GENERAL View of the Trade between the United States and China, from 1833 to 1841,

inclusive.

The value of Teas imported, therefore, appears to be annually about 4,698,894 dollars, and to constitute rather exceeding 75 per cent of the value of the whole cargoes;-which have averaged since 1834, 177,430 dollars each. The trade has employed yearly about thirty-five vessels, averaging 390 tons, with crews of eighteen men and boys.

STATEMENT exhibiting a View of the General Trade between the United States and Canton, according to Valuations made in Canton, annually, during the Years ending June 30, 1804, to 1844.

reliance can

We have not been able to procure any returns upon which any be placed for the blank years in the above table. The returns for 1844 we have received from the British consul at Canton.-See his detailed statement of the American trade at Canton for that year hereafter: which, with other returns of the British and foreign trade of that port, has been prepared with great pains and all possible accuracy by him.

STATEMENT exhibiting the Amount of Specie, Bills, and Merchandise, Imported into Canton, on American Account, annually, from 1805 to 1844.

NOTE.-1828, 1829, 1830, 1831, and 1832, taken from a Canton paper.

We have not been able to procure returns for the blank years in the above table upon which any reliance can be placed.

STATEMENT exhibiting the Value of the Exports to, and Imports from, China, and also the Tonnage employed in this Branch of Foreign Trade, during the Years ending on the 30th of September, 1821, to 1844, inclusive. Compiled from the several annual Reports on the Foreign Trade and Navigation of the United States by the Secretary of the Treasury.

ARTICLES and Value of Exports from the United States to China, in 1842.

VALUE of Imports into the United States from China, in 1842.

STATEMENT exhibiting the Value of Domestic produce and Manufactures Exported to China, during the Years ending 30th of September, 1821 to 1844, inclusive.

VALUE of Principal Articles of Merchandise Imported from China into the United States, from 1821 to 1844, inclusive; compiled from the several Annual Accounts of the Trade and Navigation of the United States, by the Secretary of the Treasury.

Unenumerated articles have been of very unimportant value, and are included

in the preceding table of total imports.

STATEMENT exhibiting the Value of Foreign Merchandise, Exported to China, during the Years ending 30th of September, 1821 to 1844, inclusive.

Formerly large quantities of valuable furs, procured on the north-west coast of America, and of seal-skins, obtained from the numerous islands in the high latitudes of the southern ocean, were carried to China; and furnished no inconsiderable part of the American sales in the China market; but which never appeared in the American custom-house documents, or constituted any part of the official exports of the United States.

The great prices obtained at Canton for furs, particularly sea-otter skins, from the north-west coast of America, carried there by Captain Cook, induced others to engage in this trade. The enterprise of the Americans led them very early to engage in these long and hazardous trading voyages. The first undertaken, from the United States, was in a ship belonging to Boston, under the command of Captain Kendrick; and the discoveries made by this ship, along the north-west coast of this country, were afterwards urged, by the United States, in support of their claims in that quarter. These voyages, at first, afforded large profits, from the number of the skins procured, and which found a ready market at Canton. The quantity of these furs, for many years past, has greatly diminished, and this trade has become of comparatively small importance.

The Americans not only explored the north-west part of this continent for furs, but also visited the numerous islands in the southern ocean, in search of sealskins, for the Chinese market. These latter voyages being at first also profitable, induced such competition, that the seal soon became scarce at the places usually visited. The Americans, however, with a spirit of enterprise and hardihood only equalled by those who pursue the whale, pushed their way through floating mountains of ice to still higher southern latitudes; and found the fur-seal