36 TRADE OF AMOY. [Cwap. Ill. 
disagreeable and suffocating nature. The suburbs 
are rather cleaner than the city; but as it is not 
customary to use carriages of any kind in this part 
of China, the roads are narrow. 
It is from this place and the adjacent coast 
that the best and most enterprising Chinese sailors 
come. Many, or rather most of those who 
emigrate to Manila, Singapore, and other parts 
of the straits are natives of Amoy and the coast x 
of Fokien, and hence this place has generally 
been the head-quarters of the foreign junk trade. 
During the war it was remarked by our officers, 
that the merchants here showed more knowledge 
of English customs than those at other places did, 
and all were acquainted with our settlement at 
Singapore, and spoke highly of it. 
Since this port has been thrown open several 
foreign merchants have established themselves, and 
the trade, although small when compared with that 
of the more northern port of Shanghae, is still con- 
siderable. Indian cotton, cotton twist, long cloths 
of English and American manufacture, and opium 
seem to be the principal articles of import, if we 
except the Straits produce, which is chiefly brought 
in their own junks. Since the arrival of the 
British Consul the opium ships have been removed 
from the harbour, and now lie just outside its 
limits, where the Chinese smugglers are allowed to 
visit them with impunity. 
Unfortunately for the trade at Amoy, the ex- 
ports of which we are most in need—I mean teas 
