4 
COCHINCHINA. 309 
ing, A loose cotton frock, of a brown or blue colour, reaching 
down to tlie middle of the thigh, and a pair of black nankin 
trowsers made very wide, constitute in general their common 
clothing. With the use of stockings and shoes they are wholly 
unacquainted ; but the upper ranks wear a kind of sandals 
or loose slippers. As a holiday dress, on particular occasions, 
a lady puts on three or four frocks at once, of different 
colours and lengths ; the shortest being uppermost. A wo- 
man thus dressed appears in the annexed print, which repre- 
sents a groupe of Cochinchinese and may be considered as a 
fair specimen of their general appearance. Their long black 
hair is sometimes twisted into a knot and fixed on the crown 
of the head, and sometimes hanos loose in flowino' tresses 
down the back, reaching frequently to the very ground. 
Short hair is not only considered as a mark of vulgarity, but 
an indication of degeneracy. The dress of the men has httle 
if any thing to distinguish it . from that of t he other sex, being 
chiefly confined to a jacket and a pair of trowsers. Some 
wear handkerchiefs tied round the head in the shape of a 
turban ; others have hats or caps of various forms and ma- 
terials, but most of them calculated for protecting the face 
against the rays of the sun ; for which purpose they also make 
use of umbrellas of strong China paper, oi- skreens of the leaves 
of the Borassus or fan-palm and other kinds of the palm tribe, 
or fans made of feathers. Consonant with the appearance of 
their mean and scanty clothing, as frequently thrown ibosely 
over their shoulders as fitted to the body, were their lowly 
cabins of bamboo. In short, nothing met the eye that could 
impress the mind of a stranger with high notions of the happy 
condition of this people. 
