264 Notices of Books . [April, 
population. From December to May the Song-koi, or Red River, 
is very low, but about May the melted snow and ice from the 
mountains of Upper Tonquin and the Chinese province of 
Yunnan come down, and the river rises rapidly, attaining a 
height of 30 feet, and often carrying away the banks and flooding 
the country. 
The approach to the city of Hanoi, the capital of Tonquin, is 
very fine, for a turn of the river — at that point over a mile in 
breadth — brings into view the town and the settlement, on the 
construction of which the French are expending much care. 
The city rises gradually from the river, and, being embedded in 
trees and foliage, it has a charming appearance on a bright and 
sunny day. That part of Hanoi where the citadel — so gallantly 
captured by Lieut. Francis Gamier on November 30th, 1873 — is 
built is somewhat higher than the other quarters of the city, the 
ground rising gently from the banks of the Song-koi to the 
height of about 180 feet above the level of the sea. A brick 
wall, about 3 feet thick and 12 feet high, comprising twelve 
bastions connected by curtains, surrounds the citadel, which 
forms a perfeCt quadrilateral of some 3600 feet on each side. 
Inside this citadel are the houses of the Governor and other 
high officials. Besides these and some barracks, there are but 
few houses ; in the centre there is a very peculiar tower on a 
raised base, some 20 feet high, and on the top of this tower the 
national flag is hoisted. 
The town of Hanoi — the population of which, we may note 
in passing, is estimated at from 150,000 to 200,000 Tonquinese 
and about 2000 Chinese — is situated between the citadel and the 
river, and extends beyond the former in a westerly direction. 
The streets are wide, and the houses good and well-built of brick 
in some of the principal thoroughfares, but there are numerous 
streets where the shops are merely mat erections, in the usual 
Tonquinese style. With one exception — the main street from 
the river, where the Chinese live — the streets are unpaved, and 
in wet weather almost impassable from the depth of the mud ; 
but as shoes are an exception with the natives, this drawback to 
European comfort does not affeCt them. 
The sedan-chair of China — so convenient for locomotion — is 
unknown, the high authorities and those who can afford it being 
carried in a hammock of silk or hemp net-work, suspended on a 
pole from the shoulders of two or four bearers, and closed with 
silk or cotton curtains. There is a great deal of stir and move- 
ment in the streets ; the shops are well-stocked with articles of 
native workmanship — especially bamboo-work in all its varieties ; 
silk and cotton piece goods ; paper, pewter, and glass ware ; 
boxes; drums of all sizes, richly painted, lacquered, and gilt; 
and coarse crockery and china-ware. Fowls, ducks, geese, oxen, 
and pigs are both plentiful and cheap, with abundance of fruit, 
bananas, vegetables, and fish. Rice is the staple food of the 
