174 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES IN MALAYSIA AND ASIA, 



pea-nuts, and the fruits and vegetables which supply Saigon. 

 Amidst these there are remarkable toiubs under handsome groves 

 of mango trees and sugar palms. The track is hardly practicable 

 except on horseback, but hy the village of Thuan-keou vehicles go 

 right up to the tomb. 



On leaving Saigon one sees the pagoda of Barhet, so called 

 after a captain of marines who here fell into an Anamite ambus- 

 cade and lost his life. Here also King Minh-mang was born in 

 1789, and in memory of this event his father, King Gial-Ong, 

 raised this pagoda, giving it an Anamite name, which signifies 

 *'The Aurora of Promise." At present the pagoda aud its 

 dependencies are used as a colonial state school. 



This road crosses the Plain of Tombs, an immense cemetery, 

 which proves that Saigon has long possessed a considerable popu- 

 lation. The appearance of these tombs is very peculiar. They 

 are occasionally little pyramids with a square or hexagonal base, 

 or small pagodas in miniature, with doors " arch in arch," and 

 guarded by stone dragons. More commonly they are Bquare 

 graves scattered without order on an arid, dusty plain, which 

 boasts only of an occasional clump of trees. This is the aspect of 

 the country which extends from Saigon to the Chinese town of 

 Cholen and the lines of the Ki-hoa. 



After having crossed the moat one sees the traces of defences 

 constructed by the Anamites at this point, for it was here that 

 the most desperate struggle took place of all the battles of 

 the war of Cochin China. It resulted in the taking of the works 

 by Admiral Charner in 1861. Here Col. Testard and Lieut 

 Laregnere were killed. A monument in marble has been raised to 

 the memory of the latter officer at the place where he fell. Close 

 by is a grand grove of mango trees, and it is here that the Bishop 

 d'Adran dwelt, and he it was who introduced mangoes into the 

 country. The name of this prelate was Monseigneur Pigneau do 

 Behaine. He was born at the town of Aurigny, near Laon, and 

 was Vicar Apostolic. It was through his efforts that a treaty 

 was concluded in 1787 between Louis XVI. and King Gial-Ong. 

 This treaty would have been of the greatest use to France if the 



