erefted, and multitudes o f converts made. At length a king
arofe unfriendly to our doftrine, who expelled the miffionaries,
and compelled his fubjcfts to return within the pale o f the national
church. Having premifed this, I ihall treat the reader
with Le Poivre's elegant account o f the revolution, and the
happy ftate o f this kingdom; but I mull mix my' fears with it,'
that as he hints at corruptions creeping faft into the original
fyftem of government, it may be found at prefent as abfolute,
as tyrannical, and as abfurd as other eaftern dominions, under
the rule o f the infirm individual. To begin,
“ A 91mquihefe prince, unfuccefsful in a war he carried on
“ againft the king o f tonquin (under whom he enjoyed an
“ office fomewhat refembling the Maires de palais under the
“ Merovingiari race o f the kings o f France) retired with his
“ foldiers and adherents acrofs the river which divides that
« kingdom from Cochin-China. The favages, who then pbiTefTed
“ this country, fled before thefe ftrangers, and took refuge
“ among the mountains o f tfiampa. After a long war with
“ their old enemies, who purfued them, the tonquinefe fugi-
“ tives remained at length peaceable pofieflbrs o f the country
<1 known under the name of Cochin-China; it extends about
« two hundred leagues from north to fouth, but narrow and
f unequal from eaft to weft. They then applied themfelves
“ entirely to the cultivation o f rice, which, being the ordinary
“ food o f the inhabitants o f Aft a, is to them an objeft of the
« greateft importance. They feparated into little cantonments,
« and eftablifhed themfelves on the plains, which extend along
“ the banks of the rivers.
« T he
“ T he fix firft kings, founders o f this monarchy, governed
“ the nation as a father governs his family ; they eftablifhed the
“ laws o f nature alone ; they themfelves paid the firft obedience
H to them. Chiefs o f an immenfe family o f laborers, they
“ gave the firft example of labor; they honored and encouraged
^ agriculture, as the moft ufeful and honorable employment o f
if mankind. They required from their fubjefts only a fmall
(t annual free-gift to defray the expence o f their defenfive war
“ againft their fonquinefe enemies.”
Off the coaft o f Cochin-China are the Paracels, a vaft traft TheParacelk-
of rocks, reefs, fand-banks, and fmall ifles, extending from
north to fouth from Lat. 12* ro' N. to i6° 45' N. two hundred
and feventy-fix miles in length, and fixty in breadth. To
the north-eaft of the northern end is a group o f fmall reefs and
rocks, called the 'triangles, and again a little to the fouth-eaft of
that is a great irregularly flraped ihoal, called the Macclesfield
ihoal. Between thefe and the ifle o f Hainan, belonging to China,
is clear and deep water. That ifiand lies to the north, about one
hundred and thirty miles from the neareft extremity o f the Pa-
racels; the interval is the common paflage o f our fhips bound
for China-, they fail between the coaft of Cochin-China and the-
Paracels, till they get fight of the Campellos ifles in Lat, 16" 10'.
From thence they crofs over towards-Hainan, which is ftrongly
marked by feveral very high and craggy mountains, forefights
of the general nature o f the great empire.-
tmbofa is the next point navigators make for, a fmall but
lofty ifle not remote from Hainan, and from thence is a direft
and clear pourfe to the iflapds o f Sanciam; a little beyond
which