one time a mandarin's commission. The Tonquinese government was pleased on different occasions, to direct that the attendance on his person should be performed by their subjects; and he had the honour of being admitted, more than once, to the presence of the reigning sovereign. When to this ample source of materials are added, as we understand from the preface, the literary contributions of various other residents in Tonquin, we might be justified in presuming that these volumes are rich in new and curious information; a presumption which the perusal of them fully confirms, while it makes us regret that the work exhibits some deficiency of arrangement, and that longer time was not bestowed in the preparation of it, so that it should come before the public a correct and matured composition.

Tonquin appears to have been originally peopled from China, by southward emigrations from the adjoining provinces of that empire. For many ages, its inhabitants seem to have been composed of tribes of wandering barbarians, such as still exist in the mountainous provinces of Tsiampa and Laos; and even after the consolidation of the fertile regions of Tonquin and CochinChina under a regular government, their sovereigns acknowledged for many ages a subjection to the emperor of China. Their distance, however, from the centre of that empire, the natural strength of their frontiers, and the rapid augmentation of their power from increase of population, encouraged them to make persevering efforts to throw off the yoke, and assert a complete exemption from foreign control. Hence a long series of sanguinary contests, and repeated alternations of success and failure, which have long been productive of a rooted national antipathy to the Chinese, but which accomplished only in a later age the establishment of Tonquinese independence. During the latter part of the last century, after the Chinese power became less formidable, the horrors of civil war succeeded those of foreign hostility, and in 1774 a contest broke out which continued during twenty. eight years. Three brothers of a family in Cochin-China, called Tay-son, contrived to usurp the sovereignty, to put to death the nearest heirs to the crown, and to oblige their young relation, the present emperor, to seek his safety in flight. After various unsuccessful endeavours to recover his authority, this prince was at last enabled to contract (in 1788), a treaty of alliance with France; which, though not productive of assistance from a tottering court, procured him the co-operation of individuals of that country. Aided by these, and by the returning loyalty of his subjects, he succeeded, after many sanguinary combats, in uni ting all the provinces of the empire under his command in 1802. He was then of the age of forty-five, and had given proofs is his adversity of the most distinguished virtues; a character

which, it is greatly to be regretted, has undergone considerable deterioration since he has attained the undisturbed possession of power. Instead of the exercise of that humanity and generosity which the Tonquinese were led to expect from his conduct, during the long struggle for the recovery of his hereditary claims, they are oppressed with enormous taxes for the maintenance of a great army; and their veneration for the person of their sovereign is impaired by his attachment to pleasure, his infidelity in matters of religion, and his vindictive treatment of his former opponents.

The first volume of the work before us is divided into two parts; the one giving a description of the physical properties of the country, and the other delineating its political condition and national character. In the former of these, after having pointed out a variety of errors into which Europeans have fallen by mistaking Asiatic names, the author enters at some length into a geographical account of the Tonquinese dominions, from which we have extracted the subsequent particulars :

'Situation and Climate. The points of contact between the kingdom of Tonquin and the territory of China are generally deserts, the water in which is unwholesome, and the boundary-lines have, in consequence, not been accurately defined. Between Tonquin and that part of China which is called the province of Canton, runs a chain of impassable mountains, with only one open space, in which a great wall has been constructed; one of the gates of which is guarded on the Chinese, and the other on the Tonquinese side. The sovereign of Tonquin has lately assumed the title of Emperor, and has united under his sway the countries of Cochin-China, Tsiampa, Cambodia, Laos, and a province to the north of Laos, unknown to Europeans, called Lac-tho. These five divisions are not, however, collectively equal in either population or resources to Tonquin. They are separated from each other by chains of mountains; and the inhabitants of each, while they join in acknowledging the sway of a common sovereign, continue to preserve their separate and distinctive character. Tonquin and the lower part of Cochin China abound with rivers. of which more than fifty have their embouchures in the sea. The largest is the river which takes the name of Cambodia from the region whence it flows. After having passed the walls of the capital of Cochin-China, it pours its waters into the ocean, and is navigable for vessels of any depth, fifty miles from its mouth. The coasts of Tonquin, by forming a gulph, render the communication between different parts of the empire easier by water than by land; though the navigation is much impeded by shallows, and the beds of their rivers are deficient in depth. There is not in all Tonquin a harbour or roadstead fit for the reception of men of war: but in Upper Cochin-China, in lat. 16. 7. 18. is a bay called by the natives Han, and by Europeans Turon, which is one of the finest in the universe. Shipping is there protected from every wind, and may anchor in the greatest numbers: but the government

vessels are, notwithstanding, in general, stationed in a roadstead near the mouth of the Cambodia, which, though inferior to the other, is preferred on account of the facility which it affords for running up the river and resorting to the naval arsenals.

In regard to climate, Tonquin, like other countries in similar latitudes, has been munificently gifted by the hand of nature. A temperate heat produces a steady and gentle fermentation, and enlivens all that is perceptible of animation. The soil is fertile; all the senses afford enjoyment; the air is embalmed by the odour of the plants; the taste is feasted by the excellence of the fruits; while the beauty of the flowers, and the richness of the prospect present an enchanting spectacle. He who has not visited the favoured regions in these latitudes, can have no adequate conception of the extent of delight which our organs of sense are capable of receiving. While, on the one hand, the climate of Tonquin is exempt from severe cold, it is free likewise from the burning heats of Africa; the proximity of the sea, and the prevalence of easterly winds, which blow from the watery element, preserving a sufficient degree of moisture. Of the sensitive properties of the air of Tonquin, circumstances are related which must appear odd and even incredible to an European. If, in carrying a dead body past a betel-nut garden, the coffin is not hermetically sealed, the effluvia has, it is said, the effect of vitiating the fruit, and, after some time, of destroying the trees. Certain it is that the influence of exhalations, poxious as they are in all countries, appears to be baneful in a particular degree in this, the inhabitants being under the necessity of sharpening their instruments of iron and steel almost every time that they are used. The month of February may be said to represent spring in this country; summer lasts during seven months, from the beginning of March to the end of September; October and November constitute the autumn; while December and January form the season of winter, if, in this climate, winter can be said to exist. The rains, though less strictly periodical in Tonquin than in other tropical regions, are in general violent from April to August, and their occurrence at this season moderates greatly the power of a vertical sun. The months of March, April, and May, are the least healthy of the year but so extensive a territory necessarily furnishes many exceptions to any general rule. The monsoons are less regular than in other parts of Asia, but sufficiently uniform to afford considerable assistance in long voyages. During three quarters of the year a westerly wind rises regularly at midnight, and the fishermen take advantage of it to get out to sea. The tides vary according to the season, the lowest being in May, June, and July, and the highest in November, December, and January; though even those are inferior to the tides in Europe. The typhoon in the Tonquin seas is less dreadful than a West India hurricane, inasmuch as it does not envelop resisting bodies in whirlwinds: but it lasts generally for the space of twenty-four hours, and blows from each of the four cardinal points in succession, beginning commonly from the east. The seafaring people run their ships into harbours and roadsteads on its first appearance; while on shore the doors are barracadoed, and the roofs sometimes secured by ropes to prevent their being blown down.

It is generally believed in Tonquin, that the maritime provinces have been gained from the sea, and various circumstances concur to favour that opinion. The number of rivers pouring down soil from the upper grounds must have tended to produce this effect in the course of ages; and in digging for wells, the inhabitants often meet with shells and the vestiges of fish. The soil towards the coast is in general slimy, and favourable for the cultivation of rice; while in the mountains it is often gravelly, but on the whole highly fertile. Some caverns are found in this country, of surprising magnitude; and mines of iron and other metals are in abundance. Mines of the precious metals also might, in all probability, be successfully worked: but the government, afraid of invasion from European avarice, prohibits all attempts of that kind. By a singular departure from the common course, a residence in a hilly part of this empire is in general less healthy than in the plain. This is owing to the bad quality of the water; which is caused, in the opinion of the inhabitants, by the fall of leaves from the trees, but more probably by the taint of copper mines.'

The Tonquinese still retain, in their personal appearance, a considerable resemblance to their Chinese progenitors, though in some respects a difference may be remarked; their noses are less flat, and they are addicted to the rude custom of blackening their teeth, and deepening the red of their lips. This operation takes place at the age of sixteen or seventeen, and gives an ungracious and often a harsh cast to their features, though they are delighted to escape at any hazard from the colour of white; which, even in the case of teeth, is obnoxious to their taste. Notwithstanding their disfiguration, beauty may be found among the women, whose eyes are large, black, and expressive. The women of the kingdom of Tonquin are accounted superior in personal attractions to their fellow subjects in Cochin-China; at least if we may draw an inference from the choice of the Mandarins, who give a preference to females from the former quarter. The national antipathy to white operated as a prejudice against the English, who appeared some years ago in Tonquin, and were the fairest Europeans who had hitherto visited the coast. The Tonquinese, without being tall, are well made and healthy; it being a very rare thing to observe among them the existence of any bodily defect, except in the eye-sight. Their skins are soft, their senses of smell and touch are very delicate, and their sight is weak, but their hearing is not remarkable in either way. Their bodily powers are inferior to those of an European, owing evidently to the lightness of their food, and perhaps also to the influence of their climate which, on strangers at least, has a relaxing and enervating effect. The females are marriageable at the age of twelve and thirteen, and generally become the mothers of numerous families. Every mother, whate

ver be her station, suckles her own child, and a hired nurse is a character wholly unknown in these regions. Twins at a birth are more common here than in Europe; and, provisions being abundant, a numerous family is accounted no burden.-The diseases in this country are materially different from those of Europe. Pleurisy, gout, and gravel, are rare: but fever, dysentery, and cutaneous complaints, particularly the leprosy, are common. The small-pox also makes dreadful ravages, both inoculation and vaccination being unknown. A singular complaint consists in having the hair and skin of an unvaried white; the lapse of years produces no change in this malady; which, however, is accompanied with no pain, and seems to engender no other disorder.

In regard to the population of the empire of Tonquin, considerable difficulty opposes the formation of any thing like a correct estimate; since the returns which are made, being connected with the imposition of taxes, are often defective, and are moreover considered as secrets of state. The most probable computation is, that the whole population of the empire amounts to about twenty-three millions; of which Tonquin alone contains eighteen, and Cochin-China one million and a half. The countries of Tsiampa and Lac-tho may be supposed to contain each between 6 and 700,000; Cambodia and Laos about a million cach. The ratio of increase has, during the present age, been much retarded by the ravages of civil war. Of ten provinces of which Tonquin consists, the most populous by far is that of Xunam, situated in the centre of the country, and forming a vast plain, watered by many rivers, navigable for small craft. Backinh, the capital, contains about 40,000 inhabitants; Han-vints between 15 and 20,000; Tran-hac, from 10 to 15,000; Causang, between 7 and 8000; Vi-hoang, 6000; Hun-nam, 5000. The last two are situated on the great Tonquin river, and Hunnam was the seat of the Dutch factory. Phu-xuan, the capital of Upper Cochin-China, has at present, in consequence of being the residence of the emperor, a population of from 20 to 30,000. Qui-phu, Sai-gou, and Qui-whou, all in Cochin-China, may be set down as nearly 8000 each. A dreadful famine, which took place twenty years ago, in consequence of a drought, made sad havoc in the population; which otherwise appears to increase very rapidly. Few persons of either sex remain unmarried: a family of children is accounted an honour, and very soon proves to be an advantage, their labour yielding more than they cost; while in China, as it is well known, infants are exposed to perish, it is here common to purchase them; and in many cases in which polygamy exists, the object is not the gratification of voluptuousness, but the multiplication of progeny.