56 DETAILS RESPECTING COCHIN CHINA. 
bruary, but this single crop yields much more rice than the two 
crops which they have in the other provinces, the one in April 
and the other in October. Sugarcane, tobacco, cinnamon, silk, 
cotton, indigo, yams and potatoes are also very abundant. Fruits, 
such as citrons, plantains, pine apples, and many other kinds are 
also more common in this part than in others: it is on account 
of this that they say in the language of the country that it is 
easy to find there the means of living, —it is to be regretted 
that 'we are obliged to add but it is difficult to Jive there (in 
good health!) 
PLANTS. 
Besides minerals the mountains further furnish excellent wood 
for timber work, such as the pine, the oak, teak wood; and also 
the ebony, aloes wood and the eagle wood which they use as me¬ 
dicine, and which they sometimes sell in China and at Japan as 
high as 100 dollars the pound. These precious woods, to which 
the cinnamon tree ought to be added, are ordinarily reserved for 
the king and the great mandarins. Much, however, is sold surrepti¬ 
tiously. The most common tree of all, and of more daily use, is the 
bainbu. The areca and the betel are also cultivated with the great¬ 
est care and yield a large profit to the proprietor on account of the 
general use which is made of the areca and betel in the country. 
The tea of China grows badly in Cochin China; the tea of the coun¬ 
try is inferior in quality: it is less strong and less healing than the 
tea of China. Amongst the medicinal plants, they principally make 
use of angelica, ol the large celidony, of the Chinese smilax, of 
master wort, and liquorice. The herbal of Cochin China has been 
already published; I propose to subjoin it to this paper, for which 
reason I have the less enlarged here upon this head. 
ANIMALS. 
The mountain and forests of Cochin China are inhabited by the 
elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, boar, the stag, the bear, the buffa¬ 
lo and many other wild animals. There is a menagerie in the 
king’s garden; one of his amusements and favorite sports, is to 
cause an elephant or a buffalo to tight with a muzzled tiger. There 
are at least 60 elephants at the royal city, and from 20 to 30, 
in each province, a few excepted. The domestic animals such as 
