148 F. W. How AY the voyage ; we hope to get a good sale for our f urrs and that every thing in the end will turn out to our honor & advantage. We are Sir with every sentiment of Respect & Esteem Your most obliged Humble Servts Robert Gray John Hoskins Ship Columbia Wompoa 22 Deer. 1792 Sir On the day of our arrival I wrote you by the Hannibal via Philadelphia. Since which I have been at Canton and as this day been delivering a part of the f urrs which we sold. — Skins are very low & there is no selling them for Cash, indeed we could not get the ship secur'd unless we would agree to take goods in pay and 'tis absolutely necessary to have a security merchant 21 or nothing can be sold out of the ship nor is it safe to deal with any of the Chinese without. It is therefore out of our power to do with the money as you wish ; could we get Cash for the skins we could either sell or freight the ship at a good rate. The ship is so leaky we must have her ashore; this together with the detention will make our expences at this place great, however depend every thing shall be done that can be to make them as light as possible. At this time 'tis impossible to say the amount our skins will fetch, but I don't expect they will exceed Forty 21 No business could be carried on by a ship in China without a compradore, or security merchant. He seems to have been a sort of commission merchant securing to the government the duties on the cargo and the charges on the ship, securing to the Chinese who supplied the ship the payment of their accounts, and securing to the ship owner the payment for his furs. In the Log of the Ruby (manuscript in the Ar- chives of British Columbia) will be found some details of the way this hampered the vessels in the Chinese trade. See also Old Shipping Days in Boston (Boston, 1918), pp. 10-24.
