As soon as the ship is officially reported at Canton, arrangements are made for discharging and receiving cargo, the whole business of which is sometimes accomplished in three weeks, but usually, it extends to two or three months. Before this business can proceed, the consignee, or the owner of the ship, must obtain for her a _security merchant_, a _linguist_, and a comprador; and a declaration must be given, except by those of the East India Company, that she has no opium on board. The security merchant, or individual who gives security to government for the payment of her duties, and for the conduct of the crew, must be a member of the _co-hong_; this company is composed at present, of twelve individuals, usually called _hong-merchants_: some of these men rank among the most wealthy and respectable inhabitants of Canton: they pay largely for the privilege of entering the co-hong: when they have once joined that body, they are seldom allowed to retire from the station, and, at all times, are liable to heavy exactions, from the provincial government. Formerly, the whole, or nearly the whole foreign trade, was in their hands: within a few years, it has extended to others who are not included in the co-hong; and who are commonly called _outside merchants_. The linguists, so called, hold the rank of interpreters: they procure permits for delivering and taking in cargo; transact all business at the custom-house, keep account of the duties, &c. The comprador provides stores, and all the necessary provisions for the ship, while she remains in port. The _port-charges_ consist of measurement-duty, cumshaw, pilotage, linguist and comprador’s fees. The measurement-duty varies: on a vessel of three hundred tons, it is about six hundred and fifty dollars, and on a vessel of about thirteen hundred tons, it is about three thousand dollars: the tonnage, however, affords no fixed criterion for the amount of measurement-duty. But, for all ships, the _cumshaw_, _pilotage_, _linguist_ and comprador’s fees, are the same, amounting to two thousand, five hundred and seventy-three dollars. Those vessels that enter the port, _laden only with rice_, are not required to pay the measurement-duty and cumshaw, but they are liable to other irregular fees, amounting to nearly one thousand dollars. The management and general supervision of the port-charges, are intrusted to an imperial commissioner, who is sent hither from the court of Peking. In Chinese, he is called hae-kwan-keen-tuh, but, by foreigners, he is usually styled the hoppo: his regular salary is about three thousand taels per annum, but his annual income is supposed to be no less than one hundred thousand dollars. The arrangements between the native and foreign merchants of Canton for the transaction of business are, on the whole, convenient and pretty well calculated to promote despatch, and to secure confidence in the respective parties.