For present-day readers some of the terms used in the early days may need a little explanation. ""Supercargoes" were men who accompanied the ships and cargoes, fand acted as representatives of the Company in times when there were banks of exchange and the owners had no correspondents in foreign parts. It was necessary that supercargoes should be men of ability and good education, and of ineoruptible honesty. They. were paid small salaries, but were allowed some private trading, and sometimes shared in the stock carried by the ship. A change was eventually made by which the supercargoes Temained at the port of trade and formed a Council, all ders, accounts and decisions, This system began at Canton in 1922, The "Factories" referred to must jot be understood to mean places where things were made. They were the residences and business {places of the "factors" or agents the Companies. The "Hoppo"
(Kwan pu) was an Imperial Official, head of all the Custom-houses in Kuangtung. The term was used more loosely to indicate the Customs officer with whom the factors had dealings. The "Ca-hong" was the foreign name for the guild of merchants at Canton, formed in 1720; it regulated the prices at which goods were to be sold to foreign merchants.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.