THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS  253

as  well  ;  its  staple  exports  are  sugar  and  tobacco.  The
following  figures  show  the  course  of  trade  .

1864
1874
1884
1894
1904

Imports.
Tls.
6,399,786
11,057,659
12,385,969
19,424,841
34,615,923

Exports.
Tls.
3,700,165
4,367,739
7,386,349
6,483,667
14,664,863

Total.
Tls.
10,099,951
15,425,398
19,772,318
25,908,508
49,280,786

The  large  excess  of  imports  introduced  into  this  selfcontained
  district  is  striking,  and  is  explained  by  the  value
of  an  export  not  recorded  in  ordinary  statistics  of  trade,
that  of  the  hardy  and  industrious  coolies  who  emigrate  in
thousands  for  short-term  service  in  the  islands  of  the  Malay
Archipelago.  Among  imports  in  1904  the  principal  were
cotton  fabrics  (Tls.2,146,000),  cotton  yarn  (Tls.3,699,000),
tin  (Tls.645,000),  flour  (Tls.312,000),  matches  (Tls.256,000),
kerosene  oil  (Tls.738,000),  rice  (Tls.7,422,000),  beans
(Tls.2,525,000),bean-cakei(Tls.5,432,000),  hemp  (Tls.696,000),
and  wheat  (Tls.343,000).  The  principal  exports  were
sugar  (Tls.6,050,000),  tobacco  (Tls.866,000),  grass-cloth
(Tls.837,000),  and  paper  (Tls.  1,749,000).
Canton  (23 0  7'  N.,  113 0  i6'  E.),  the  provincial  capital,
is  styled  the  “  City  of  Rams,”  from  the  legend  of  the  five
Immortals  who  rode  into  the  city  on  five  rams  in  the  time
of  the  Chow  Dynasty  (b.c.  1122-255)  I  the  rams  were
turned  into  stone  and  are  there  to-day  as  visible  evidence
of  the  truth  of  the  tale.  The  name  of  the  city  is  Kwangchow,
Canton  being  the  Portuguese  rendering  of  the  name  of  the
province,  Kwangtung.  The  estimates  of  the  population
have  ranged  from  500,000  to  2,500,000,  the  figure  now
generally  accepted  being  900,000.  The  foreign  residents
in  the  district  in  1905  were  1,437,  including  225  British,
484  American,  65  German,  158  French,  140  Japanese,  and
334  Portuguese.  In  the  early  years  of  trade  the  merchants
lived  in  the  “  Factories,”  surrounded  by  unsavory  Chinese
streets,  and  this  continued  after  Canton  was  made  a  treaty