Banking is carried on to a greater extent in Foo-chow-foo than in the other towns which I have visited. Paper notes are a common medium of exchange, in which the people have the greatest confidence, prefering them to dollars, or "cash." Some of the notes are as low as four hundred cash--about eighteen pence English money; others are for very large sums.
The people here are generally much cleaner in their habits, and appear to be a more active race, than those in the northern towns. In fact, they approach more nearly to the natives of Canton than to any other, in these respects. I was much surprised to find them consuming beef, and even milk, in considerable quantities; articles which are never used by the inhabitants of the other districts where I have been: indeed, everywhere else the Chinese were wont to express their astonishment when they saw the English using such articles of food.
The ladies of Foo-chow-foo are particularly fond of flowers--artificial as well as natural--for the decoration of their hair. The rustic cottage beauty employs the more large and gaudy, such as the red Hibiscus; while the refined damsels prefer the jasmine, tuberose, and others of that description: artificial flowers, however, are more in use than natural ones.
The population of Foo-chow-foo has been estimated at about half a million; and I have no doubt that if the suburbs and numerous villages in the vicinity be taken into account, the number is not over-stated. Up to the time when I left China, little or nothing had been done here in the way of trade, and I cannot help thinking that its advantages in this respect have been greatly over-rated. It is never likely to be a place of as great importance to England as the more northerly port of Shanghae; and for this very simple reason--the physical nature of the country is against it. The whole of the surrounding region is mountainous; the rivers are rapid and in some places shallow, and are often liable to rain-floods. There are consequently many impediments in the way of a free transmission of goods into the interior of the country. Foo-chow-foo was supposed to possess great advantages, owing to its being near the Bohea or black tea district; and it was thought at one time that it might form the great emporium for the export of this article to Europe and America. This opinion, however, has hitherto proved fallacious, and I believe it is now ascertained that the black teas can be brought more readily to Shanghae or Ningpo than to Foo-chow-foo; especially since the Bohea teas have sunk in estimation, and other districts to the northward, having taken the place of the Bohea hills, are now furnishing the black teas of commerce.