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British government on a voyage of discovery, visited these islands in 1792, and found American traders already located there. He discourses at some length in his narrative upon "the commercial interests they are endeavoring to establish in these seas;" refers to the new industry being developed by them in, sandalwood, which abounded in the islands and commanded an exorbitant price in China and India; and he states that such immense profits had been derived by the Americans from the fur trade that it was expected as many as twenty vessels would arrive the next season from New England to engage in the industry. Captain Delano of Boston, already cited as an early voyager of extensive travels, spent some time at the Hawaiian Islands in 1801. He speaks of a company of Boston merchants which had been established there for some years engaged in the fur and sandalwood trade, which they had found very profitable; and he predicted the future importance of the islands because of their central situation, the delightful climate, and fertile soil. For twenty or thirty years the Americans had almost the exclusive control of this lucrative trade, for the reason that the Russians were limited to the overland intercourse with China, and private British ships were excluded from the Canton market by the monopoly of the East India Company, which did not venture into the fur trade. Sandalwood proved a great additional source of profit to the Americans, as it also was to the islanders. The king and chiefs held the cutting of the wood as a special privilege, and it was described as "a mine of wealth" for them. By means of it they were