DETAILS RESPECTING COCHIN CHINA- &3 
kind of turban on the head. In journeying, and when they expose 
themselves to the rain or the sun, they have a large hat, made of 
long leaves, which serves them for umbrella and parasol. All go 
with naked feet, without stockings and without shoes: Mandarins 
sometimes wear sandals in their houses: The sabots in use in the 
country are so inconvenient a covering for the feet that they can only 
serve to walk a few paces. 
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
I will not enter into much detail on the manners and customs of the 
country; this would carry me too far. I will content myself with 
saying that the' Cochin Chinese have inclination and aptitude for 
trade, and that the situation of the country, the coasts of which are 
watered by the sea to so large an extent, with its numerous Ports, 
much facilitates the intercourse with foreigners. But it is to be 
regretted that despotism, under which this people are crushed, 
does not allow them to give themselves up to commercial affairs 
on any largo scale. The king aims at monopolizing trade with 
foreigners, and his subjects have not the right of building vessels: they 
are only permitted to have small boats unfit to proceed far. They 
seldom leave the coasts of Cochin China, and if some go to Sin¬ 
gapore or Macao, they do so surreptitiously and with little gain. 
Rice and every description of Food, is cheap in Cochin Chi¬ 
na. One can easily live on five or six dollars monthly. The na¬ 
tives seldom spend one. The meridional part being, as I have said, 
the more productive, money is also more common in it, and food 
dearer. Servants too are on low wages: the highest pay is six 
dollars a year. Labourers or workmen are hired at one dollar 
per month, or four cents a day: this is the highest price. The 
further you go to the Northwards, the price of food and the sa¬ 
lary of servants progressively diminish: because there is less trade 
and affluence. 
HOUSES AND FOOD, 
Architecture is yet, in this unfortunate country, very rude in its 
elements. The w r ails of houses do net ordinarily consist of any 
tiring else than some branches interlaced, and sometime plastered 
with clay, and more often with mud or even cowdung. In Lower 
