Page 106 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

92.

One of the worst features was Canton's "raging"

climate. Completely unaccustomed to humid heat, the Americans

complained incessantly of the discomforts of Chinese summers.

There was virtually no relief from the heat, although many

of the residents did change to white linen suits. Even worse

though were the winters, "the sickly season. .when the many

sudden changes of weather cause cold, which bring on feaver,

& c. 11 The temperature sometimes varied fifteen to twenty de­

grees within a few hours. Accompanying this were changeable

winds, chilly northern winds with occasional humid hot southern

winds. The American seemed to have trouble adjusting to the

precipitous changes and as a result many became ill at the
72
onset of winter. A person with a cold or fever apparently

could not recuperate at Canton. Remaining in the Factories

often led to a more serious disease, so those who did become

ill sailed down to Macao or even back to the United States.

An American's resistance also seemed to decrease over a period
of years, so that many fell seriously ill after a few years.

This posed problems for houses which needed to rearrange per-
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sonnel to cover the sick man's leave of absence.

Another discomfort that accompanied the climate was the

constant presence of insects and pests in the Factories. Per-

haps the worst and most ubiquitous were the cockroaches. They

72
Ljungstedt, Historical Sketch of the Portugese Settle­
ments in China, pp. 201-02, with a monthly account of the weather
at Canton. Tiffany, The Canton Chinese, pp. 20-21. Letter, W.H.
Low to Seth Low, summer 1830, in Loines, China TraQe Postbag,
p. 37.

73
Letter, W. Sturgis to A. Heard, Sept. 22, 1833, Heard MSS.