298 COCHINCHINA. 
pieces ; and in every corner gamesters were playing cards or 
throwing dice. But that which most attracted our attentioa 
was a party of young men keeping up a shuttlecock in the air, 
by striking it with the soles of the feet. Nothing, indeed^ 
could exceed the activity and energy of the men of Cochin- 
china. A seaman of the Lion, having quarrelled with, one 
of these people, insisted on making a ring and boxing it 
fairly out. While the sailor was squaring his arms and 
manoeuvring and looking for the exact spot where he should 
hit his antagonist a knock-down blow, the Cochinchinese,. 
while grinning in his face, very coolly turned up his heel 
and, giving him a hard and totally unexpected kick in the 
jaw, walked away with great composure, leaving the as- 
tonished sailor to the laughter and merriment of the crowd.. 
Active as they were in the use of their feet,, their manual 
dexterity was not less remarkable. Jugglers and conjurors 
and posture-makers were exercising t-lieir respective arts for 
the amusement of the crowd, and for their own advantage : and , 
we found to, our cost that those who did not openly practise 
juggling as a profession were equally as expert in the art o£ 
picking pockets.. Scarcely a day occurred in which some of: 
the party did not return to the ships with the loss of pocket 
handkerchiefs, an article for which they seemed to have a par- 
ticular liking. AVe* found them all, from the highest to the 
lowest, most importunate beggars, craving without the least 
ceremony for every thing that might suit their fancy ; neither, 
were they satisfied with a simple denial, nor with obtaining 
what they asked, becoming generally more urgent in their 
demands in proportion to the liberality of the giver; and 
