96 CHAPTER IX. Australian commerce — India — New Zealand — Polynesian Islands. I rom the date of my departure from South Australia, in February, 1839, to that of my arrival in New South Wales, an interval of seven months elapsed, during which time I visited Java Sincapore, and Calcutta. Whilst thus engaged, I had an opportunity of inquiring into the nature and extent of the commercial relations actually existing, or which may exist at a future period, between those and other intertropical countries and the Australian colonies. The subject is important, but embraces only an inconsiderable range of topics. The staple export of New South Wales, consisting almost entirely of wool and oil, is at present marketable only in Europe and America. With the exception of the cargoes of wool that have been at various times purchased for the United States’ market, every ton of Australian export produce has been consigned to the mother country. That a permanent demand for the fine wool of New Hol land may hereafter be created in the United States is by no means improbable, and there is reason to believe that a continuous interchange of merchandise might be carried on between the two countries with great mutual advan-