ping tael was 991 fine; at Canton and at Amoy the current silver was 940 fine. If the payment was for government dues it was in 'sycee',[1] if for goods it was in 'current' silver. The 'touch' of foreign coined silver was fixed and recognized at the rates given above; bars and shoes or ingots varied one with another, and all had to be reduced to the 'touch' of the tael of currency in which payment was made.[2]
The complication was especially marked in buying gold, which was cheap in China about 1700, being only two-thirds of the European mint price. Gold came in shoes of nominally 10 taels weight, and was sold on the basis of being 94 'touch'; its price in silver was quoted at so much 'above' or 'below touch'. Thus
| 10 taels of gold, of 94 touch, | at 'touch for touch' | = 94 taels silver |
| 10 taels of„ gold,„ of 94 touch„ | at '3 above touch' | = 97 teals silver„ |
| 10 taels of„ gold,„ of 94 touch„ | at '3 below touch' | = 91 teals silver„ |
Thus, in the case of a shoe of gold, 97 touch, weighing 9.85 taels, sold at 4 above touch, paid for in duccatoons:
9.85 taels of 97 touch is 10.164 taels 94 touch;
at 4 above touch is 98 taels silver for 10 taels gold,
or 99.607 taels current silver of 94 for this shoe of gold;
paid for in duccatoons 96 touch,
is 97.532 taels weight of duccatoons.[3]
Besides having this complete mental equipment of the banker, the supercargoes had to know the quality of goods. They must know whether raw silk offered to them was worth 150 taels a picul, or only 145; whether the tea was of such quality that they could pay 2s. 6d. a pound, or must pay only 1s.; whether, for their heavy cargo, copper at 15 taels or 'tutenague' (spelter, zinc) at 6 taels a picul was the more profitable purchase; whether the weft of woven silks should have the same strength as the warp; whether China root was better white, or tinted pink; whether vermilion at 42 taels or quicksilver at 42 taels was the better purchase. They also had to take the responsibility of deciding whether they should advance as much, perhaps, as 50,000 taels to a merchant of whom they knew very little, in prepayment for goods which would not be delivered until four months later. On their arrival at a port they had to decide whether to resist the exactions which were threatened to their trade, and go on to another port, where they might find the conditions no less bad; or whether they should take their ships in, and trust to their diplomatic skill to gain better terms by negotiating with the officials and the merchants.
- ↑ The parity of exchange of the Canton tael of 'sycee' was then 6s. 8d.
- ↑ Morse, Trade and Administration of China, cap. 5.
- ↑ Walpole. 1722 (at Canton).
