I>'DO-CHlXA. 



ing in the patent lalrfmr tliuy imply than thr Wall nf China, ot ev*n than 

 the Grand Canal itself* Other rtdiVming features are ilu-ir love of houio 

 and of their unlive land, Tho child i en also, who nrf iutelliguul. nod mud 

 of iustnirtion, flock ragei-ly to the new French schools opened in Coehin- 

 < 'him, where incut of the Vismjj generation have leant to rtwl and writo 

 in tho Roman character* Their own writing system is httod on thu 

 Chinese, and, like tUi'tr northern nrigh hours, they are merely nominal 

 Buddhists or Confucians, thn lettered classes concealing a scoffing spirit 

 beneath line moral maxims, the iuaaaen still worahipping the natural forces, 

 ancestry, ami the genii of thu cireiiiuambiriit spaces. Amount them tho 

 Itonian'C.illiolie mi--donnri. s hud gm-ut sm-.vss, e*pwtally "luring the 17th 

 century* and notwitludawling suWqueiil- persecutions and tho recent 

 whoh-sale massacres, there Aire still considerably over 100,000 Christians in 

 tho country. 



Although polygamy is legally pwnrltfrfl* it h little practised except 

 amongst tha Mandarins ami wealthy classes, On tho other hand, divorce 

 is so coinniou that on interchange of wive« may bt almost regarded as a 

 national institution, Tho Annamese are a shortdived people, a. generally 

 unhealthy eliittato, poor diet, and indolent hnhitn. combim-d "1" lute years 

 with opium-smoking, canning them to age rapidly. Men fifty yt'iirs old 

 arc already in a decrepit statc T ami few sexagenarians arc met in tho 

 country. 



The Cahvojaxb. 



The original stock of the Gambojan race are probably the rude 

 Kuy peoples of western Caiuboja (province of Compong Soay) and 

 sunt It-eastern Siutn (Mulii-Prey and Tonlti liepan), to whom tho 

 civilised Canibojans still give tho title of Khm&vdom, that is, 

 " Primitive. CambojanH.*' The mil ion al name KhtHrr, in Siamese 

 Km mm' i], has been identified with tho Pali Cambaja, on older form 

 «■]' v.liivli A'* / mpntktttt "•OOord ing f" M. Ayni"iner. the origin at 

 imnif: 'if tin-; i-uiintry, U is esphiiieiJ to mean llic hwA of tilti K:trn 

 people! and in any cose has nothing to do with the Kambojn of 

 Sanskrit geography T with which it ban bee n wrongly connected. 



The Kuy aborigines arc distinguished from the surrounding 

 Mongolia peoples, both by their speech, which is (intoned, and by 

 their physical type, which may bo described as almost Canensic. 

 The CiiTiibojuna proper also speak an untoued, polysyllabic language, 

 which shows certain affinities with the neighbouring Chain., and with, 

 the more remote Oceanic gTou p. But in their physical appearance 

 the modern Cumbojnns have become through intermixture largely 

 assimilated to the Siamese. They are descended of illustrious 

 ancestors, who at one time ruled over a great part of Indo-China, 

 and erected on the shores of Lake Tonle-eap stupendous Brah- 

 i Mai lit- and Buddhist temples and other monuments, such as those of 

 Angkor-Vat and Indopathaburi, rival] ing in size and magnificence 

 those of Java itself. But the modem Cambojaus are a feeble., 



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