388 



CANTON. 



Canton, regular, paved with small round atones, and flagged 

 * ~,~ ' close to the houses. They are ornamented at inter- 

 vals with triumphal arches; are kept exceedingly 

 clean, and some of them have a kind of awning ex- 

 tended from house to house, which prevents the sun's 

 rays from incommoding the inhabitants. Each side 

 is entirely occupied by shops, (the dwelling-houses 

 being in general within the walls), where every va- 

 riety of manufacture is exposed to sale. These shops 

 sometimes consist of several apartments, of which 

 the one next the street is generally quite open in 

 front, and filled with coarse porcelain and toys ; in 

 the one behind, a finer sort of porcelain is sold ; the 

 third contains silks, velvets, and other kinds of cloth j 

 and some have a fourth, where tea or other commo- 

 dities of that description are kept. On great festi- 

 vals, these long narrow vaults are thrown open, when 

 they are illuminated and ornamented with flowers and 

 trees. Most of the merchants, however, are con- 

 tent with two apartments, the outer one for contain- 

 ing porcelain, and the other for articles of every de- 

 scription. 



Some of the streets are appropriated entirely to 

 particular trades, especially cabinet-makers and pain- 

 ters ; but in others, apothecaries, shoemakers, gold- 

 smiths, tailors, bookbinders, &c. are all mingled 

 together. In a very long street nothing but eggs 

 are sold, and the accumulation of millions of them 

 in every shop have a very singular appearance. Se- 

 veral canals run up from the river to the interior 

 of the city, on which boats with merchandise are 

 continually passing and repassing ; and when any 

 of them cross a street, it is covered in by an 

 arch, which is ascended on each side by a flight 

 of twelve or fourteen steps. All burdens are car- 

 ried here by porters, who in general go barefoot and 

 bare headed. A horse is almost never seen in this 

 town, and the only vehicle for both sexes are palan- 

 quins, which are only chairs similar to ours, but more 

 elegantly decorated, and carried by poles supported on 

 men's shoulders. The streets are daily crowded with 

 an immense concourse of people, which renders it diffi- 

 cult for a stranger to make his way through them ; and 

 his ears are continually stunned with the cries of the 

 porters, who, passing along at a round pace, keep 

 bawling out Li li, " clear the way." The houses 

 are in general built of brick, and seldom exceed two 

 stories, except those of some of the most wealthy 

 merchants and mandarins, which are spacious and 

 lofty, and are sometimes elegantly fitted up in the 

 English stile, and surrounded with an extensive gar- 

 den, adorned with ponds and parterres. The princi- 

 pal public buildings at Canton are joss-houses, or 

 temples, which are scattered over all the city and 

 suburbs. These contain the images of Chinese wor- 

 ship, before which are placed, at particular seasons, 

 a great variety of sweet- meats, dressed food, and in- 

 cense, which is kept perpetually burning. The pa- 

 lace of the Tsong-too, or viceroy, is rather a hand- 

 aome building, but quite in the Chinese taste, and 

 disfigured with the images of monstrous animals. * 

 In the environs of the town there is a regular 

 theatre, in a large square or market-place. The 



most beautiful part of Canton, however, is the Canto 

 quay which contains the European factories. They 

 extend a considerable way along the banks of the 

 river, and consist of a range of elegant buildings, 

 with yards and warehouses, each having the flag of 

 the nation to. which it belongs hoisted before the 

 gate from sun-rise to sun- set. Of these, the most 

 splendid and extensive is the British factory, which 

 has in front an elegant vrrandah, supported by hand- 

 some pillars, and paved with square marble slabs. 

 This vrrandah reaches to the water's edge, and 

 commands an extensive view of the river in both 

 directions, and of a beautiful country on the oppo- 

 ite bank. These buildings are occupied by the su- 

 percargoes of their respective companies, who trans- 

 act all the business with the Chinese merchants, dis- 

 posing of the cargoes brought to market, and sup- 

 plying the ships with others for Europe in return. 

 About a league above Canton is the Boat-town, which 

 consists of about 40,000 barks of various sizes, ar- 

 rayed in straight rows, and forming a floating city, 

 with regular streets. Each bark is covered, and 

 lodges a whole family, with their grandchildren, 

 who have also a small boat, in which they fish, or 

 go on shore to follow their respective employments. 

 The number of persons who are expressly prohibit- 

 ed by the law from settling on shore, and are thus 

 obliged to live upon the water, may amount to near- 

 ly 300,000, including the women of the town, who 

 are estimated at 40,000. They are chiefly compo- 

 sed of the poorer sort of Chinese, or rather the de- 

 scendants of the Tartars, 



As Canton is the only emporium of European 

 commerce in the empire, a full account of its trade 

 will be given under the article CHINA. Its principal 

 article of exportation is tea, of which about 13,000,000 

 of pounds is said to be consumed by Britain and her 

 dependencies, and 5,000,000 by the rest of Europe. 



In 1795, while the English private trade in this 

 commodity amounted to 23,733,810 Ibs., the other 

 nations of Europe and America received only 

 5,577,200 Ibs., of which 4,096,800 Ibs. were ex- 

 ported in Dutch vessels. Its other exports consist 

 chiefly in porcelain, raw and wrought silks, nankeen 

 cloths, camphor, alum, quicksilver, turmeric, &c. ; 

 and its imports from England are woollens, lead, tin, 

 furs, &c. supposed to exceed a million sterling. All 

 European vessels stop at Wampoa, an anchorage op- 

 posite Danes island, about 12 miles from Canton, 

 and here deliver and load their cargoes, which are 

 transported to and from the factories in junks. None 

 are on any account permitted to go beyond it ; indeed, 

 ships of great draught could not proceed much far- 

 ther, by reason of the shallowness of the water. 



The country around Canton is pleasant and healthy, 

 abounding in all the necessaries and delicacies of life; 

 and the approach to the city by water, presents the 

 most beautiful and picturesque scenery that can be 

 imagined. " In the back ground," sajs a late voy- 

 ager, " high and fantastically shaped mountains raise 

 their summits among the clouds, while all around, 

 with very little exception, to the feet of these moun- 

 tains, the ground seems a level verdant plain, inter- 



* Under the aiJcle CIVIL ARCHITECTURE, we shall give a view of this building, and also of part of the celebrated temple of 

 Fo, as specimens of Chinese architecture, from original drawings in the possession of PATRICK BEGBIE, Esq. of Castlehill, who 

 has kindly favoured the Editor with some new facts respecting Canton, and with the use of several beautiful and valuable plan* 

 and drawings of that city, which were executed by a Chinese. 



