BY JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER, LL. D. 



How down from the mountains which part the province of Ttin- 

 nan in China, from India. All the above rivers, the Bahramputter 

 excepted, take their courfe dirough large vallies, enclofed on 

 each fide by ridges of hills. On the approach of the fun to the 

 tropic of Cancer y the fnow on thefe mountains is difTolved, and 

 all thefe vallies are overflowed, lilce Egypt by the Nile. When 

 die rivers return into their channel, the moiftened countries are 

 fown chiefly with rice, which yields a very rich increafe. The 

 kingdoms of Cochinchina, and 'Tonquin, are bounded to the eaft 

 by the fea, and to the wefl by a ridge of mountains feparating 

 them from the kingdoms of Cambodia, and Laos. From this 

 ridge many rivers defcend, which, after they have watered the 

 country for a fl^ort trad, mingle with the fea. 



The foil of all India hitherto defcribed is rich; and, by the Soil. 



cultivation of the populous nations, which from the remoteft ages 

 have inhabited thefe regions, and addidled themfelves to agricul- 

 ture, is rendered extremely fertile. And, by reafon that fo many 

 nations, and fuch various fpecies of animals, have for fuch a 

 courfe of ages putrefied with the vegetables of this fruitful land, 

 the foil, lixiviated with water and mixed with afhes, affords to 

 Europe a great quantity of nitre, the principal ingredient of its 

 gunpowder. Rice is chiefly fown in moift fituations, and fup- 

 plies thefe people, who live a Pythagorean life, with a food of eafy 

 preparation, and extremely cheap. There is another kind of 

 rice, which grov/s even on the hills, and fpares the cultivators the 

 labor of watering. 



The marfhes are covered with thick beds of reeds; and, near Marshes. 

 the mouths of the largefl rivers, overgrown with impenetrable 

 groves of mangles. Among the cultivated trafts, here and there 



dry 



