Chapter LIAMPO to LIME of L by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

LIAMPO to LIME

LIAMPO, n.p. This is the name which the older writers, especially Portuguese, give to the Chinese port which we now call Ning-Po. It is a form of corruption which appears in other cases of names used by the Portuguese, or of those who learned from them. Thus Nanking is similarly called Lanchin in the publications of the same age, and Yunnan appears in Mendoza as Olam.

1540.—“Sailing in this manner we arrived six dayes after at the Ports of Liampoo, which are two Islands one just against another, distant three Leagues from the place, where at that time the Portugals used their commerce; There they had built above a thousand houses, that were governed by Sheriffs, Auditors, Consuls, Judges, and 6 or 7 other kinde of Officers [com governança de Vereadores, & Ouvidor, & Alcaides, & outras seis ou sete Varas de Justiça & Officiaes de Republica], where the Notaries underneath the publique Acts which they made, wrote thus, I, such a one, publique Notarie of this Town of Liampoo for the King our Soveraign Lord. And this they did with as much confidence and assurance as if this Place had been scituated between Santarem and Lisbon; so that there were houses there which cost three or four thousand Duckats the building, but both they and all the rest were afterwards demolished for our sins by the Chineses. …”—Pinto (orig. cap. lxvi.), in Cogan, p. 82.

What Cogan renders ‘Ports of Liampoo’ is portas, i.e. Gates. And the expression is remarkable as preserving a very old tradition of Eastern navigation; the oldest document regarding Arab trade to China (the Relation, tr. by Reinaud) says that the ships after crossing the Sea of Sanji ‘pass the Gates of China. These Gates are in fact mountains washed by the sea; between these mountains is an opening, through which the ships pass’ (p. 19). This phrase was perhaps a translation of a term used by the Chinese themselves—see under BOCCA TIGRIS.

1553.—“The eighth (division of the coasts of the Indies) terminates in a notable cape, the most easterly point of the whole continent so far as we know at present, and which stands about midway in the whole coast of that great country China. This our people call Cabo de Liampo, after an illustrious city which lies in the bend of the cape. It is called by the natives Nimpo, which our countrymen have corrupted into Liampo.”—Barros, i. ix. 1.

1696.—“Those Junks commonly touch at Lympo, from whence they bring Petre, Geelongs, and other Silks.”—Bowyear, in Dalrymple, i. 87.

1701.—“The Mandarine of Justice arrived late last night from Limpo.”—Fragmentary MS. Records of China Factory (at Chusan?), in India Office, Oct. 24.

1727.—“The Province of Chequiam, whose chief city is Limpoa, by some called Nimpoa, and by others Ningpoo.”—A. Hamilton, ii. 283; [ed. 1744, ii. 282].

1770.—“To these articles of importation may be added those brought every year, by a dozen Chinese Junks, from Emoy, Limpo, and Canton.”—Raynal, tr. 1777, i. 249.

LIKIN, LEKIN, s. We borrow from Mr. Giles: “An arbitrary tax, originally of one cash per tael on all kinds of produce, imposed with a view of making up the deficiency in the land-tax of China caused by the T’aiping and Nienfei troubles. It was to be set aside for military purposes only—hence its common name of ‘war tax’… The Chefoo Agreement makes the area of the Foreign concessions at the various Treaty Ports exempt from the tax of Lekin” (Gloss. of Reference, s.v.). The same authority explains the term as “li (le, i.e. a cash or 1/1000 of a tael)-money,” because of the original rate of levy. The likin is professedly not an imperial customs-duty, but a provincial tax levied by the governors of the provinces, and at their discretion as to amount; hence varying in local rate, and from time to time changeable. This has been a chief difficulty in carrying out the Chefoo Agreement, which as yet has never been authoritatively interpreted or finally ratified by England. [It was ratified in 1886. For the conditions of the Agreement see Ball, Things Chinese, 3rd ed. 629 seqq.] We quote the article of the Agreement which deals with opium, which has involved the chief difficulties, as leaving not only the amount to be paid, but the line at which this is to be paid, undefined.

1876.—“Sect. III. … (iii). On Opium Sir Thomas Wade will move his Government to sanction an arrangement different from that affecting other imports. British merchants, when opium is brought into port, will be obliged to have it taken cognizance of by the Customs, and deposited in Bond … until such time as there is a sale for it. The importer will then pay the tariff duty upon it, and the purchasers the likin: in order to the prevention of the evasion of the duty. The amount of likin to be collected will be decided by the different Provincial Governments, according to the circumstances of each.”—Agreement of Chefoo.

1878.—“La Chine est parsemée d’une infinité de petits bureaux d’octroi échelonnés le long des voies commerciales; les