sages between them, to allow other vessels to pass. In this manner they form a kind of floating city, the inhabitants of which have no other dwellings, and are prohibited by law from settling on shore. As this is the only emporium in the empire for foreign commerce, which is carried on not only by Europeans and Americans, but also to a great extent by the Chinese themselves, with almost all the ports of India and the eastern archipelago, the number of vessels frequently seen in the river, at once, is said to exceed 5000. An American paper, issued twice a month, called the Canton Register, has lately been established at Canton.
"The following table gives the amount of imports from Canton into the ports of the U. States, also the exports of domestic and foreisrn ^oods from the U. States to Canton, from 1821 to 1827.
| Years. | Imports. | Dom. Exp. | For. Exp. |
| 1821 | $ 3,111,951 | $ 388,535 | $ 3,902,025 |
| 1822 | 5,242,536 | 429,230 | 5,506,138 |
| 1823 | 6,511,425 | 288,375 | 4,347,686 |
| 1824 | 5,618,502 | 330,466 | 4,970,705 |
| 1825 | 7,573,115 | 160,059 | 5,410,456 |
| 1826 | 7,422,186 | 242,451 | 2,324,193 |
| 1827 | 3,617,183 | 290,862 | 3,573,543 |
"The climate of Canton is healthy, warm in summer, but pretty cold in winter. Provisions, including various luxuries, are abundant."
To an individual perfectly ignorant of Canton, this account might be "found satisfactory;" but any one at all familiar with the place, might be reminded by it of the pictures of the cow and the horse,—to which the master, when he had completed them, found it necessary to add, 'this is the cow,' and 'this is the horse.' For if, by some accident, the name and figures which mark the situation of the place should be obliterated from the account, it would be difficult, not to say impossible, to recognize the city from the above quoted description,—: almost every sentence of which is more or less erroneous.
In the first place it is stated, that "the city is situated on the banks of the river Taho, which is here very wide."—The river here is not called Taho (great river), but Choo-keang, "Pearl river;" nor does it much, if at all, exceed fifty rods in width.
