Page 230 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

216.

as agents for procuring opium. Paine's task was to purchase

opium from around Europe and transship it at Leghorn for Can­

ton. He also oversaw the sale of cargoes on Perkins' vessels
13
sent to Europe. John Perkins Cushing at Canton managed the

sale of opium. Cushing enjoyed the advice of Houqua, who

recommended what quantities should be sent and at what time

the market would best absorb opium. J. & T.H. Perkins and

Perkins & Co., furthermore, did not limit their operations to

Turkish opium. Through their connections with financial houses

in London they bought Bengal opium in England for the Canton

market. To bypass British restrictions they shipped this opium
14
to China via the United States. Besides exploiting all

available sources of the drug, the "Boston Concern" searched

for new ones. This search proved most fruitful in the Persian
15
Gulf area. Already familiar to American traders who ven-

tured to Muscat for raisins, the Persian Gulf produced opium

similar to that from Turkey. Persian opium, cheapest of all

13
Letter, J. & T.H. Perkins to F.W. Paine, Mar. 1 5 , 1817,
Massachusetts Historical Society, Letterbooks of J. & T.H. Perkins.
Carl Seaberg and Stanley Paterson, Merchant Prince of Boston:
Colonel T.H. Perkins, 1764-1854 (Cambridge, 1871), pp. 266-67.
Opium was imported into Europe for use as the popular drug lauda­
num.
14
Letters, J. & T.H. Perkins to F.W. Paine, Mar. 15, 1817,
J. & T.H. Perkins to S. Williams, Mar. 21, 1817, Letterbooks of
J. & T.H. Perkins.

15
Letter, J. & T.H. Perkins to E.A. Newton, Sep. 8, 1817,
Letterbooks of J. & T.H. Perkins. In the 1830's American mer­
chants also experimented with Egyptian opium as a supplement to
Turkey opium. Like Persian opium, it was inferior to Turkey, but
could be used as an additive. Letter Q J.M. Forbes to Bryant &
Sturgis, Oct. 8, 1834, Harvard Business School, Baker Library,
Forbes MSS.