ject to inundation, where fevers .'sometimes prevail. The diet
consists of rice and fish. The low price of food is the cause
that no one fears to become a father, since there is a certainty
of being able to support the most numerous offspring. A Cochin
Chinese scarcely ever emigrates. In fine, honour itself
attaches to the paternal relation. In the eyes of his children,
a father is sovereign during his life, and they make him almost
a god after his death.”—Manuscript o f M. Chaigneau. Upon
this statement I cannot help remarking, that the very facts
adduced by the writer, afford themselves conclusive evidence
that Cochin China is not a densely but an under-peopled country.