Page:The Chinese Repository - Volume 01.djvu/182

 are commemorative of meritorious actions, unconnected with victories or conquests. What was intended by the "range of piazza," it is difficult to conjecture, unless it be the narrow space between the shops and the streets, which, guarded by a kind of palisade, affords room for niches,—wherein are placed small jars for burning incense,—but which gives no more protection to foot-passengers than the narrow eaves of an ordinary house.

That the "traders" express themselves with "sufficient fluency,"—not in the "languages" of their foreign customers, but in a jargon which is neither English nor Chinese, we admit; yet, "as this is the only emporium in the empire for foreign commerce, which is carried on, not only by Europeans and Americans, but also to a great extent by the Chinese themselves, with almost all the ports of India and the eastern archipelago,"—and as "the number of vessels frequently seen in the river, at once, is said to exceed 5000," we cannot admit that the Chinese here "deal almost exclusively" with Europeans and Americans. For some centuries past, the Chinese have sent no vessels so far west as Calcutta, and only a very few beyond the straits of Malacca. The whole number of foreign vessels which arrived at the port of Canton, during the last season, did not exceed one hundred.

"The Americans trade here to a greater extent than any other nation; next to them come the English." A few figures will put this matter in a clear light. We give the accounts for four seasons, according to statements which have been prepared here, under the inspection of gentlemen familiar with the trade. The commerce of the Dutch, and other European states, except the English, is small, and need not be brought into the account.