During the days of Old Canton, the Middle Kingdom deigned to suffer the presence of a small number of 'foreign barbarians' on the banks of the Choo, or Pearl River. Their residences consisted of Factories built expressly for them, and originally destined one for each nationality. They were contiguous, except where separated by three streets of narrow dimensions which led from the suburbs of the city to the river which ran in front of them. No other port than that of Canton was open, nor had there been one since 1745, and no foreigner was permitted on any pretext to enter the country or even the city outside of which he lived. The actual relations of the Chinese Government with Western nations consequent upon the treaties have caused such an entire change from the old mode of transacting business, as well as in the life then led by the few foreign residents at Canton, that a narration of the peculiar conditions of both (as they were) is now, as a Chinese official would say, placed 'on record.'
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