Seite 446 von 2651

Somebody is always willing to give more for every part of them,

than what is sufficient to pay the expense of bringing them to

market. Their price, therefore, can always afford some rent to

the landlord.

The skins of the larger animals were the original materials of

clothing. Among nations of hunters and shepherds, therefore,

whose food consists chiefly in the flesh of those animals,

everyman, by providing himself with food, provides himself with

the materials of more clothing than he can wear. If there was no

foreign commerce, the greater part of them would be thrown away

as things of no value. This was probably the case among the

hunting nations of North America, before their country was

discovered by the Europeans, with whom they now exchange their

surplus peltry, for blankets, fire-arms, and brandy, which gives

it some value.