EXAMINED AND ANSWEKED. 175 



But the surest test in all matters of risk and 

 clanger, whether by sea or land, is the rate of 

 insurance, or the cost of transport. This is an 

 unfailing measure of danger and difficulty, which 

 mercantile men will be unwilling to discredit. 



With respect to the cost of transport of the 

 teas from the Bohea country to Foo-chew-foo it is 

 stated by Mr. Alcock to be about 9 mace the 

 pecul, a charge by no means exorbitant ; and only 

 one fourth of the simple expense of carriage to 

 Canton, viz. 36 mace. But I have reason to 

 think, on very good authority, that this charge 

 does not amount to more than 4 mace 3 candareens 

 the pecul* ; while the cost of carriage simply across 

 the mountains which separate the Bohea country 

 from the other provinces amounts to no less than 

 12 mace 5 candareens. Nor can the teas (as 

 already shown) be moved out of this province 

 without incurring an expense of carriage of five 

 times the amount necessary for shipping them from 

 the port of Foo-chew-foo. If these calculations, 

 coming from different sources, and at remote pe- 

 riods of time, be correct, how utterly insignificant 

 must the amount of danger be in the navigation 

 of the river Min, which entails so small an amount 

 of comparative cost. But, even admitting these 

 drawbacks to be greater than they appear to be, 



* R.Asiatic Society's Journal, May, 1840, p. 36. A paper 

 of mine, whence much of the matter that follows is taken. 



