Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat: In the U. S. Sloop-of-war Peacock, David Geisinger, Commander, During the Years 1832-3-4Roberts, Edmund
History
Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat: In the U. S. Sloop-of-war Peacock, David Geisinger, Commander, During the Years 1832-3-4
Roberts, Edmund
Southeast Asia -- Commerce; Southeast Asia -- Description and travel
Two newspapers are printed in the English language, the “Canton
Register,” and the “Chinese Courier;” the first, half-monthly, and the
second, weekly, accompanied by price-currents. There is also, printed
in English, a very useful and praiseworthy work, called the “Chinese
Repository,” to which I am indebted for a considerable portion of the
information relative to Canton, its commerce, &c.
The difficulty, which formerly existed in visiting and communicating
with Macao, Linting, and Cap-shuy-moon, is now happily removed by the
establishment of two excellent cutters, under British colours, which
have very convenient accommodations. Chinese boats also may be had
in abundance, either for the outer ship channel to or from Linting,
Cap-shuy-moon, or Macao, or the _inner_ passage to and from Macao, and
which foreign boats are not allowed to use.
The style of living in China (we refer to foreign society) is similar
to that of India, except that here man is deprived of that “help”
appointed to him by a divine decree, which no human authority can
justly abrogate, and enjoyed by him in every land save this.
A gentleman, fitting up an establishment in Canton, must first obtain
a _comprador_; this is an individual permitted, by special license,
to act as head-servant; to him belong the general superintendance
of domestic household affairs, the procuring of other servants,
purchasing provisions, &c., according to the wishes of his employer.
Visiters to Canton usually speak in high terms of the domestic
arrangements of the residents.
This place presents few objects of much interest to the mere man of
pleasure. Considering the latitude, the climate is agreeable and
healthy; provisions of good quality and great variety are abundant; but
the want of a purer air, and wider range, than are enjoyed in the midst
of the densely populated metropolis, to which the residents are here
confined, often makes them impatient to leave the provincial city.
[Sidenote: MANUFACTORIES.]
The _manufactories_ and trades of Canton are numerous: there is no
machinery, properly so called, consequently there are no extensive
manufacturing establishments similar to those which, in modern times,
and under the power of machinery, have grown up in Europe. The Chinese
know nothing of the economy of time. Much of the manufacturing business
required to supply the commercial houses of Canton, is performed at
Fuh-shan, a large town situated a few miles westward of the city;
still, the number of hands employed, and the amount of labour performed
here, are by no means inconsiderable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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