102 



E ASTERN G EOG 1 1 A P 1 1 V. 



of the French during the recent military operations against the 

 Black Fhuxs/' 



H>"' (TtnucThifti), present capiial of CVhnvChinn ami uf the 

 whole tif Annum, lies on the coast eomc miles mirth-west of the Bay 

 .'f Tvi'<tfn\ and, 1 iko Ueltio]', ImiiKts of a x&at citadel constructed by 

 Frendi engineers early in thin eentury, mid nmiprifin^ barrack ^, 

 arsenals granaries, and artillery jjrmnnds. On a neighbouring hit) 

 stand the glittering <lnme? *<i tlie royal tjinu .It-nui, riititahiiuij ihe. 

 tombs of many kin^M lavishly crninmenUHl villi ^ema and the prc- 

 cioua metals. Yet in the fourteenth century Hue" wan 45U.ll spoken 

 i.f :is i'.itJi[n-i--.| wiilmi thu limil- i.f lW (/liuriifia Stale, showing Imw 

 very recent has been the spread of the Ann amuse race south nf Us 

 true home in Tonkin, It is connected northward* with Hanoi, nnd 

 southwards through Tmirune with Saigon by a postal service along 

 the imperial highway, with stage* at intervals of len to twelve miles. 



Saigon, at the conilnence of the £fugon and Domini rivers a few 

 miles front the coast, hits almost assumed n European nxpecl since 

 its occupation by the French in 1859, Although situated in an 

 extremely hot ami unlnullby district, its favtm ruble position on 

 navigable waters, communicating by a deep channel with the fortified 



]...ri of riittt-htH'j and Mitt It 1 tbi' i-ji-ti-ni brunrh of the Mi-klmm* 



delta, has caused it to In- shown ew the seal of government for all the 

 French possessions in the Dunnni-Mekhong basin. Cluiudw, the 

 chief place nn the western branch of the Mekhong within French 

 Coehua-Chmu, has aim the advantage nf water cuuimuniculion with 

 Hm- coast by ii navigable canal running southwards lu ITnt'un no the 

 Gulf of Siuin near the Caiubojau frontier. 



Beyond 1IH* f run tier stands K<>u\^-t, the noly seaport in Cambuju 

 proper, with a deep an<l well-sheltered harbour, which has been 

 frequented for many ages by Slatay and rhinesc traders. Within 

 the last few years the sent of the Camhojan government bus been 

 transferred frnm f't/rnuj on the Tonlfi-sap emissary to I'nam-ptfih, a 

 little farther down, at the meeting of the li Four Waters," But the 

 still 1 1 Id it eiipilal, Angkor, which stood at the north-western margin 

 of the Great Luke, nnd which appears tu have flourished when that 

 basin was still the Head of a marine inlet, has long been a city of the 

 dead, wlii-,' gb,rimis par*i i* alibied only by the ruins of jr ^ stupend- 

 ous monuments. For the ancient Cambojan culture ''seems to huve- 

 subsided with the subsidence of the waters. The Great Lake with- 

 drew from Angkor, the marine inlet became gradually filled in, the 

 auirounding plains were cun verted into marshes, the population 



