The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-12-02 00:00:00

AMOY.

The city and port of Amoy, the capital of the island of that
name, is in lat. 24.20 N., and long. 118'45 E. The island is
about fifteen miles in circumference. The city is placed on
the south of the estuary of the Huantong•can (about a mile
and a half broad), opposite the island of Kolongsoo, at pre-
sent occupied by the British forces,) which forms a harbour
so capacious that, according to the account of Lord Macart-
ney's embassy, it could contain several thousand vessels ; the
water being so deep that those of the largest burthen may be
ig
close to the shore with ut danger. By a private letter re-
ceived by the last ov and mail, we learn that many junks
sail thence to Form a (Amoy lying between that island ihd
the main land), Tonquin, Cochin China, Singapore, and the
Eastern Archipelago; that it numbers 150,000 inhabitants,
and that its principal export is black tea. Its inhabitants
were formerly eminent for their commercial character. We
copy the following account of Amoy from Mr. Lindsay's voy-
age of exploration in the Amherst :
" In Mandarin dialect, the name of the place is Heamun,
which is pronounced by the natives Ha-moy. The district
in which this flourishing town is situated, is one of the most
barren in all China, and consequently yields nothing for ex-
portation. It is dependant, even for the necessaries of life,
on the neighbouring island of Formosa, which is most aptly
described as the, granary of the eastern coast of China, In
spite of those disadvantages, no spot in the empire numbers
so many wealthy and enterprising merchants as Amoy ; they
have spread themselves all along the coast of China, and
have established commercial houses in many parts of the
Eastern Archipelago ; most of the junks comprehended un-
der the name of tsing-tow (green-head), on account of their
being painted green at the bow, in distinction from the hung-
tow (red-head), which is the badge of distinction among ves-
sels from Canton, are the property of Amoy merchants.
" Their shortest voyages are to Formosa, in order to pro-
vide rice, for the consumption of their native district. Du-
ring the S.W. monsoon, they freight their vessels at this
place with sugar, which they sell at various ports to the
northward, principally Ningpo, Shang-hae, Teen-sin, and
various towns in IVlanchow Tartary, where they take in car-
goes of peas and drugs. Much trade is also carried on by
them between Soo-chow-foo, in Keang-san, and the towns
of Ting-hae, Keang-mun, and the capital of Canton pro-
vince. _

" The greatest part of the foreign trade is carried on by
capitalists belonging to this place. Notwithstanding the ex-
orbitant
duties and vexatious treatment they are subjected to
in Manilla, they have continued to maintain mercantile rela-
tions with that island. Their trade with Tonquin and Cochin
China is not extensive ; but no less than forty large junks
annually frequent Bankok, the capital of Siam. The Fokien
junks which go to Borneo, Macassar, Batavia, and the Soo-
loo Islands, are of the largest class, some of as much as
12,000 peculs, or nearly 800 tons burthen, where they take
in extensive investments of what is generally denominated
Straits produce. Many of these vessels annually stop at
Sincapore to procure opium and British manufactures.
" Little favour or encouragement appears to have been
shown by the reigning dynasty to the enterprising inhabitants
of the province of Fokein. They were the last who submit-
ted to their rule, and, from what I have seen, would be the
first to shake off the Tartar yoke, which presses heavily on
the commercial energy of the people. A systematic plan
seems to have been adopted in order to check the rising
prosperity of Amoy ; first, by removing the foreign trade
from it, and latterly by laying the heavy exactions on native
vessels. By the most accurate accounts which Mr. Gutzlaff's
numerous acquaintances among natives of this place enabled
him to acquire, small junks of 2000 peculs pay a little more
than 1000 dollars regular duties, besides tribute to the em-
peror in produce, of birds' nests, &c., each time they enter
the port, unless they bring a cargo of rice, when a consider-
able remission is made. The irregular and oppressive exac-
tions of the local government have of late years caused many
leading merchants of this place to remove to Shing-hae,
Canton, and other places, where they conduct a trade with
junks and men from their native district.
" During the afternoon, numerous boats, filled with well-
dressed persons came round the ship ; but several custom-
house boats cruised about, and drove them away ; yet they
could not prevent several from coming near enough to make
inquiries as to our nation and cargo, and object in coming,
and both by signs and words expressing their friendly feel-
ings. After dark we landed a Chinese servant of Mr. Gutz-
laff, who is a native of this place, with directions to go and
see some of the leading merchants, in order to arrange with
them for trading outside, in case we found it impracticable
to do so openly.
" We subsequently visited the town, where we were
warmly welcomed by the numerous inhabitants, who sur-
rounded us in great crowds, but were most kind in their
manner. Their delight was great at the fluency with which
Mr. Gutzlaff addressed them in their native dialect. We
were soon followed by Le Laonyay, who assured us be merely
came to prevent our being annoyed by the crowd, and for
the purpose of showing us over the town. He also assured
us, that, if we were desirous to see the tetuh, he would give
us an audience to-morrow. With this I professed myself
satisfied ; and, having rambled about the town for an hour,
we returned to the ship. Although nothing could be more
civil than the manner of the mandarin and his attendants,
yet their object was evidently to prevent, if possible, any
conversation between us and the people : in this, however,
they failed, and we had the satisfaction of hearing people of
all classes express to us their regret at being prevented from
visiting our ship, and the anxiety they felt for permission
freely to trade with us. Several more war-junks came in
during the day • among others, one carrying the flag of the
tsnngning, or admiral of Kin-mun."
Davis, in his " Chinese," states that Amoy (Hearnun) is a
fine shelter for any number of large ships; and Dr. Murray,
in his " Encyclopmdia of Geography, states, that Amoy
affords a very fine harbour, whence the Chinese carry on a
great part of their foreign trade. By Wyld's map it would
appear that Amoy is not more than two miles distant from
the mainland of Fo-kein.