COCHINCHINA. ' 311 
of surface indicating a former existence of walls and forts, 
and Avhich, by our officer's account who was taken prisoner, 
were still more visible and extensive at Fai-foo ; from the re- 
mains, also, of gardens and plantations of fruit trees and 
flowering shrubs, that were now run into wildernesses : but no 
traces appeared to indicate former opulence, or convey the 
impression of fallen magnificence. It is true, the vestiges of 
Oriental cities, when suffered to fall into decay, soon disap- 
pear. Their best houses, limited to a single story, constructed 
generally of wood or of bricks that have been dried only in 
the sun, require an unremitted attention to preserve them 
from mouldering into dust. Their city walls, constructed of 
light and imperfect materials, soon crumble into heaps of 
ruins, and are buried under a rapid and vigorous vegetation. 
The system on which their city walls are built is but ill cal- 
culated for duration. The mass of loose earth heaped in the 
middle has a constant tendency to push out the brick or 
stone casing which, tumbling into the ditch, is lost in a few 
years in the general surface.. If the great jind populous city 
of Pekin, the greatest and most populous perhaps on the whole 
globe, should by any accident be deserted, many centuries 
would not be required to blot out every vestige of its situation. 
It is, therefore, the less surprizing tlla^, in the days of Alex- 
ander, all traces of the supposed magnificent palaces- of Troy 
had disappeared ; and that the proud city of Babylon, once 
the mistress of the world, should for so many ages past have 
been laid prostrate in the dust.. 
The cottages of Turon. w^ere in general snug and clean, and 
sufficiently compact to protect the inhabitants from the heat 
