CHARACTERS. 
to the native airs of the Scotch, to 
which indeed it bore a very close 
resemblance. ‘The voices of the- 
-women were shrill and warbling, 
but some of their cadences were not 
without melody. ‘The instruments 
at each pause gave a few short flou- 
rishes, till gradually overpowered 
by the swelling and deafening gong. 
Knowing nothing of the language, 
we were of course as ignorant of the 
‘subjectas the majority of an English 
audience is of an Italian opera. In 
_ the shed of Turon, however, as well 
as in the theatre of the Haymarket, 
the,eye was amused as. well as the 
ear. At each repetition of the chorus 
the three Cochinchinese graces dis-° 
played their fine slender shapes in 
_ the mazy dance, in which, however, 
the feet were the least concerned. 
By different gestures of the head, 
body, and°arms, they assumed a 
_ variety of figures; and all their 
_ Motions were exactly adapted to the 
Measure of the music. The burden 
of the chorus was not unpleasing, 
and was long recollected on the 
quarter-deck of the Lion, till the 
novelty which succeeded in China 
effaced it from the memory. In the 
latter country, however, we saw no 
_ dancing, neither by men nor women, 
which makes it probable that this 
» part of the Cochinchinese entertain. 
_ment must be an amusement of their 
own invention, or introduced from 
_ the western part of India. 
_ No entrance money is ever ex- 
pected in the theatres of China or 
~Cochinchina. The actors are either 
hired to play at private entertain- 
“ments, at a fixed sum for theday ; 
er they exhibit before the public in 
-atemporary shed, entirely exposed 
in front. On such occasions, instead 
of cheering the performers with 
empty plaudits, the audience throw 
867 
among them pieces of copper 
money : for this purpose, the Man- 
darins brought us some hundred 
pieces strung on cords, of the same 
kind as those which are current in 
China. By the Cochinchinese the 
regular drama is called Troien, or 
a relation of histories. ‘To the ope~ 
ratic interlade of recitative, air, and 
dancing they give the name of Song. 
sang ; and a grand chorus accompa- 
nied with the gong, the kettle-drum, 
castanets, trumpets and other noisy 
instruments, is called the Ring-rang, 
‘The ambassador had ordered his 
band to attend on shore, where they 
played*a few light airs; but the 
Cochinchinese had no ear for the 
soft and harmonious chords of Euro- 
pean music. Their Ring-rang and 
their Song-sang were infinitely supe- 
rior in their estimation, and were 
the more applauded in proportion 
as they were the more noisy. 
On the Character of the Cochinchi- 
nese. From the same. 
Cochinchina, until a few centuries 
after the Christian zra, formed a 
part of the Chinese empire; and the 
general features of the natives, many 
of the customs, the written language, 
the religious opinions and ceremo- 
nies still retained by them, indicate 
distinctly their Chinese origin. In 
the northern provinces, however, 
they are more strongly marked than 
in those to the southward. The 
same characteristics are likewise dis- 
cernible, but in a fainter degree, in 
Siam which is properly Se-yang, or 
the westtrn country ; in Pegu, pro- 
bably Paquo, or the northern pro. 
vince; and in Ava and the rest of 
the petty states now comprehended 
under the Birman empire, where, 
3k 2 however, 
