O a t » .
M is s io n a r ie s .
* all their fervants into the court where the ceremony is to be
“ performed, they place the food on a table, where alfo two in-
“ cenfe-pots are placed, and then the mandarine prefents a paper
“ to the clerk, who reads it with an audible voice. In the firft
“ place, there is drawn up an ample account of all that GOD has
“ bleft him withal, as health, riches, honor, favor of his prince,
“ See. and long life, i f he "be old and towards the condufion,
“ there is a petition to GOD for a continuance of all thefe blef-
“ iings, and a further augmentation o f them; efpecially with
it long life, and favor o f his prince, which laft they efteem as
“ the greateft o f all bleffings. While this paper is reading, the
« matter kneels down, and bows his face to the earth, and when
“ the clerk has done reading it, he puts it to the burning rulhes,
“ that are in the incenfe-pot, where it is confumed; then he
“ flings in three or four little bundles of facred paper, which is
“ very fine and gilded ; and when that alfo-is burnt, he bids his
“ fervants eat the meat,”
It is Angular that in matters relative to their oaths of allegiance,
a fpecies o f facrament is annually performed, at the feafon
in which the Mandarines receive from the great officers under
them the oath of fidelity to the k in g ; this is attended with the
following ceremony: they cut the throat of a hen,-and let the
blood fall into, a bafon of arrack; of which every man has a fmall
portion given him to drink, after he has publicly declared his
loyalty and zeal to ferve his prince; and this is efteemed the
moft folemn tie by which any perfon can engage himfelf.
T he Chriftian religion made confiderable progrefs in this
kingdom about the year 1680, and fome time after. Here were
two
two biihops, one ftyled o f AJcalon, thé other of Adran\ but
neither they nor the priefts were fuffered to come to Cacbao, their
refidence being fixed at Heart ; the profelytes they made were
among the meaneft o f the people, and it is fuggefted were gained
over, more by the charitable donations of rice in times o f fcar-
city, than by any arguments o f the pious miifionaries. The
priefts were all matters o f fome mechanic arts which were ufeful
in this country, and which feem to have been the grounds o f
their toleration. By reafon o f fome imprudence on their part,
or fome fpirit o f perfecution in the reigning powers, they were at
length expelled ; and four of the principal miflionaries put to
death by decapitation.
I w i l l conclude with the extent of the kingdom o f Tonquin,
and with a brief account o f the inhabitants. It commences towards
the fouth at the Cochin-China wall, and is there very narrow ; to
the weft it is bounded by the Cochin-Chinefe chain, which foon retires,
and gradually leaves a larger and larger expanfe to the great
plain of this kingdom. Thefe mountains keeping to the north-
weft unite with thofe o f China, and by their branches turning eaft-
ward, conftitute the boundaries between Tonquin, and the mighty
empire o f which the Tonquinefe feem originally to have been a
colony. The weftem limit is at the river Gannan Kyan, in Lat.
-21° 35'-
T he province bordering on China on the fide o f the bay is
that o f Tenan, fmall, but extremely fertile in rice ; off the coaft
are multitudes o f ifles, very properly called, by the Hutch, the
IJlands of Pirates. They are inhabited by fiihermen, who make
no fcruple o f robbing every ihip they can matter. Thofe can
V ol. III. M only
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