architecture, foreign visitors to Canton were taken to see it as one of the sights. The Factories were the individual property of the Hong merchants, and were hired of them. By law, no women were permitted to enter them, nor were guns, muskets, powder, or military weapons allowed to be brought within the gates. Entrance to the rear Factories was by arched passages running through those in front. The lower floors were occupied by counting-rooms, go-downs, and store-rooms, by the rooms of the Compradore, his assistants, servants and coolies, as well as by a massively built treasury of granite, with iron doors, an essential feature, there being no banks in existence. In front of each treasury was a well-paved open space, with table for scales and weights, the indispensable adjuncts of all money transactions, as receipts and payments were made by weight only, except in some peculiar case. The second floor was devoted to dining and sitting rooms, the third to bedrooms. As almost all were provided with broad verandahs and the buildings put up with care, they were quite comfortable, although in every respect devoid of ornamental work. In front of the middle Factories between Old China Street and Hog Lane ran a broad stone pavement, and this bordered an open space running down to the banks of the river, a distance of about three hundred feet. On the east side it was bounded by the wall of the East India Company's landing place and enclosure, and on the west by the wall in front of the landing and enclosure of Chungqua's Hong. The Chinese were prohibited from loitering about this 'Square,' as it was called. On the corner of Old China Street and the American Hong stood a guard-house with ten or a dozen Chinese soldiers, acting as police to prevent disturbance or annoyance to the 'foreign devils.' On the edge of the river, facing the 'Pow Shun' and the Creek Hongs were 'Chop' houses,[9] or branches of the Hoppo's department, whose _duty_ it was to prevent smuggling, but whose _interest_ it was to aid and facilitate the shipping off of silks (or the landing of cloths) at a considerable reduction from the Imperial tariff. A few pleasant words, accompanied by a fee, would secure a permit for the boat of the 'Wandering Eagle' to be allowed to pass all revenue cruisers 'without molestation' on her way to Whampoa. [Illustration: Island of Honam. _REFERENCE._ A. _Pwanting Qua Street._ B. _New China Street._ C. _Old China Street._ _X Guard House._ D. _Hog Lane._ E. _The Creek._ F. _Jack Ass Point._ L. _Old Clothes Street._ N. _Old Tom Linguist._ O. _Carpenters Square._ P. _Bridge Over Creek._ G.H.J. _Custom Houses._ K. _King Qua's Hong._ M. _Mau Qua's Hong._ H. _Hou Qua's Hong._ X. _Honam Joss House._ Y. _Hou Qua's House._ Z. _Pwanting Qua's House._ _CH._ _Consoo House._ ]