and cost. It is a solid, opaque, ash-colored or marbled, fatty, inflammable substance, with little black spots inside resembling wax, and gives off an agreeable odor when heated. Amber is found on various eastern shores, from Africa to Japan, and is much sought after by the Chinese, to make court beads and other ornaments; false amber is also brought from India, and sold at prices almost as great as the genuine article, and which, from their resemblance to it, are equally good for such purposes. Beeswax, though largely produced in China, is imported from Timor and Timorlaut, in Portuguese ships, to incase thin tallow or lard candles.

Many drugs and medicines are brought to Canton from the south, some of which are of considerable importance. Assafœtida is one of them, ranking high in the materia medica, and said to be sometimes used for curing persons of opium-smoking, by mixing the two,-a befitting remedy, and one which ought to cure that destructive habit if anything nauseous and vile could do it. Cow bezoar, and bezoars from all ruminating animals, always find a ready market in China, where the doctors lay it up as a rare medicine, and are not unfrequently deceived by an artificial preparation of pipe-clay and ox-gall mixed with a little hair. Cutch, or Terra Japonica is a gummy resin, obtained from a species of Acacia, and was for a long time supposed to be a sort of earth found in Japan; it is called cutch from the Runn of Cutch, near which the tree grows. The best is friable between the fingers, and of a reddish brown color; the cakes resemble chocolate in appearance, and a piece melts in the mouth with a sweetish, astringent taste, leaving no grittiness, the presence of which is a test of impurity or bad preparation. The Chinese use it as a red dye, but the Indian islanders chew it with betel-nut. Rose-maloes is a scented gummous oil of the consistence of tar brought from Persia to China for medicinal purposes.

The Chinese depend upon their southern neighbors for many gum-resins, the majority of which come from the Archipelago. Benzoin, or benjamin, is the most highly esteemed; it is the concrete juice of a small tree cultivated in Borneo and Sumatra, collected from the bark by incisions in much the same manner as opium, until the plant withers and dies. It comes to market in cakes, which in some parts of those islands formerly served as standards of value. Good benzoin is full of clear light-colored

DRUGS, GUM RESINS, AND DYES IMPORTED.

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spots, marbled on the broken surface, and giving off an agree able odor when heated or rubbed; it is the frankincense of the far East, and has been employed by many nations in their religious ceremonies; for what was so acceptable to the worshippers was soon inferred to be equally grateful to the gods, and sought after by all devotees as a delightful perfume. The quantity of benzoin produced is, however, small, and the Arabian frankin cense or olibanum, is more commonly seen in the market, and is employed for the same purposes. This gum-resin exudes spontaneously from a large tree growing in Arabia and India; the drops have a pale, reddish color, a strong and somewhat unpleasant smell, a pungent and bitterish taste, and when chewed, give the saliva a milky color; it burns with a pleasant fragrance and slight residuum. Myrrh and bdellium are brought to China from India and Persia, both being employed in medicine and fumigation; bdellium is semi-pellucid, of a yellowish brown color, unctuous, bitter and brittle. Dragon's blood is the concrete juice of the rattan palm, and comes to market in large lumps formed of the tears agglutinated together; when powdered, it shows a bright crimson, and if pure burns entirely away. The Chinese employ it as a medicine, varnish, and paint, and consume it to a larger extent than any other nation. Besides these five gums, small quantities of gum arabic, copal and gum animi are found. Dammar is another article of the same class as the preceding, being a kind of indurated pitch flowing spontaneously from pines growing in the Archipelago, in such quantities as to supply the natives with an excellent material for paying the seams of their boats; only a little is brought to China, for in their chunam the Chinese have a good material for such purposes. Small quantities of coir, obtained from Borneo and other islands, are also brought by native vessels. Cudbear is imported from England in small quantities, gamboge from Siam and Cochinchina to a large amount, and cochineal from Mexico. Prussian blue and indigo, made by the Chinese themselves, furnish the largest part of their dyes, though the annual importation of the three articles abovementioned, is probably not less than $50,000.

Cloves are consumed but little by the Chinese, their average importation not exceeding 400 parcels. Mother cloves is a name given to a larger and inferior description brought from the straits of Malacca, and used for scents. Pepper is much more used

than cloves, the tea being considered highly beneficial in fevers; the good effects of it as a febrifuge, seem, however, to be doubted lately, for the importation is not one half now what it was fifteen years ago. Camphor, although largely produced in China is still imported from Borneo, the people supposing that the drops and lumps found in the fissures of the camphor tree in that island, are far more valuable and powerful than their own gum; the proportion between the two, both in price and quantity, is about eighteen to one. Cardamoms, nutmegs, and mace, are little used by the Chinese in cookery; the first named are the capsules of a small shrub growing in Malabar; they have a sweet aromatic flavor, and a grateful warmth when chewed.

Gambier forms a part of cargoes from Singapore; it is obtained from the gambier vine by boiling the leaves, and inspissating the decoction; a soapy substance of a brownish yellow color, remains, which is a good and cheap material for tanning and dyeing. Putchuck is a fragrant root brought from Scinde, resembling rhubarb in color and smell, and affording an agreeable perfume when burned; the powder is employed in making incense sticks, and the importation, principally for this purpose, is about 2000 peculs. Sandal-wood is brought for the same object from India, and the islands lying east of it; but the best pieces are selected for carving and making fancy articles, as fans, card-cases, &c.

Cornelians, agates, and other stones of greater or less value are purchased by the Chinese for manufacturing into official insignia, rings, beads, and other articles of ornament; they are brought chiefly from India or Central Asia. Pearls, to the amount of $300,000, are annually brought to Canton; and coral is also a part of cargoes from the Archipelago. Mother-o'-pearl shells and tortoise-shell are brought from the same region and the islands of the Pacific, a large part of which is re-exported in the shape of buttons, combs, and other productions of Chinese skill. Ivory comes principally from Cochinchina and Africa, viâ Bombay, and always finds a ready sale at Canton; the largest and best tusks weigh from 16 to 25 pounds each, decreasing to five or six pounds. The cuttings and fragments also form an article of trade, as the workmen can employ the smallest pieces. Bones and horns, especially the long horns of buffaloes, are worked into handles, buttons, &c. Rhinoceros' horns are brought from Birmah and Sumatra, and from Africa through Bombay; they are

GEMS, IVORY, AND METALS IMPORTED.

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highly valued by the Chinese from a notion that cups made from them sweat whenever a poisonous mixture is poured into them. A perfect horn sometimes sells as high as $300, but those that come from Africa do not usually rate above $30 or $40 each. The principal use of these horns is in medicine and for amulets, for only one good cup can be carved from the end of each horn; and consequently the parings and fragments are all preserved. The hard teeth of the walrus, lamantin, and other cetaceous animals, also form an article of import from the Pacific, under the designation of seahorse-teeth; they weigh one or two pounds apiece, and the ivory is nearly as compact, though not so white, as that of the elephant.

Among the miscellaneous articles brought from Europe, are flints and broken glass for use in the native glass manufacture. Ginseng still forms a considerable item in the American trade, but the high prices it once brought are no longer obtained, though a high duty indicates the desire of the Chinese government to protect the imperial monopoly. Gold and silver thread is largely imported for embroidery, ornamenting ladies' dresses, and such like purposes. The importation of metals has steadily increased with the enlargement of the trade; lead, iron, sheet-tin, blocktin, copper, spelter, tutenague, quicksilver, and steel, are all important items in the foreign trade, and go far to supply the native consumption along the coast. Lead, iron and quicksilver are the largest in the list; the first is extensively employed for lining tea-chests, and in the preparation of red and white lead for paints; the latter is largely re-exported in the shape of vermilion, and consumed in the plating of looking-glasses. Gold-dust is brought from Borneo and melted into ingots, which are employed to some extent as bullion, but this metal is principally used in the manufacture of gold leaf. Smaltz, for painting blue on porcelain and copper basins, is almost the only metallic oxide imported. Saltpetre was formerly prohibited, under the idea that foreigners exported it for making their own powder; it is purchased entirely for government use, and is resold by them to the people, or worked up in powder manufactories.

Sago is brought from Singapore, but the consumption of the sí kuh mí, i. e. "small-grain rice," is very limited. Another article of food of greater sale is stockfish, but as the Chinese have learned to cure fish in this way without salt, the foreign importa

than cloves, the tea being considered highly beneficial in fevers; the good effects of it as a febrifuge, seem, however, to be doubted lately, for the importation is not one half now what it was fifteen years ago. Camphor, although largely produced in China is still imported from Borneo, the people supposing that the drops and lumps found in the fissures of the camphor tree in that island, are far more valuable and powerful than their own gum; the propor tion between the two, both in price and quantity, is about eighteen to one. Cardamoms, nutmegs, and mace, are little used by the Chinese in cookery; the first named are the capsules of a small shrub growing in Malabar; they have a sweet aromatic flavor, and a grateful warmth when chewed.

Gambier forms a part of cargoes from Singapore; it is obtained from the gambier vine by boiling the leaves, and inspissating the decoction; a soapy substance of a brownish yellow color, remains, which is a good and cheap material for tanning and dyeing. Putchuck is a fragrant root brought from Scinde, resembling rhubarb in color and smell, and affording an agreeable perfume when burned; the powder is employed in making incense sticks, and the importation, principally for this purpose, is about 2000 peculs. Sandal-wood is brought for the same object from India, and the islands lying east of it; but the best pieces are selected for carving and making fancy articles, as fans, card-cases, &c.

Cornelians, agates, and other stones of greater or less value are purchased by the Chinese for manufacturing into official insignia, rings, beads, and other articles of ornament; they are brought chiefly from India or Central Asia. Pearls, to the amount of $300,000, are annually brought to Canton; and coral is also a part of cargoes from the Archipelago. Mother-o'-pearl shells and tortoise-shell are brought from the same region and the islands of the Pacific, a large part of which is re-exported in the shape of buttons, combs, and other productions of Chinese skill. Ivory comes principally from Cochinchina and Africa, viâ Bombay, and always finds a ready sale at Canton; the largest and best tusks weigh from 16 to 25 pounds each, decreasing to five or six pounds. The cuttings and fragments also form an article of trade, as the workmen can employ the smallest pieces. Bones and horns, especially the long horns of buffaloes, are worked into handles, buttons, &c. Rhinoceros' horns are brought from Birmah and Sumatra, and from Africa through Bombay; they are