Page 101 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

87.
of specie for the house. In Canton monetary transactions were

according to weight, so the Shroff sat in front of the treasury

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with his scales and weights and piles of bullion, Above the
working quarters was a floor of drawing rooms and dining rooms.

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The bedrooms were on the third floor. An establishment re-
quired numerous living facilities to accommodate not only its

partnera and pursers but also the masters and supercargoes of

the vessels consigned to it. During the busiest months of the
trading season the number of latter "guests" would swell the

house residents to more than double the normal size. These

chambers, nevertheless furnished very sparsely, presented
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. d
"c h eer 1 ess" surroun d. ings to t h . eir resi ents.

Americans did not all reside at the American Factory,

as there were too many commercial establishments. They also

filled Suy Hong or the Swedish Factory. (There had been no
1
Swedish merchants at Canton since the late 1700 s.) In fact

the American consul traditionally resided there, with the

American flag flying in front. There were further American

establishments in the Imperial (German) Factory (Ma-ying Hong)
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and in the French Factory (Fa-erh-hsi Hong) . All of these

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Hunter, 'Fan Kwae' at Canton, p. 56.

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Tiffany, The Canton Chinese, pp. 214-15, and Taylor,
Voyage around the World, pp. 137-38.
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Hughes, J.M. Forbes Reminiscences, I, 139.
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The Foreign Factories with both names are listed in
Ruschenberger, Voyage round the World, p. 394, and Ljungstedt,
Historical Sketch of the Portugese Settlements in China, pp.
282-83.