ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

six dollars; two English shillings must be added for transportation by railway or boat to the Alexandria market, where the price has ranged during the past twelve months, say from $30 to $45 the cantar. With such a margin of profit there can be little doubt that before many years the cotton planters of Egypt will furnish their full quota to supply the necessities of the world.

Custom-house table showing the amount of cotton exported from the port of Alexandria, from the year 1821 to 1862, inclusive, together with the names of countries where exported.

[blocks in formation]

Most of the above-mentioned values have been reduced from pounds sterling to dollars, at the rate employed in ordinary commercial transactions in Egypt, of five dollars to the pound.

Comparative statement showing the quantity of cotton in bales of five cantars each, exported from the port of Alexandria, from September 30, 1856, to September 30, 1862, inclusive, and also the countries where exported.

[blocks in formation]

Statement of the analysis of the sediment of the Nile.

The following statement is taken from Mr. Horner's Geological Memoirs on the "Alluvial Land of Egypt," published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, 1855:

All the Nile mud, properly so called, has at one time or other been suspended in its waters. I was, therefore, desirous that an experiment should be made to ascertain the quantity of solid matter held in suspension in the water, at a given place near Cairo. Having communicated my wish to Mr. Murray, he prevailed upon Dr. Abbott, a physician long resident at Cairo, to undertake the inquiry. I then described the process and apparatus by which I had, in the year 1832, ascertained the amount of solid matter held in suspension in the water of the Rhine, and requested that a similar process should be followed. Dr. Abbott's account of his experiment contained in a letter to me, dated Cairo, the 12th of December, 1850, is as follows:

"I began your experiment on the 1st of October, and on that day I took an imperial gallon of water from the Nile at the depth of twenty feet, and at that part of the river opposite the Transit wharf at Bailak. The current is there very strong, and the water is not likely to have any of the dirt or filth that might possibly be mixed with it lower down, where a large number of boats are collected. I took one gallon of water daily for ten days, which I put into another filter and left covered, until it became perfectly dry, and then put it into a paper, kept it until a week ago, when I weighed it and found the quantity to be 18 drachms-apothecaries' weight, 1,110 grains. I am now endeavoring to dry it in a cake, or rather to bake it in the form of a small brick, to send to you."

I weighed the little brick sent to me accurately on the 11th of May, 1851, and found it to be 1,106 grains, so that the solid matter held in suspension is 110.6 grains in an imperial gallon. An analysis of this solid matter was made at the Royal College of Chemistry in London by Mr. Brazier, under the superintendence of Dr. Hafman, and yielded the following results:

[blocks in formation]

The hardened mass, when moistened, kneaded into a clay.

SEPTEMBER 5, 1863.

** It appears that the quantity of cotton reported in appendix B of my despatch No. 31, as reported from Egypt during 1862, only represents about the third of the crop actually raised, the whole amount of the ginned cotton produced last season being nearly fifteen hundred thousand ginned cantars.

This year the breadth of land declared by the local officers of the government to be sown with cotton is seven hundred thousand acres, promising the unprecedented yield of from two millions to twenty five hundred thousand

cantars.

[ocr errors]

The Nile has risen higher this season than for many years; but the canals are so clean, and the viceroy has taken such precautions, that the fear of a destructive inundation has almost passed away. Such an accident would ruin both the cotton and Indian corn, (the latter the principal food crop of the country.) The cotton will be ready to commence gathering by the middle of the present month.

The diplomatic difficulties of the Suez Canal Company with Turkey are in progress of favorable solution. In spite of all the obstacles raised to the enterprise lately, the works and the supply of laborers have not been interrupted for a single day.

GREECE.

ATHENS HENRY M. CANFIELD, Consul.

SEPTEMBER 30, 1863.

I regret to be unable to forward a satisfactory report of the state of the commerce of Greece, as, on account of the unsettled state of the country, no reports have been published since 1861, and because those statistics that do exist are now undergoing revision for the press, and I cannot, therefore, have access 'to them.

The last year opened with the insurrection of Nauplia, and was marked by frequent outbreaks in different portions of the state, and the expulsion of the ruling monarch, and was closed with the establishment of the revolutionary and temporary government of the national assembly, and was also, necessarily, marked by a serious decline in trade.

The port of Syra was most seriously affected by these causes, as also by the high prices of cotton fabrics, which have been the principal articles of importa

tion.

The importations of Piræus are nearly up to the usual amount from the introduction of arms and gas fixtures to the value of about 2,000,000 francs. The principal trade of Patras consists of exports, and the distance of that port from the more immediate centres of excitement is the cause which accounts for its continued commercial prosperity.

The current yield of 1862 was very good, though deteriorated in quality by the long drought, which gave rise to three distinctions in quality, viz: the selected, about quarter of the entire crop; the medium, half; and the ordinary quarter. The average prices were, for the selected, $24 for 1,000 pounds Venetian; middling, $20 25; ordinary, $16 20. The whole of this crop was exported mostly to England, its value being about 8,150,000 francs. The current yield of this year was even better than that of 1862, but was much injured by showers which fell while the fruit was curing. The price has been from $18 to $35 per 1,000 pounds.

The following

There have been no changes in the duties since last year. table includes the most ordinary articles of export and their duties:

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

No American vessels have entered any of the ports of Greece during the last year.

JAPAN.

KANAGAWA-G. S. FISHER, Consul.

OCTOBER 1, 1862.

** The tonnage and exports of this half year will be largely in excess of any other half year, particularly in the valuable articles of silk and tea.

The average freights to San Francisco have been, as near as I can learn, $12 per ton; to New York, $30 per ton. There have been no changes the past year in relation to the prohibition of exports; nor any change in privileges of importations or restrictions thereon. The only tonnage dues are entry and clearance fee of each foreign vessel to the custom-house authorities; no wharfage, dock, trade, or city dues; no gauging, weighing, or local taxes.

The usual terms of purchase and sale are cash. No credit, in the ordinary sense of the term. No credit, no discounts for cash. Most business done herepurchasing and selling of goods-is for houses in China, by their own agents sent here, or by other foreign correspondents residing here, doing business exclusively as commission houses. Ordinary commissions 23 per cent., sometimes 5 per cent. There are no bounties on exports. Commissions are paid as agreed, but never but by one party-buyer or seller, as may be agreed. The Japanese dealers in silks, teas, &c., &c., do most of their business through Japanese brokers, and I am inclined to think this brokerage system is more extensively practiced here in all ramifications of business than in any other country we know anything about. The Japanese trade has none but foreign vessels engaged in transportation. It is said, however, that they are about to experi ment in direct exportation between the ports of Nagasaki and Hakodadi and Shanghai, in China, and that they have purchased foreign vessels, both steam and sail, for this purpose. Goods are purchased here and sent to China for reshipment to the United States; no import or export duty is charged on them in China. The expenses of transhipment depend upon whether landed or transferred from one vessel to another, and I cannot give the cost of either satisfactorily.

The rate of exchange on New York is uncertain and fluctuating, and at the present time it would be impossible to quote any rate between here and New York, either on government or bankers' bills of exchange, or exchange on bills of lading; and will continue so while exchange between the United States and England is so changeable, and the price of specie advancing and fictitious.

There has been no change in warehouse system. I am endeavoring to get the authorities to establish a general warehousing system, but with what success remains to be seen. The difficulty of lighterage is considerable, but I hope, in connexion with the other consuls of the treaty powers, to get it modified.

The sanitary regulations are the same as they ever have been to all bottoms, except as to vessels coming from ports in China, which, in the event of having cholera or infectious diseases on board, are required to anchor below until a health certificate is produced from a resident physician here.

I am endeavoring to get the government to build a hospital here, which, I am happy to say, has been promised a favorable consideration.

Peace and quietness prevail, and the apathy for business, in consequence of the late doubts and fears, has pretty much subsided.

JANUARY 6, 1863.

I am in receipt of your circular No. 17, July 31, 1862, and have to say that up to the present time the privilege of purchasing supplies from "the public warehouses duty free" in this port is already an admitted fact, and our vesselsof-war have heretofore had, and will continue, I doubt not, to have no trouble in obtaining such supplies as they may require while visiting here.

JULY 18, 1863.

On the 13th instant I received a communication from their excellencies the governors of Kanagawa, notifying me, and through me the American merchants of this consular jurisdiction, that hereafter discriminating duties would be imposed on the article of tin, viz: on tin bars and pigs, 5 per cent.; on tin, (meaning tin plates and sheets,) 20 per cent.

This discrimination I have duly reported to our minister, and shall protest and appeal the first case coming before me to him, contending—

1st. That under the word tin, as in our treaty, it means and covers all manufactured and unmanufactured tin, bars, pigs, plates, and sheets alike;

2d. That no discrimination has heretofore been made, and one would now manifestly be unjust; and,

3d. Because no change or discrimination can be rightfully made except by a new treaty under the five-year clause of the present one.

OCTOBER 1, 1863.

Agreeably to paragraph 648 Consuls' Manual, making it necessary to render an annual report to the 30th of September of each year, I have the honor to report:

1ST. OF TRADE AND COMmerce.

This is the fourth year since the opening of this port to trade and business with foreigners, and that it will compare favorably with and show a large increase over the year 1862, notwithstanding the unsettled condition of the country in its relations with foreign affairs, the following pages will establish. And while there has been much uncertainty, and there still is a very unsettled, if not distressing, state of political connexion, trade has prospered and improved even beyond the expectations of the most sanguine, especially in the important staples of raw silk, cotton, and tea, particularly the former, always so largely in demand for European manufacturing and the wide world's consumption; and notwithstanding fears, alarms, and doubts, and at times threats of sudden and almost ruinous expulsion, certain articles have continued to come forward to the increase of the traffic and business with the native population. Much has been said and written about restrictions on trade by guilds, by individuals, and by government officials, yet nothing tangible can really be proven. The tables of exports and imports will show so far this year (nine months) not only that there is no falling off, but an absolute increase over the same time in 1862 in all the principal articles of export, silk, tea, cotton, lumber, &c.; also in imports, camlets, lead, tin, and sundry other articles. The principal trade is in raw

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »