and town called Cionciu, from which ships also come hither for our trade, because, as I learned from the natives, that is a large province, and has a great amount of commerce. About ten leagues farther up the coast there is a broad river with a fort and a town named Tisciu. Opposite this river there is an island called La Mao. About fourteen leagues farther is the great river of Canton where it is said there is a large fort with an ordinary garrison—as nearly as I could make out, of about six or seven hundred soldiers, who guard the fort, and their captain and governor, from the city and province of Canton. Opposite this river are islets where the Portuguese go to trade, because they are not allowed to enter Canton.[1] The first of these islets, as one enters the river, is called Tanquian; and then come the islands where the Portuguese anchor their ships, where there are neither houses nor anything else; but it serves as a harbor for their vessels. The place where they are is called the quiao of Canton. Even as far as Paquin [Peking], which is the city of the king of China, it is said that one would have to be on the road a year; and all the route would be found full of cities and large provinces. Those on the road are Chincheo, Cantun, Hinchiu, Mimipou, Ouchiu, Yrinari, Sisvan, Conceonau, Nanguin, and Paquin, where the court and the king reside. There are
- ↑ In 1560 the Portuguese obtained the loan of a spot near the mouth of the Canton estuary, where they were permitted to establish a trading-post, which was named Macao. Before many years elapsed, more than five hundred Portuguese merchants resorted thither annually to trade. "By the regular payment of their rent (five hundred taels a year), as well as by a judicious system of bribing, the Portuguese long enjoyed the practical monopoly of the external trade of the great mart of Canton with the West." See D. C. Boulger's History of China, ii, pp. 146, 169.
