!\ DO-CHIN A 19 



by conditions of soil and climate. In Indo < hina indeed 

 two main landscapes strike the eye of the traveller: the 

 ragged mass of wooded mountains through which swift 

 and mighty streams have carved theii deep channels, 

 and the low swamp- rapidly encroaching on the sea by 

 means of the colossal deposits which are spread broad- 

 by the riven when in flood. All the big rivers, 

 Si-kiang, Song-ho, Mekong, Bfenam, Sal win, and [rawadi, 

 thus create vast belts of half-emerged swamps, covered 

 by an inextricable network of Blnggish, muddy, and ever- 

 changing tidal waterway-, like the MindarLans of the 

 Ganges. On these shaky mild- have Spmng into exis- 

 tence low. gloomy, impenetrable tangles of evergreen 



swamp forests, Corresponding to the varolii or itrapu 



of the Amazon, with their canopy almost resting on the 

 water during the monsoon period. An excess of ground- 

 water here counterbalances the effect of the dry season. 

 A great pari of the land thus conquered l»y the 



shallow seas, i- however being reclaimed by man and 



enclosed by lev. 6 it has tilile to develop itsOWIl 



rotation. Bice fields (or 'paddy '-fields) are planted on 

 the undried silt, and rivers are bordered by arecs and 

 other palms, bambu-thickets and groves of banana- 

 trees. The luxuriance of these 'paddy-lands 1 is un- 

 bounded : areCS and coco-nut palms, manjack fruit, 

 tamarind, orange and lemon, bread-fruit, and cinnamon 

 trees yield profuse crops. Besides rice, the land, divided 

 as a chess-board, gives pineapple, tobacco, indigo, cotton, 

 and all the variety <>f tropical produce. The wsste-land 

 remains in the state of undrained, impassable reed- 

 swamps, where there is an extraordinary abundance of 

 game. 



The mountains of the interior hardly know a period 

 entirely devoid of rainfall, and are therefore clad with 



