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A tradesman with his swan-pan

A tradesman with his swan-pan.jpg A Travelling SmithThumbnailsA Seller of RiceA Travelling SmithThumbnailsA Seller of RiceA Travelling SmithThumbnailsA Seller of RiceA Travelling SmithThumbnailsA Seller of RiceA Travelling SmithThumbnailsA Seller of RiceA Travelling SmithThumbnailsA Seller of RiceA Travelling SmithThumbnailsA Seller of Rice
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The Chinese merchants and tradesmen are most expert and ready reckoners; but they perform all arithmetical operations mechanically, by means of a table divided into two compartments, through which pass iron wires; and on these wires are strung in one compartment five, and in the other two, moveable balls. The principle is something of the same kind as that of the abacus of the Romans, and is with some little variation still made use of in Russia. It has been observed, that in weighing several thousand chests of tea, or bales of goods, at Canton, the Chinese accountant can invariably name the sum total long before the European can cast up his account.


Author
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Picturesque Representations of the Dress and Manners of the Chinese, by William Alexander Published 1814
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900*1032
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