me with a copy :—“ 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 flue, honour itself attaches
to the paternal relation. In the eyes of his children, a father is sovereign during liis
life, and they make him almost a god after his death.”
The principal strangers settled in Cochin-China, or* sojourning in it, are the Chinese,
of whom the total number throughout the kingdom, the greater part in Tonquin, it
is supposed may amount to about 10,000. The iron, gold, and silver mines of Tonquin
are worked chiefly by them, and they conduct the greater part of the foreigu
trade of the country. This number is trifling compared to that of the same people
in the remoter country of Siam, a fact to be accounted for by the less favourable
nature of Cochin-China, and the greater jealousy of strangers entertained by its
government.
The civil divisions of the kingdom are into provinces, of which Tonquin contains
14, Cochin-China proper 15, and Champa and Kamboja 7, making, in all, 36. Each
province is divided into districts, called, in the Anam language, Phu, and these into
smaller ones called Kwen, composed of a certain number of villages. Within the
whole kingdom, there are said to be no more than five places which deserve the
name of town, a certain indication of the absence of wealth and industry. These
towns are Cachao, or Keclio, the capital of Tonquin, said to have a population of
150,000; Hue, the imperial capital, with 50,000 inhabitants; Saigon, the chief town
of Kamboja, with 30,000; Kean, in Tonquin, with 10,000; and Calompe, the old
capital of Kamboja, of which the population is unknown.
In character, the Cochin-Chinese are a mild and docile people. The manners of
the lower classes are mild and sprightly beyond what is usual in the east, while the
higher imitate the solemn and formal demeanour of the Chinese. In their habits
and persons, the Cochin-Chinese are an uncleanly people: their diet is indiscriminate,
for no kind of animal food comes amiss to th em : it includes the flesh and eggs of
the alligator, and hatched eggs are a dainty with them. Their national vanity at
least equals that of the Siamese: they consider themselves the first people in the
world, the Chinese being the only foreign nation that they are disposed to consider
respectable. Their rude condition is implied by their treatment of women, of which
Mons. Lefevre gives the following account: “ The rich regard them as destined to
serve as the instruments of their pleasure, and the poor of their wants. For this
reason, they are devoted to offices which require the greatest bodily fatigue, and are
under such a submission to the lords of creation, that they cannot have a will of
their own. The labours of the field are ordinarily their portion; they guide the
plough, and handle the spade and mattock. From morning to evening they wade in
the water, transplanting rice. They carry provisions to market; they cultivate and
manufacture the cotton and silk for the use of their families; and they often take
the principal share in commercial affairs.”
The dress of the Cochin-Chinese is the same for both sexes, and is generally the
same as that of the Chinese, or rather what that of the Chinese was before its innovation
by the Manchoo Tartars. Thus they wear the hair long and entire, tying it in
a knot at the back of the head, and the head is covered with a turban.
The following faithful picture of the state of the arts among the Cochin-Chinese is
given by M. Chaigneau, as the fruits of a long experience: “ All the arts of first
necessity are exercised in Cochin-China. The art of smelting and working metals is
understood, as well as to spin cotton and to weave i t ; to construct ships, and manufacture
their equipments. You find goldsmiths, blacksmiths, carpenters, joiners, &c.,
but none of their arts have risen beyond mediocrity. The iron which they smelt
will not yield of good metal when wrought above 40 per cent, in small, and 30 in
large work. The Cochin-Chinese have some knowledge of the art of tempering iron
and steel, but their tools are always either brittle or too soft. They work better in
copper, because this metal i8 always prepared for them by the Chinese. If, however,
in these and other arts not necessary to name, they are little advanced, it is not for
want either of intelligence or address. They want only models. We must not
expect invention from them, but their talent for imitation is never at fault. It is
thus, that instructed by us (the French), they have perfected to an extraordinary
degree their naval and military architecture. Their cannon-foundry is a proof of the
sagacity with which they know how to profit by instruction and example. The
reigning monarch, Gialong, desiring to leave to posterity some memorial of his reign,
caused nine cannon to be cast carrying each about a ninety-pound ball, and the
experiment was completely successful.”
The cannon alluded to by M. Chaigneau, I saw in the royal arsenal in 1822, and
they certainly appeared to me to be splendid and beautiful ordnance. I t may be
added, on the subject of the state of the arts among the Cochin-Chinese, that they
understand neither the manufacture of porcelain, glass, or paper, receiving all these
from their far more skilful neighbours, the Chinese.
The Anam language, or that of Tonquin, and Cochin-China proper, is wholly
monosyllabic, agreeing in this respect with all the oral languages of China, as well as
with the dialects of Kamboja, Lao, Siam, Pegu, and Burma, in so far as these last are
indigenous, and not derived from foreign sources. The Anam language, notwithstanding
this general agreement, is a peculiar tongue, differing from all the neighbouring
ones. From its nature, it is devoid of inflections, to express gender, number,
and case in the noun, and time and mode in the verb, all these being represented by
auxiliary words. The Anam has every consonant sound expressed by the Roman alphabet,
except F and Z. From its monosyllabic character, it has little variety of sound,
except what it derives from the vowels, which however are numerous. Thus the
syllable which an European would write ma, has, according to the different intonations
given to its vowel, the six following very different meanings, namely, “ a spectre,” the
conjunctive “ but,” the verb “ to gild,” “ a horse,” “ a tomb,” and “ the cheek.”
The Cochin-Chinese never seem to have invented, or possessed phonetic writing.
Their only writing is the symbolic character of China, which they have adopted
with little material change. They have no national literature, all their books being
Chinese.
The kalendar of the Cochin-Chinese is that of the Chinese, and so are their weights
and measures. The current coin is also in imitation of that of China, consisting,
like it, of bits of zinc, with a square hole in the middle for filing. This coin is called
a Sa-pek. Sixty of them make a mas, and ten mas a kwan, or quan, as the name has
been usually written by Europeans. The two last denominations which are intended
to represent the tail and mas of China, are only moneys of account. The kwan, or
600 sa-peks, is by law valued at about 55 centimes of a Spanish dollar, or nearly
28d. ; but as the zinc coins are mere counters, their value is constantly varying with
the supply. Gold and silver are considered only as merchandise, and bought and
sold by weight and assay.
Two forms of religion exist in _ Cochin-China, that of Buddha or Fo, and that
of Confucius. Of these, M. Chaigneau has given the following sensible outline.
“ The religion of Cochin-China is, with little difference, the same as that of China!
The lower orders, the women, the ignorant, follow the worship of Buddha; while
persons of rank and men of letters are of the sect of Confucius. The temples
dedicated both to the religion of Buddha and Confucius, are remarkable for their
simplicity; and no form of worship in Cochin-China is distinguished either for the
splendour of its temples, or the pomp of its ceremonies. The opinions, the prejudices,
the superstitions of the Chinese, are to be found amongst the Cochin-Chinese.
This resemblance, their laws digested in Chinese, the books of the learned written in
the same tongue, all reveal to us by whom it was that Cochin-China was first civilised.
Marriages, funeral ceremonies, the worship of ancestors, festivals, and eras, are all
with slight deviations, the same as in China.” I may add to this, that the temples
which I myself saw during my visit, were small and mean buildings, and that the
talapoins, or priests of Buddha, were either so few in number, or so little distinguishable
from the laity, that neither my companions or myself could identify them.
The religion of Buddha is certainly that of the majority of the people, and is said to
have been introduced from China in the year of Christ 540. The name of this Indian
teacher is pronounced in the Anam language Phât, as it is in the dialects of China
I °» both probably monosyllabic corruptions of the true Sanscrit word.
The domestic trade of Cochin-China is chiefly conducted by its water communications,
consisting of its rivers and sea-board. I t is facilitated, however, by a highway
which runs from north to south throughout the length of the kingdom. In many
parts, this road is broad and well constructed, and at the distance of every ten miles
Î e is a caravanserai, or house for the accommodation of travellers. I t passes
however, over steep mountains, over rivers that are not bridged, and is interrupted’
by many arms of the sea, so that it is unfit for wheel-carriage. The principal external
commerce is with China, and for the most part conducted by Chffies?ffi Chffiese
20 000Dtons vearlv^ ^ the amount. of tbis bl'ancb of commerce in 1822, at about
the establishment of t t T r T , Probably does not exceed this amount. Since
sm U g un W e e n i t i 3» ta h settlement of Singapore, a considerable trade has
p ung up between it and Cochin-China, and this is conducted by native Cochin