.,‘ftanee ; and the "Dutch ufed to export great numbers frbm Batavia, gathered
in the oriental ifles, and on the coafts-of this country.
The Paracels form a long chain of fmsHl ifiands with rocks and {heals,
parallel to the coaft of Cochin-China.
TUNQlUIN.
T his country was only divided from the former by a final! river,
and may at prefent be coafidered as incorporated with it by ponqueft.
The inhabitants xefemble their neighbours the Ghiflefe, but their manners
are not fo civilized. The produ&s are numerous, and fcem to
blend thofe of Ghina with thole of Hindoftan.', While the ri-yer§,tin
Cochin-China are of a fliort courfe, thofe of Tunquin fpring from the
mountains of Yunnan ; and in the rainy feafon, from May to. September,
» inundate the adjacent „country. The chief is thg Holi Kian,
which, after receiving the Li-fien, paffes by Kefho the capital. This
city is defcribed by Dampier, an obfervant voyager, as approaching jthe
Chinefe form, with a confiderable population. There is no recent
-deferiptioa of this country, which however rather refembles *-a. .Chinefe
province, and '.is loft in the consideration of that ftupendous empire.
In the gulf of Tunquin, and adjacent Chinefe fea, the tu-ffoons, or as
they have been quaintly latinifed, typhons, are tremendous.: “ They are
preceded by very fine weather, a prefacing cloud appears in the nofth-
.eaft, black near the horizon, edged with copper colour on the upper part,
fading into a glaring white. It often exhibits a ghaftly appearance
twelve hours before the typhon bur its; its rage lafts many hours from
the north-eaft, attended with dreadful claps of thunder, large .and frequent
flafhes of lightning, and exceffive hard rains. Then it finks into
9 ' dead
a dead calm, after which:- it begins-again with redoubled ragje from the
fouth-weft, arid continues an equal letigth of time.1’ 1
The defcription of the ya^aus, kingdoms of exterior India being thus
completed, as far as- tlie prefent defign and the imperfect materials
would admit, tfte'»geographical progrefs muft return to .the weft ward,
and djfcufs the wide regions of Hindoftan," a difficult but' interefting.
theme. ' ~ '
^-Feariant^1 OudiBest
VOL. II. H H