3o8 COCHINCHINA. 
much shocked at so barefaced and indecent a transaction, or 
whether he had not a sufficient sum of money to make up the 
price of the bullocks, is immaterial to the purpose ; it is 
enough to observe that he preferred his duty to the purchase 
of the lady, to the affected astonishment of the Mandarin, of 
whom he understood her to be either the wife or the daughter. 
Another gentleman, in returning one day from the town to 
the river side, was accosted by an elderly woman, who made 
signs to him to follow her into her cottage, where she pre- 
sented him with her daughter, very nearly in that state in 
which she came out of nature's hands ; and the eyes of 
the old lady sparkled with joy at the sight of a Spanish 
dollar. 
There was little prepossessing in the general appearance 
and character of the Cochinchinese. The women had but 
slender pretensions to beauty ; 3^et the want of personal 
charms was in some degree compensated by a lively and 
cheerfvd temper, totally unlike the dul], the morose, and se- 
("luded Chinese. An expressive countenance, being as much 
the result of education and sentiment as a delicate set of 
features and a fine complexion are of health, ease, ex- 
emption fi'om drudgery and exposure to the vicissitudes 
of the weather, could hardly be expected in Cochinchina. 
In point of fact, both sexes are coarse featured, and their 
colour nearly as deep as that of the Malay ; and, like 
these people, the universal custom of chewing areca and 
betel, by reddening the lips and blackening the teeth, gives 
them an appearance still more unseemly than nature in- 
tended. The dress of the women was by no means fascinat- 
7 
