8o Kenneth S. Latoiirette, 



owing possibly to changing fashions, it dechned, until in 1841 it 

 was scarcely eight per cent of the whole/''^ Somewhat similar 

 were the cotton cloths or nankeens. Although bearing the name 

 of Nanking, they were manufactured in many other parts of 

 China. They were white, blue, or brown, and "in point of 

 strength, durability, and essential cheapness" were not surpassed 

 by any of the cotton fabrics of Europe or England."- In point 

 of value they never exceeded fourteen per cent of the total 

 American imports from Canton, and for the most part were 

 much less. Like silk, they suffered a great decline before 1839, 

 sinking from $452,873 in 1829"^ to $2,363 in 1840."* 



Other articles of importance were cassia, a substitute for 

 cinnamon, which seldom amounted to more than $100,000 a year 

 in value,"* china ware, used often as ballast, but in later years 

 driven out of the American market by European porcelain,"^ 

 a little sugar, principally in the form of sugar candy,^*° and 

 numbers of minor articles such as lire screens, firecrackers, 

 camphor, rhubarb, and fans. 



Like teas, these other articles were brought in American ships 

 not only to the United States, but also to many other parts of 

 the world. Silks, said to have been manufactured by the 

 Chinese in imitation of French goods, were exported to South 

 America."' Nankeens were also taken there, and quite an 

 extensive trade was carried on with that continent, contraband 

 during the earlier years, legal after the independence of the 

 South American republics."'' Various other China goods were, 



^" Ex. Doc. 35, 3 Sess., 17 Cong., p. 10, and Lecture of Sturgis, Niles 

 Register, 68:343. 



"" Alurraj^ Histl. and Desc. Acct. of China, 3 : 56. Ch. Rep., 2 : 465. 



"•'Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1835, p. 301. 



"* Ex. Doc. 35, 27 Cong., 3 Sess., p. 10. 



'*" Ibid., and Hunt's Merc. Mag., 3 : 469, Ch. Rep., 2 : 455-45.6. 



"°Ch. Rep., 2:471. 



"^ Voyage autour du Monde, Execute pendant les annees 1836 et 1837 

 sur la Corvette La Bonite. Relation du Voyage par A. De La Salle. 3 v., < 

 Paris, 1852. 3 : 238. 



^*®Weeden, Oriental Trade of Providence, p. 263, mentions the "Arthur" 

 as attempting to take nankeens to Montevideo and Rio Janeiro in 1809. 

 Forbes, Personal Reminiscences, pp. 98-1 11, mentions smuggling on the 

 west coast of South America in 1825, and running the blockade into 

 Buenos Ayres in 1827. 



