1837.] Note on the Geography of Cochin China, 739 



n'abandonnerons point cet usage commode." It is our author who 

 speaks : but how melancholy is it for the reader to hear a man of 

 talent thus framing geographical systems in his head, and refusing to 

 follow newer or more exact information because it does not tally with 

 the " usage commode," or to speak plainly, because it would give a 

 little more trouble. 



" If recent or ephemeral conquests," says he, " have brought the 

 coasts of Camboge under the rule of the king of Cochin China, this is 

 no reason for changing a nomenclature founded on the difference of na- 

 tions and on the situations of countries. The geography of the province, 

 offers still greater difficulties. Those who, like some modern navigators, 

 extend Cochin China up to the point of Camboge, divide it into three 

 parts, upper, middle and lower, or the province of Hud." Here, in 

 placing Hue 4 in Lower Cochin China, the geographer commits a grave 

 error, for that country is situated in Upper Cochin China. " The older 

 travellers," says he, " give a much more complex division to the coun- 

 try, and one perhaps more exact, but at the same time obscure ; by this 

 we will endeavour to determine the following provinces, proceeding 

 from north to south." 



Since M. Malte' Brun prefers the most complicated divisions, and 

 even those he acknowledges to be most indistinct, I leave him 

 willingly to indulge in his peculiar taste. A residence of many years 

 in Cochin China having enabled me to run over all the provinces 

 from the 17th to the 9th degree, north lat., I will attempt to clear up 

 what has seemed to him to be so obscure. 



The division of Cochin China into three parts is certainly the most 

 convenient. Going from north to south and beginning with about 1 7° 30' 

 north lat. the first province, or prefecture, is called Quang binh, the 

 second Quang tri, and the third Quang due. These three prefectures 

 compose what is properly called ' Upper Cochin China,' or vulgarly 'Hue 4 * 

 (or sometimes Phu ? xudri*) from the name of the capital which lies 

 in the prefecture of Quang due. But this name Quang due has been 

 changed by the present king. Pretending to be the son of heaven and 

 aspiring to give a name in harmony with this high title, he has desig- 

 nated it Phu ? thu'a thi4n ; i. e. ' province which enjoys the influence of 

 heaven !' 



Before passing to other provinces, I would observe that the terms 

 I employ to designate the names of provinces are those most in use ; 



* The interrogative sign here denotes that the u is to be pronounced with a 

 rising intonation of voice — we have not the various type necessary to express 

 the native words according to the Bishop's system. — Ed. 

 5 a 2 



