Tunkin carries on but little commerce. Rice, and the precious metals, are not allowed to be ex ported. The exportation of copper and cinnamon is reserved for the emperor. The principal arti cles of export are fish, walnuts, ebony, ivory, cala mine brought from Japan to make brass wire, tor toise shells, molasses, cloth made of bark of trees, very slight carpets, small varnished articles, arti cles in mother of pearl, cotton and silk, both raw and manufactured. These two last articles of com merce arc the most considerable. The articles im ported are tea from China, refined sugar, wheat flour, spiceries, medicinal plants, drugs from China and Corea, hemp, lint, silken stuffs, inferior, less durable, and more expensive than those of Tunkin, but in greater demand from their having flowers and patterns, cloth for the uniform of the troops, red cloth for house sandals, mercury, which is not employed as a medicine, but for the solution of metals, large cups and saucers, articles in glass or a kind of paste, jewellery, copper, and iron kitchen utensils. Almost all these articles come from Chi na, hut the Europeans exclusively supply Tunkin with instruments of war, particularly fire-arms, which of all articles of merchandise are most in demand. These fire-arms can only be sold to the government.
The vegetable aliments of the Tunkinese are rice, maize, potatoes, but particularly the sea vegetable known in China by the name of Chin chon, and called in Tunkin Ilai-tsee. Their ani mal food consists of beef, buffalo, pork, goat flesh, the rhinoceros, some parts of the elephant, apes, horses, dogs, rats, lizards, worms, and particular kinds of serpents. They do not use milk, and they have the greatest repugnance to blood, and hence they neither eat butter nor cheese. They rear poultry, ducks, and geese, &c. but they prefer the eggs when they are rotten, and particularly when they feel the bones of the embryo chicken crushing under their teeth. They cat the ant's eggs, and fry the nymph e of the silk worm.
The children go entirely naked till they are seven years old, and when the men are working they wear only a girdle, which returns between their thighs. Their dress of ceremony is a long-sleeved robe, reaching the feet like the robes of office in Eu rope. Under this robe they have only a girdle. The women wear a robe which leaves naked the upper part of the throat and a great part of their back. Their petticoats come down only to the middle of their leg. Both sexes wear turbans, but neither stockings nor shoes. White is the colour of
mountings. Yellow or a golden colour is worn only by the royal family.
The houses consist of three apartments, one for dwelling in, another for the kitchen, &c. and the third for a stable. They must not be square, for this form is reserved for the king, and they must have only one storey, unless the proprietor enjoys some dignity. The houses are almost all made of bamboo.
The constitution of Tunkin is a despotism, and the sovereignty has a nominal dependence on China. The nation is divided into two distinct orders, the princes and the people. The monarchy is heredi tat y and in the male line, the right of primogeni ture being observed. The king, however, can change the order of succession, provided he choose the issue of a solemn marriage. Tunkin is divided./ into twelve provinces, which are subdivided into arondissements and hailliages, in each of which two mandarins, one military and the other civil, ad minister justice.
The religion of Tunkin is polytheism. Idols are worshipped, but only as the representatives of living beings. They worship the heavens, the earth, mountains, forests, woods, streams; and their an cestors are worshipped with profound veneration as the guardians of their families. They offer sa crifices to them three times a-year. The bonzes or priests have no spiritual authority, but merely di rect the sacrifices, preach and sing to the praises of the divinities.
The t•hole empire of Tunkin is supposed to con tain twenty-three millions of inhabitants.
The following is the population of the principal towns.
Bac.kinh, the capital, 40,000 Ilan-oruts, from 15,000 to 20,000 Tran-hac, from 10,000 to - . 15,000 Causang, from 700U to 8,000 Vihoang - 6,000 • II un-nam 5,000 T ran Tran-bac near China, from 4,000 to - 7,000 Tran-doai Tranhung ( near China, but on the other side, from Tra n-v van_) 5,000 to 6,000 l'hu-xuan, the capital of Ilue, a province of Upper Cochin-China and the actual residence of the Em peror of Tunkin, from 20,000 to - 30,000 the two capitals of central Cochin China Qui-phu 5 from 8000 to - 10,000 Sid-gong, the capital of Lower Cochin China, from 8000 to - 10,000 For farther information on Tunkin see CAmno. C00111S-CIIINA, Laos and SIAMPA. Sec also .P.,apose Slatislique tlu Tonkin, de la Coelthichine Gamboge, do T•iampa, do Laos, do Lac-1/to, par M. M—n, sur la relation de Al. de la Bissachere 'tlissionaire dans le Tunkin. 2 vols. Lond. 1811.