Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/545

 ARTICLES OF IMPORTATION'. 620 It may, therefore, be asked, how it comes about that, while there exists an extensive coasting trade between the provinces of Fokien and Quantong, teas are not invariably conveyed by sea ? This is accounted for. The great capitalists of Amoy and Fu-chu-fu are not directly interested in the tea trade to Canton. It is not their capital, but that of the merchants of the distant port of Canton which sets it in motion ; and the latter, who make their contracts with the cultivators of the moun- tains, w'ill not employ the former as intermediate agents in a country where all agents are notorious for dishonesty. Besides this, tea is a cheap and bulky commodity, and the shipping which convey it must come back half empty for want of return cargos. The voyage to the Indian Islands is of a very different character ; a full return cargo being always to be obtained, purchased at first hand, and always bringing a great profit to the adventurers. What is remarkable is, that it hardly exceeds it in length, and is perhaps even safer. The voyage along the coast from Fu-chu-fu takes fifteen days ; that to Batavia is often performed in this time, and seldom exceeds it beyond five or six days. It must be safer, in as much as a voyage performed in the open seas is safer than one performed along a dangerous coast, and in as far as one, the greater part of which is performed in the tranquil waters of the Archipelago, must be safer than one, the whole of which is performed in the tempestuous seas of China. VOL. III. L 1