" 26 The prices of cotton in the Canton market were so low that the Magniac & Co. firmly believed that even a harvest of cotton happened in China, the prices could not go down any further.27 The Magniac & Co. calculated on the supply of Indian cotton, and reached the conclusion that the prices of cotton would certainly go up. During the last season, the cotton supply from India was something more than 200,000 bales ; but for the current season, it was estimated at a figure lower than 180,000 bales. The average price of the last season was 12 taels, the current quotations were almost three taels ( or 25 % ) less. The supply is low, then the price should not go down too far in the long run.28 Moreover, the cotton supplied from other quarter, that is, from the lower Yangtze Delta, even in the time of best harvest, had never produced a price under 12 taels.29 In consequence, they held up the sale of some of the cotton consigned to them. They might be reasonable, but not necessarily correct. The expectations of the Magniac & Co. being such, so it might have been the case of