224 FOO-CHOW-FOO AS A TRADING-POET. Chap. XI. 



trade. But the other kinds of black tea, and all 

 the green ones, can be taken more readily and 

 cheaply to other ports. These other ports have 

 the advantage of other articles of export besides 

 tea. Shanghae, for example, is on the borders of 

 the great Hoo-chow silk comitry. And lastly, 

 vessels will have to come empty to the Min, owing 

 to the want of a market for imports, while they 

 can go deeply laden, to snch ports as Canton and 

 Shanghae, with the manufactures of the west, 

 which can be exchanged for the silk and tea of 

 China. No doubt in the course of time arrange- 

 ments can be made with the Chinese merchants 

 to receive foreign goods at certain rates at such 

 places as Shanghae, and to pay for such goods in 

 tea., to be delivered at Foo-chow ; and in this case 

 there is only the disadvantage of an empty vessel 

 having to be sent to that port. 



The advantages and disadvantages of Foo-chow 

 as a great port of trade have thus been fairly 

 stated from an intimate knowledge of the country 

 and its productions, and the merchant is left to 

 draw his own conclusions. My own impression is 

 that it has been rather overrated within the last 

 year or two ; that it is absurd to compare it with 

 Shanghae as a commercial emporium, as some 

 have done ; but that, owing to there being some 

 large and populous cities on the banks of the Min, 

 such as Foo-chow itself, which is supposed to con- 

 tain nearly half a million of inhabitants, Yen-pin- 

 foo, Kein-ning-foo, &c., a considerable trade may 



