—samples of what is in the earth and what is produced on the earth. In the class of animal substances, we shall probably have enormous elephants’ tusks from Africa and Asia; leather from Morocco and Russia; Beaver from Baffin’s Bay; the wools of Australia, of Yorkshire, and of Thibet; silk from Asia and from Europe; and furs from the Esquimaux. As the evidence of what we may expect from the suggested exposition, I may state that the Court of Directors of the East India Company intend to exhibit the best of everything that India can produce; and we shall therefore probably obtain, by this means, the best practical notion of the value of our East Indian possessions. (55)