As Canton is the only emporium of European com merce in the empire, a full account of its trade will be given under the article Cut NA. 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 com modity amounted to 23,733,810 lbs., the other nations of Europe and America received only 5,577,200 lbs. of which 4,096,800 lbs. were exported in Dutch vessels. Its other exports consist chiefly in porcelain, raw and wrought silks, nankeen cloths, camphor, alum, quicksilver, tur merle, &cc. ; and its imports from England arc woollens, lead, tin, furs, tic. 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 transport ed 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 farther, 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," says a late voyager, " high and fantastically shaped mountains raise their summits among the clouds, while all around, with very little exception, to the feet of these mountains, the ground seems a level verdant plain, intersected with innumerable branches of the river, and artificial canals. It is this last circum
stance that renders the scenery so truly picturesque ; for a person can only sec that particular branch on which be is sailing, while he beholds with amazement a variety of ships, junks, and vessels of every description, gliding as if by the effect of magic, through fields and villages, winding among castles, pagodas, and monasteries, some times on one side of them, sometimes on the other : in an infinite variety of directions, and forming the most whimsical, novel, and entertaining prospect I ever remember to have seen." The garrison of Canton con sists of about 20,000 Tartars, and its population is esti mated at a million and a half. According to Mr Raper, the standard temperature of this city in 1774 was 75' 4'; the greatest heat in January being 66° 5', and the least 51° ; the greatest heat in August 89°, and the least 80°. In the winter season there is sometimes a difference in the temperature of 20° or between morning and noon. N. Lat. 23' 7' 50", E. Long. 113° 2' 15". See An Ac count of the Trade, and Tables of Exports and Imports, in Oriental Repertory, vol. i. p. 280, and vol. ii. p. 301; Osbeck's Voyage to China and the East Indies, vol. i. p. 214 ; 4 Voyage to India, China, &c. p. 66, in Phillip's Collection, VOL v. ; Barrow's Travels in China ; and Staun ton's Embassy to China, vol. ii. (L)