Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/48

38 the s from have public s each for its own particular use. The number of these buildings is not less than 150. Canton was long the only seat of  with, and was no doubt fixed upon by the  for the an , as being the most distant from the capital.

Formerly only a limited number of s, called the hong or s, were allowed to with foreigners. They were commonly men of large, and were famed for integrity in their transactions. All foreign es passed through the hands of these s, and by them also the return es were furnished. They became for the payment of , and it was  for any other  to engage in the  with foreigners.

at Canton, in common with the rest of China, in taels, mace, candarines, and cash,—ten cash being one candarine, ten candarines one mace, ten mace one tael, which last is converted into at about 6undefined. 8undefined. The called cash is of,, not , and very brittle. It is of small value, and varies in the from 750 to 1000 cash for a tael. Its chief use is in making small payments among the lower classes. and other  are current, and are estimated by their, every  carrying  and s with him. All the that pass through the hands of the hong merchants bear their ; and when they lose their  in the course of  they are cut in pieces for small change. The are paid to Government in sycee, or pure, which is taken by. In delivering a, s and s are used, which are afterwards reduced to  catties and peculs. A pecul weighs 133⅓ undefined, and a catty 1⅓ undefined. and are also weighed by the tael and catty, 100 taels being reckoned equal to 120 undefined. 16 dwt.. The foreign at Canton was materially damaged by the opening of and the s on the, but it is yet of very considerable importance, as the subjoined table of the total value of the foreign  with Canton between the years 1861 and 1874 inclusive is sufficient to show:—

Although it is in the same parallel of as, the of Canton is much cooler, and is considered superior to that of most places situated between the. The extreme range of the is from 38° to 100° undefined., though these extremes are rarely reached. In ordinary s the minimum is about 42°, and the maximum in  96°. From to  the hot season is considered to last; during the rest of the  the  is cool. In shallow s sometimes forms at Canton; and so rarely is  seen that when in  1835 a fall to the depth of two inches occurred, the citizens hardly knew its proper name. Most of the falls during  and, but the amount is nothing in comparison with that which falls during a  in. ,, and are the regular  s, the  coming from the south-west with frequent showers, which allay the. In the succeeding s the northerly s commence, with some interruptions at first, but from to  the  is agreeable, the  clear, and the  invigorating. Few large are more generally y than Canton, and s rarely prevail there. Provisions and refreshments of all sorts are abundant, and in general are excellent in quality and moderate in price. It is a singular fact, that the make no use of, either in its natural state, or in the form of or. Among the delicacies of a  are to be seen -flesh, s, s, s, s, and edible s'-s. The business between foreigners and at Canton is generally transacted in a  known as &ldquo;Pigeon English,&rdquo; the  being extremely ready in acquiring a sufficient smattering of  s to render themselves intelligible. The intercourse between and by the way of the  began in 1517, when,  of, sent an , accompanied by a  of eight s, to , on which occasion the sanction of the  to establish a  at Canton was obtained. It was in 1596, in the reign of, that the first attempted to open an intercourse with , but ineffectually, for the two s which were despatched on this mission were lost in the outward voyage, and it was not till about 1634 that  s visited Canton. Unfortunately at this time a misunderstanding having occurred with the owing to the treachery of the, a rupture and a  took place, and it was with difficulty that peace was again restored. In 1673 was again visited by an   which was subsequently refused admission into, and in 1677 a  was established at. But during an irruption of the three s later this building was destroyed, and it was not till 1685 that the  permitted any  with  at. Upon the union of the two in, an imperial edict was issued, restricting the foreign  to the  of Canton. was first in  about the year 1667, and in 1689 a   of 5undefined. per undefined was for the first time imposed. From this date to 1834 the held a  of the  at Canton, and during this period the prosperity of the port increased and multiplied, notwithstanding the obstructions which were constantly thrown in the way of the &ldquo;&rdquo; by the. The termination of &rsquo;s brought no alteration in the conduct of the, whose oppressions became before long so unbearable that in 1839  was declared on the part of. In 1841, while the forces under were preparing to capture Canton,  entered into  with the, and consented to receive a   in lieu of occupying the. Meanwhile the war was carried on in central, and finally resulted in the conclusion of the in  1842, under the terms of which four additional s, viz., , , , and , were thrown open to foreign , and foreigners were granted permission to enter the  of Canton, from which they had hitherto been excluded. This latter provision of the treaty, however, the refused to carry out; and after endless disputes about this and 