The wild animals are such as arc common to India, viz. the boar, tyger, rhinoceros, elephant, buffalo, with abundance of deer. In the forests of this and the neigh bouring countries, the elephants are said to be of a lar ger size than in any other part of the world ; and the hunting of the elephant, the tyger, and the buffalo, is an amusement with which the sovereigns entertain foreign ambassadors. On these occasions they celebrate the royal feast of elephants, which has probably given rise to the report that the Cochinchinese feed on the flesh of those animals.
The numerous little i.lands, which lie along the coast of this country, afford an article of luxury in very great demand in China, called the Trepan, or Bichos da mer, which is a species of sea slug. Vast quantities of this little animal are also collected on the northern coast of New I Tolland, and carried to the Chinese market. Cap tain Hinders, who was sent out on a-voyage of discove ry to that coast, learned that not less than sixty vessels made an annual voyage regularly for the sole purpose of collecting these marine productions, during the preced ing twenty years. After being detached from the rocks, they arc opened, washed in fresh water, and boiled, then dried in the smoke of green wood, in nearly the same manner as our red herrings are prepared. In the same islands running parallel with the coasts of Cochinchina, and known in the charts by the name of the Paracels, another valuable article of export is found, namely, those celebrated nests made by a small bird about the size of our swallow, and cemented with a kind of gum, the dif ferent layers of which may be separated in the same manner as the coats of an onion. When this gum has been dissolved in warm water, it is used for seasoning fish, and dishes of various kinds ; to sauces it also com municates an exquisite taste, and hence it becomes a valuable article in the Chinese market. These islands also abound with turtles, of so delicate a flavour, that, in order to obtain them, the inhabitants of this and the neigh bouring countries fight desperate battles.
Until a few centuries after the Christian 22ra, Cochin china formed a part of the Chinese empire ; and the ge neral features of the natives, particularly in the northern provinces, their customs, their written language, their religious opinions and ceremonies, still indicate their Chinese origin. They also, in many respects, resemble the Tung-quinesc, with whom they have a common ori gin, and from whom they differ very little in their mode of life. Although it is the tendency of all revolutions to change the character and manners of a people, and al though that observation in many respects holds true, with regard to the difference betwixt the present and the for mer manners and customs of the Cochinchinese, yet, in their diet and superstitions, their marriages and funeral ceremonies, their games, music, and cute' tainments, and in the greater part of their ordinary life, they exactly re semble the people from whom they have been separated.
Instead, therefore, of entering into a minute description of these, we shall refer the reader to the article Cm Ni, anal confine our observations to those manners and cus toms, which may be termed peculiar to this country.
The general appearance of the Cochinchinese is by no means engaging to the eye of a stranger. The women have no pretensions to beauty ; but, unlike the morose and secluded Chinese, they do what they ran to compen sate for the want of personal charms by a lively and cheer ful temper. Both sexes have coarse features, and dark complexions ; and their universal custom of chewing areca, or betel, by reddening the lips and blackening the teeth, gives them a disgusting appearance. They arc, however, represented as gentle, hospitable, enterprising, and industrious. Few crimes arc to be found among them : robbery and murder are unknown. A stranger is every where received with the most eager curiosity, but at the same time with the greatest benevolence and hospitality.
The dress of this people has undergone a considerable change from that of the Chinese. Indeed, the dress of the men differs very little from that of the women, being chiefly confined to a jacket and a pair of trowscrs ; and both sexes go bare-legged, and generally bare-footed; but the women in the higher ranks wear a kind of san dals or loose slippers. Their long black hair, like that of the Malays, is usually twisted into a knot, and fixed on the crown of the head. This is the ancient mode in which the Chinese wore their hair, until the Tartars, on the conquest of the country, compelled them to the ig nominy of shaving the whole head, except a little lock of hair behind. Short hair is therefore now accounted a mark of vulgarity, and even of degeneracy.—A loose cotton frock, of a brown or blue colour, reaching down to the middle of the thigh, and a pair of wide black nan keen trowscrs, compose the usual clothing of the women. When they wish to appear better dressed, they put on three or four frocks at once, of different colours and lengths, the shortest being uppermost. Some wear hand kerchiefs tied round the head, in the shape of a turban; others have hats, or caps, of various materials, for pro tecting their faces against the rays of the sun; and for the same purpose they use umbrellas made of China paper, or of the leaves of palms, and sometimes fans made of feathers. Their children, till the age of eight or nine years, have no clothing, and yet appear uncom monly stout and healthy.