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II.

and he finds at laft that he can in this manner get CHAP. more cattle and venifon, than if he himfelf went to the field to catch them. From a regard to his own intereft, therefore, the making of bows and arrows grows to be his chief bufinefs, and he becomes a fort of armourer, Another excels in making the frames and covers of their little huts or moveable houfes. He is accustomed to be of ufe in this way to his neighbours, who reward him in the fame manner with cattle and with venifon, till at last he finds it his interest to dedicate himself entirely to this employment, and to become a fort of houfe-carpenter. In the fame manner a third becomes a fmith or a brazier; a fourth a tanner or dreffer of hides or fkins, the principal part of the clothing of favages. And thus the certainty of being able to exchange all that furplus part of the produce of his own labour, which is over and above his own confumption, for fuch parts of the produce of other men's labour as he may have occafion for, encourages every man to apply himself to a particular occupation, and to cultivate and bring to perfection whatever talent or genius he may poffefs for that particular species of business.

The difference of natural talents in different men is, in reality, much less than we are aware of; and the very different genius which appears to diftinguish men of different profeffions, when grown up to maturity, is not upon many occa fions fo much the caufe, as the effect of the divifion of labour. The difference between the C 4

moft

I,

BOOK most diffimilar characters, between a philofopher. and a common ftreet porter, for example, feems to arife not fo much from nature, as from habit, custom, and education. When they came into the world, and for the firft fix or eight years of their existence, they were, perhaps, very much alike, and neither their parents nor playfellows could perceive any remarkable difference. About that age, or foon after, they come to be employed in very different occupations. The difference of talents comes then to be taken notice of, and widens by degrees, till at laft the vanity of the philofopher is willing to acknowledge fcarce any refemblance. But without the difpofition to truck, barter, and exchange, every man must have procured to himself every neceffary and conveniency of life which he wanted. All must have had the fame duties to perform, and the fame work to do, and there could have been no fuch difference of employment as could alone give occafion to any great difference of talent.

As it is this difpofition which forms that dif ference of talents, fo remarkable among men of different profeffions, fo it is this fame difpofition which renders that difference ufeful. Many tribes of animals acknowledged to be all of the fame fpecies, derive from nature a much more remarkable diftinction of genius, than what, antecedent to cuftom and education, appears to take place among men. By nature a philofopher is not in genius and difpofition half fo different from a street porter, as a maftiff is from a

grey

II.

greyhound, or a greyhound from a fpaniel, or CHAP. this laft from a fhepherd's dog. Those different tribes of animals, however, though all of the fame fpecies, are of fcarce any use to one another. The ftrength of the mastiff is not in the leaft fupported either by the fwiftnefs of the greyhound, or by the fagacity of the spaniel, or by the docility of the fhepherd's dog. The effects of those different geniuses and talents, for want of the power or difpofition to barter and exchange, cannot be brought into a common stock, and do not in the leaft contribute to the better accommodation and conveniency of the fpecies. Each animal is ftill obliged to fupport and defend itself, feparately and inde. pendently, and derives no fort of advantage from that variety of talents with which nature has diftinguished its fellows. Among men, on the contrary, the most diffimilar geniuses are of ufe to one another; the different produces of their respective talents, by the general difpofition to truck, barter, and exchange, being brought, as it were, into a common ftock, where every man may purchase whatever part of the produce of other men's talents he has occafion for,

CHAP,

BOOK
I.

CHAP. III.

That the Divifion of Labour is limited by the
Extent of the Market.

AS

S it is the power of exchanging that gives occafion to the divifion of labour, fo the extent of this divifion muft always be limited by the extent of that power, or, in other words, by the extent of the market. When the market is very small, no perfon can have any encouragement to dedicate himself entirely to one employment, for want of the power to exchange all that furplus part of the produce of his own labour, which is over and above his own confumption, for fuch part of the produce of other men's labour as he has occafion for.

There are fome forts of induftry, even of the lowest kind, which can be carried on no where but in a great town. A porter, for example, can find employment and fubfiftence in no other place. A village is by much too narrow a fphere for him; even an ordinary market town is fcarce large enough to afford him conftant occupation. In the lone houfes and very fmall villages which are fcattered about in fo defert a country as the Highlands of Scotland, every farmer must be butcher, baker and brewer for his own family. In fuch fituations we can scarce expect to find even a fmith, a carpenter, or a mafon, within less than twenty miles of another of the fame trade. The fcattered families that

Ili.

live at eight or ten miles diftance from the CHA P. nearest of them, muft learn to perform themselves a great number of little pieces of work, for which, in more populous countries, they would call in the affiftance of thofe workmen. Country workmen are almost every where obliged to apply themselves to all the different branches of industry that have fo much affinity to one another as to be employed about the fame fort of materials. A country carpenter deals in every fort of work that is made of wood: a country smith in every fort of work that is made of iron. The former is not only a carpenter, but a joiner, a cabinet maker, and even a carver in wood, as well as a wheelwright, a plough-wright, a cart and waggon maker. The employments of the latter are ftill more various. It is impoffible there fhould be fuch a trade as even that of a nailer in the remote and inland parts of the Highlands of Scotland. Such a workman at the rate of a thousand nails a day, and three hundred working days in the year, will make three hundred thousand nails in the year. But in fuch a fituation it would be impoffible to difpofe of one thousand, that is, of one day's work in the year.

As by means of water-carriage a more extenfive market is open to every fort of industry than what land-carriage alone can afford it, so it is upon the fea-coaft, and along the banks of navigable rivers, that industry of every kind naturally begins to fubdivide and improve itself, and it is frequently not till a long time after that

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