870 
confer on a cat, observing that a 
woman, having nine lives, bears a 
great deal of killing. It is evident, 
indeed, from the whole tenor of 
their conduct, that the men, even in 
the common ranks of life, consider 
the other sex as destined for their 
use ; and those in a higher station, 
as subservient to their pleasures, 
The number of wives or of concu- 
bines, which a man may find it expe- 
dient to take, is not limited by any 
law or rule; but here, as in China, 
the first in point of date claims pre - 
cedence and takes the Jead in all 
domestic concerns. The terms on 
which the parties are united are not 
more easy than those by which they 
may be separated. To break a 
sixpence between two parting lovers 
is considered, among the peasantry 
of some of the counties in England, 
as an avowal and pledge of unalier- 
able fidelity. In Cochinchina, the 
breaking of one of their copper 
coins, or a pair of chop-sticks, 
between man and wife, before pro- 
per witnesses, is considered as a dis- 
solution of their former compact, 
and the act of separation. 
In China the men have sedulously 
and successfully inculcated the doc- 
trine, thata well bred women should 
not be seen abroad ; that she should 
confine herself constantly to her 
own apartments; that in the pre- 
sence of even her nearest male rela- 
‘tions she should not expose her 
neck and her hands, to prevent 
which her gown is buttoned up close 
to the chin, and its sleeves hang 
down below the knee; and so craft- 
tily have they contrived, their pre- 
cepts to operate, that the silly 
women have actually heen prevailed 
on to consider a physical defect 
which confines them to the house 
as a fashionable accomplishment, 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1806. 
Here, in this respect, there is a 
total difference with regard to the 
sex. So far from the Cochinchinese 
women being deprived of the free 
use of their limbs or their liberty, 
they have the enjoyment of both to 
the fullest extent. It certainly was 
not in Coohinchina where Eudoxus, 
in his travels, is said to have observ- 
ed the feet of the women to be so 
small, that they might with propri- 
ety be distinguished by the name of 
the ‘* ostrich-footed ;” feminis plan- 
tas adeo parvas ut Struthopodes appel- 
lentur ; as by their bustling about 
with naked feet, they become un- 
usually large and spreading ; but the 
name might aptly enough be applied 
to the feet of the Chinese ladies, 
whose undefined and lumpish form 
is not unlike the foot of the 
ostrich, 
Extremes often approximate. The 
same cause which in China has ope- 
rated this total seclusion of the sex 
from society, and the abridgment of 
their physical powers, has produced 
in Cochinchina a diametrically oppo- 
site effect, by permitting them to 
revel uncontrolled in every species 
of licentiousness. This cause is their 
being degraded in public opinion, 
and considered as beings of an infe- 
rior nature to the men. Thus situ. 
ated, character becomes of little 
value either to themselves or to 
others ; and, from all accounts, it 
appears they are fully sensible of 
its unimportance in this respect. 
The consequence of which is, that 
women of less scrupulosity, or men 
of more accommodating dispositions, 
are not certainly to be met with in 
any part of the world than those in 
the environs of Turon bay. It is 
to be hoped, however, that the gene- 
ral character of the nation may not 
exactly correspond with that which 
prevails 
