EASTERN GEOGRAPHY. 



inn I mlin^ the mwmnftfww and widl-ahtdlored harbour of Tiirane. 

 One of these spurs to the south of the Snng-Km delta serve* as (he 

 mil ur.il frniilior lietween the ancient k iugd< mm uf Tonkin and Cm hin- 

 Cliiiiii, But the iji ^ist-range itself, which appear* to bwir m> general 

 native. nniQB, comen almost to an abrupt termination toward* ihe 

 frontier uf Luwer ur French Cochin- China forming part of tlu> Lower 

 Mekhon^ basin, lieyond tin* point il> further extension &.iulh wards 

 iis indicated only by some isoLiled eminences, audi as the Tvuoded 

 headland of Gtpa St. Jmne* at the south-eastern extremity of the 

 mainland, and further seawards by the small l'ulo Condor insular 

 gwmp. 



Although now inhabited chiefly by the Aimunw race, Zojeacr Cbc&fo- 

 Cfti'tia should more properly bo eallwl Lower Combi-jo. Till its wiqwit 

 by the Cochiu-C'hinoso about tha middle of the Inst century it formed fcn 

 integral fvirt of the ancient kingdom of Camboja, and it belongs physically 

 altogether to the. sanie region. It comprises tho grata pirt of the, 

 Alekhong delta, which is itwdf nothing more than a comparatively recent 

 southern tension of the, lowdying alluvial plains of Cnwlwja proper. 

 Tin' whole rvgion ns far as and including Lake Tanlu-sip {seep. 54) eon- 

 etitulcd, probably wiitiiu thu last HO00 years,, a marine basin, peuetntiltg 

 far inland between the Cochin-Cbbm coast rangt mn tin* liast and tHn ('ureal 

 Flilh ou the west Th'j rripi'l hiMYS'ariL it; union of the land in thi* 

 direction. by which the "llreat Lake" has become a land-Ioeked basin, 

 still inhabited by porpoises and other nuctttt atiimnls, is dofl partly to the 

 alluvinl JoJioMilM of the Mrkhoug, but prohahlv still mon " • ' i i • i . ! 

 uplit'.n-al *if ill..- liktid, :\ niovK'niiiil ei'idcntly >ciJi going OH* M lhawn by 

 the recent conversion, of the island of Cape St. James into a part t»f the 

 mainland. 



Both the delta ami still more the inlrind parte of Cambnja are 

 subject to extensive annual flooding*, which hist from June to Sep- 

 tember, and which rise high l'Imu»Ii c . ■ invert nil the low-lying 

 tracts into a vast inland sea, studded here and there with wooded 

 islets serving as refuges for the inhabitant.* and their donMWtfal 

 animals, lint nftcT the subsidence of the witters, the whole country 

 pri'si-nf.-i 111*- :i>pivi iif .i r... mi, II.--- -.in. iv [ifuiu, d i vrrsi lii-d with 

 numerous glittering lakes, and traversed in its entire length by 

 the varum* ranuficniioiis of iln-> Lower M-'khong lluvinl sy^trii]. 

 The main stream and the Tnnle-sap emissary converging at Pnom- 

 penh, present capital mF Camhoju pmper, again branch olf at this 

 point into two divergent channel*, which follow a nearly parallel 

 course through the half-submerged plains uf the delta to their junc- 

 tion near the coast with the no k-^s intricate .*y*tein uf the Dunnai, or 

 P River of Saigon." The converging point of the iuur great branches 



