Page 78 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

64.

tonnage duties. Through this relaxation the government hoped

to encourage the importation of rice which the Chinese always

needed in quantity. Often vessels stopped in Java or the

Philippines to load rice en route to Canton in order to evade
1
the heavy measurement fees. Beginning in the 1830 s the Amer­

ican commission houses at Canton regularly despatched vessels

to Manila for rice. They stockpiled the rice in a storeship

at one of the Outer Anchorages. As American vessels arrived in

China, the rice was transshipped aboard them for the trip up-
29
river to "Whampoa.

"Whether a vessel carried rice or not the master had to

pay other charges known as "Cumsha. 11 Pidgin English for kan­

hsieh (gratitude), Cumshaw theoretically was a gift from the

foreigners to the Emperor for the privilege of trading at

Canton. By the nineteenth century the Cumshaw fees were hardly

a gift, as they were levied on every foreign vessel. Somewhat

lower on vessels with riceu the Cumshaw fees on most vessels

totalled more than two thousand dollars. These fees, when com­

bined with measurement fees plus fees paid to the pilot, the

Comprador and the Linguist minimally amounted to five thousand

dollars. This sum did not include all costs incurred by a

vessel at "Whampoa. The vessel had not yet even unloaded its

29
This informati:m is attainable from the "Consular
Returns on American Vessels arriving at and departing from the
Port of ---�" These "Returns," which included information on
vessels, ports and cargoes, were kept by the American consul for
a six-month period. Those from Canton are useful only to a
limited extent, as many are missing or incomplete. But by com­
1
paring those from Canton and Manila in the 1830 s, a regular
trade in rice in American vessels can be determined. Consular
Despatches: Canton and Manila.