COCHINCHINA. 



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menu- 



Cothincfci- ehes of commerce. They even assist in constructing and 

 repairing the cottages ; they conduct the manufactures ; 

 they ply the boats in the rivers, and in the harbours ; 

 they carry the articles of produce to market ; they weave 

 the cotton into cloth, dye it, and make it into dresses 

 for themselves and their families. But nothing can be a 

 stronger proof of the degradation of the female charac- 

 ter, and the unceasing labour to which they are doomed, 

 than the proverbial expression in the country, tc that a 

 woman has nine lives, and bears a great deal of killing." 

 The younger part of the males are compelled to enrol 

 themselves in the army ; and the rest are employed in 

 fishing, in felling timber, in building and repairing ships 

 and boats, and in preparing articles of export for the 

 China market ; but leaving always a considerable por- 

 tion of time for some favourite amusement. 



Mn5c- An idea of the nature of their amusements will be best 



formed from the account which Mr Barrow gives of an 

 entertainment prepared by the inhabitants, on the fourth 

 of June, in honour of the birth-day of the king of Great 

 Britain. " We were conducted from the place of land- 

 ing, to a temporary building, on a larger scale than that 

 which we had hitherto occasionally occupied. The two 

 pitches of its roof were supported by a row of bamboo 

 poles, which running down the middle, divided the build- 

 ing into two parts. The sides of the roof were covered 

 with thick double mats, and lined within with coarse 

 Manchester cottons of various patterns." ' In the far- 

 ther division of the building, a party of comedians was 

 engaged in the midst of an historical drama, when we en- 

 tered j but on our bsing seated, they broke off, and corning 

 forward, made before us their obeisance of nine genu- 

 flexions ar.d prostrations ; after which they returned to 

 their labours, keeping up an incessant noise and bustle 

 during the day. The horrible crash of the gongs, k-.-t- 

 tlc-drums, rattles, trumpets, and squalling flutes, were 

 so stunning and oppressive, that nothing but the novelty 

 f the cene could possibly have detained us for a mo- 

 ment. Their airs, rude and unpolished as they were, ap- 

 peared to be n gular compositions, and were sung in ex- 

 actly measured time. One in parti-'ular attracted our at- 

 tention, whose slow melancholy movement breathed that 

 kind of plaintive softness so peculiar to the native airs of 

 the Scotch, to which, indeed, it bore a very close resem- 

 blance. The voices <>f the w men were slinll and warb- 

 ling, but some ot their cadences were not without melody. 

 The instruments at each pause, gave a few short flourish- 

 es, till gradually overpowered by the swelling and deafen- 

 ing gong. By different gestures of the h<ad, body, and 

 armf, the dancers assumed a variety of figures ; and all 

 their motions were exactly adapted to the measure of the 

 music." " The Cochinchinese are very tond of theatri- 

 cal amusements ; the actors are busily engaged in their 

 performances the whole day, proceeding apparently with 

 as much ardour when there are few, or even no specta- 

 tor* present, as when there were many. Being hired for 

 the day, a crowded or a thin audience makes but little 

 difference to the performers ; all th-ir c.-ncern being the 

 receipt of their pay cm the finishing of their labour." 

 " Leaving the comedians m the mid-t of their labours, 

 We walked across the village green, which was also the 

 market place, where we were highly entertained with a 

 variety of sports and gambols. The fourth of June was 

 for once a day of general fe tivity, in this part of Cochin- 

 china. In one place we observed about . dozen of young 

 fellows, playing at foot ball, with a bladder ; m another, 

 they were displaying their agility, by leaping over an ho- 

 rizontal pole ; here a no sy gruiipe were amusing them- 

 Klves in fighting cocks ; there boys, m imitation of their 



elders, were training quails, and other small birds, and Cochinchi 

 even grasshoppers, to tear one another in pieces ; and in '"' 

 every corner gamesters were playing cards, or throwing ^ ""V 

 dice. But that which most attracted our attention, was 

 a party of young men keeping up a shuttle-cock in the 

 aii , by striking it with the soles of their feet. Nothing, 

 indeed, could exceed the activity and energy of the men 

 of Cochinchma. Active as they were in the use of their 

 feet, their manual dexterity was not less remarkable. 

 Jugglers, and conjurors, and posture-makers, were exer- 

 cising their respective arts for theamusement of the crowd, 

 and ior their own advantage ; and we found to our cost, 

 that those who did not openly practise juggling as a pro- 

 fession, were equally expert in the art of picking poc- 

 kets." P. 295, &c. 



Their arts and manufactures are, as may be supposed, Arts and 

 in their infancy, and do uot appear to be in a state of ma>, Hue- 

 progressive improvement. There is in this, and in all tures. 

 Oriental governments, a radical defect, which must ever 

 operate against all national improvements ; and that is, 

 the want of a permanent security to property. In a coun- 

 try where the hand of arbitrary power can, at any time, 

 dispossess a rn.-m of his property, what encouragement can 

 he have to build an elegant house, to improve the culti- 

 vation of his land, to aim at perfection in any art, or, in 

 short, to extend his ingenuity or industry, much beyond 

 a supply of the mere necessaries of life. Their best 

 houses are constructed of wood or bricks, which have 

 been dried in the sun, are limited to one story, are 

 thatched, and require constant attention to prevent them 

 from mouldering into dust. On the low grounds, and in 

 the neighbourhood of rivers, the houses are usually raised 

 upon four posts of wood, or pillars of stone, to protect 

 the inhabitants from vermin, and from inundations. Their 

 city walls are but ill calculated for duration. The mass 

 of loose earth heaped in the middle, has a constant 

 tendency to push out the bricks or stones with which 

 it is cased, s that the whole soon crumbles into a heap of 

 ruins, and n> buried under a rapid and vigorous vegeta- 

 tion. The houses in Turon, one of the sea-port towns, 

 were, in general, clean and comfortable, and sufficiently 

 compact to protect the inhabitants from the heat of the 

 sun at one season, and the heavy rains at the other. Their 

 household furniture H scanty, and rude in its construc- 

 tion. An earthen stove, an iron pot to boil their rice, 

 which forms their chief article of food, a pan to fry their 

 vegetables in oil, and a few porcelain cups and bowls, com- 

 pose their domestic utensils. The floors of their houses 

 are, indeed, covered with matting, .ingeniously woven in 

 different colours ; but the art of making mats is so com- 

 mon among all the nations of the East, that the most beau- 

 tiful are scarcely admired. Their vessels of cast iron are 

 well executed, and equal in quality to those of the Chi- 

 nese, but their earthen ware is far inferior. They work 

 in metals with tolerable neatness ; and as they are an acute 

 and ingenious people, they might, under proper encou- 

 ragement, make a rapid progress in the arts and manufac- 

 tures. 



The art in which they excel most, at present, is naval Naval ar- 

 architec'ure, fir which the size and quality of their tim- chitecturc. 

 ber is admirably fitted. Their row-galhes, built for plea- 

 sure, are very fine vessels ; from 50 to 80 feet in length ; 

 and are sometimes composed of only five single planks, 

 wh'ch extend from one extremity ot the vessel to the 

 other ; the edges being morticed, kept tight by wooden 

 pins, and bound firm by twisted fibres of bamboo, without 

 ribs, or any kind ti timbers. The compai.y always sit 

 in the forepart of the boat, and the servants and baggage 

 occupy the stern ; but at it would be deemed a bread: of 



