332 COCHINCHINA. 
3^early contribution, levied by government, is paid for the 
support of a certain number of monasteries, in which the 
priests invoke the- deity for the pubhc welfare. This contri- 
bution consists of produce in kind, as rice, fruits, sugar, 
areca nut, and other articles ; in lieu of which, in towns, are 
collected money, metals, clothing, and such like. The 
priests here, as in China, are considered to be the best phy- 
sicians ; but their art lies more in charms and fascinations 
than in the judicious application of sanative drugs. 
It may be inferred that the fundamental principles of the 
Cochinchinese government are the same as those of China ; 
that they have the same laws and the same modes of punish- 
ment : but on this subject I am unable to communicate any 
information. In the open building adjoining that where the 
I'uling Mandarin resided we saw both the Tcha and the 
Pati-tsS (the cangue and the bamboo) ; but whether the ex- 
ecution of the laws are here less rigidly attended to-, or the 
morals of the people less corrupt, than in China, I will not 
pretend to say; it may be observed, however, that not a 
single punishment of any description occurred to our notice, 
whereas in China we scarcely ever passed a town or village 
in which our eyes were not offended at the sight of the 
cangue, or the ears assailed with the cries of persons suffering 
under the stroke of the bamboo. There, indeed, the Man- 
darins, however corrupt and debauched in private life, assume 
in public an austerity of conduct, which gives a sanction to 
their corrections ; but a Mandarin of Cochinchina, who 
openly violates the rules of decorum, and sets in his own 
7 
