ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



[Siam, <$■<?. 



The city is very extensive, containing about 30,000 inhabitants ; the 

 houses are straggling ; several small rivers meet here, and the conveyance 

 from one part to another is mostly by water, for which purpose every sub- 

 stantial family keeps a commodious covered boat, and there are others- for 

 hire, that at any part may be had on call. The streets near the palace, 

 which is a considerable distance from the beginning of the town, are regular, 

 long, and very wide. The city is fortified according to European plan, 

 and surrounded by a double fosse. The arsenal is said to be in the first 

 order. 



The country about Hue, though not fertile, is highly cultivated, and 

 when near the shore, very picturesque. The city exhibits a very handsome 

 and imposing appearance from the sea. A beautiful walk planted with 

 trees surrounds the ramparts inside the city. 



Trade. — A considerable trade is carried on here with Cancao, Saigong, 

 and all parts of their own coasts, in vessels of about 100 tons bur then, which 

 can easily go up to the city, the river having a bar, with only two fathoms 

 at low water. The Chinese carry on a great trade here, having sometimes 

 30 junks in the river at a time. Their imports and exports are similar 

 to those enumerated at Faifoe, 



Regulations. — Much scrupulousness is displayed in admitting persons 

 to pass up the river. At the entrance is a battery, with a flag-staff; here 

 the boats are brought to, and the chops, or passes, strictly examined. 



TONQUIN. — The Gulph of Tonquin is bounded to the R by the 

 Island of Hai-nan, to the N. by the coast of China, and to the S. by the 

 coast of Cochin-China ; it is about 35 leagues wide, having numerous small 

 islands within it, two of which, in the bottom of the Gulph, are marks for 

 the two principal branches of Tonrjuin river. One of these mouths, or 

 branches, is called Uokbo, and discharges itself into the sea near the N. W. 

 corner of the Gulph, in about 2(f 0 N. latitude ; this branch has not above 

 twelve feet water at its entrance ; it is, however, frequented by Chinese and 

 Siamese vessels, which proceed up it to Hean. 



DOMEA, the principal branch of Tonquin river, falls into the Gulph, 

 about 20 leagues N. E. from the former, in latitude 20 3 50' N. It has a h;ir 

 liable to shift; therefore ships commonly wait for a pilot. The pilots are 

 fishermen, who live at a village called Batsha, near the mouth of the river, 

 so situated, that they can see the ships, and hear the guns fired, to give notice 

 of their arrival. The mark to approach the river is a mountain inland, 

 called the Elephant, bearing about N. W. by W. ; and when a small island, 

 called Pearl Island, on the E. side of the road, is about N. N. E., three miles 

 distant, it will be proper to anchor, and wait for a pilot. The depth of the 

 river is various in different seasons, being 26 feet in the N. monsoon, and not 



