The principal teas shipped by the Company were Bohea and Congo. One may judge of their qualities by their selling in England from 'two shillings and sixpence up to sixty shillings per pound, while sound common Congo is selling to-day at sixpence farthing'! (Messrs. J. C. Sillar & Co's tea circular of February, 1881.) The Company imported English-made woollens and cottons and raw cotton from India. The most important of the licensed houses in 1825 were Magniac & Co., Thomas Dent & Co., Ilberry, Fearon & Co., Whiteman & Co., and Robertson, Cullen, & Co. (Colonel Fearon, who commanded the detachment of troops on board the East India Company's ship 'Kent,' burnt in the Bay of Biscay, 1825, on her way to Calcutta, was a brother of the Mr. Fearon just named.) Their transactions were with India, and in the aggregate on a very extensive scale. They received raw cotton from the three Presidencies; opium from Bombay and Calcutta; rice, pepper, tin, &c., from the Straits of Malacca. The local name for their business was the 'Country Trade' the ships were 'Country Ships' and the masters of them 'Country Captains.' Some of my readers may recall a dish which was often placed before us, when dining on board these vessels at Whampoa, viz., 'Country Captain.' The ships were 'Country' built as well, and of teak; they were not fast sailers, but comfortable and substantial. They made one voyage annually, rolling up the China Sea before the south-west monsoon and rolling down again with the north-east. Some of them, as the 'Sulimany,' the 'Fort William,' the 'Futty Salaam,' were not far from their eightieth birthday. * * * * * The Hong merchants (collectively, the Co-Hong) as a body corporate date from 1720. From that year, except for a short interval before 1725, they were the monopolists of the foreign trade. The principal ones, in 1825, were Houqua, Mouqua, Pwankeiqua, Pwansuylan, Chungqua, Kingqua, and Gouqua. The affix _qua_, which is usually supposed to be a part of the name, is simply a term of civility or respect, and is equivalent to Mister or Sir. The word means literally to 'manage' or 'control.' The number of the 'Co-Hong' was limited to thirteen.