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“...connected
with it.
duties, so that this impost alone is enough to handicap the China-
trade.
2. The Native Custom-house levying duties on junk-borne
cargo. The Chiang Chiin, or Tartar-General, is the head of
this, and a Manchu colonel has charge of the Foochow office.
The Tartar-General is the highest officer in the province, ranking
with, but before the Governor-General. The present incumbent
of the post has been Governor-General of the Hukuang provinces,
and afterwards Military-Governor in Manchuria. He is, I
believe, a relation of the Imperial family. He and two other
functionaries, the Superintendent of Customs, or " Hoppo," at
Canton, and the Superintendent of the Huai-an custom-house, all
Manchn officials, are the special purveyors of the Court. The
Tartar - General collects at Foochow alone 100,000 taels
annually, of which 30,000 taels are levied on timber. I do not
know how much he gathers from the other custom-house in the
province, but he is supposed to make 150,000 taels a year...”
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