Events succeeded each other in rapid succes sion; General Bouet installed himself at Hai Duong, Admiral Courbet took the important town of Hue, and France's old enemy Tu-Duc recognized by the convention of 25 Aug. 1883 a French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin. However, Chinese pirates, or the °Black Flag,' were not alone in infesting Tonkin, for in ad dition there appeared the band of the °Yellow Flag' or Chinese regulars. It was against China itself that France was called upon to fight. General Millot, in charge of the Ton kin expeditionary forces, took Bac-Ninh, Hung-Hoa and Tuyen-Quang in 1884. Courbet conducting a campaign in the river passes of the Min, eventually took up quarters in Formosa and in the islands of Pescadores, and by a process of starvation forced China to treat for terms (1884-85) at the very time when General Briere de l'Isle delivered Tuven Quang and repulsed the Chinese to the north as far as the Kwang-Si district, after two months severe fighting. It is to be regretted that his right-hand man, General de Negrier, was wounded at Langsan and his successor, Colonel Herbinger, ordered a too hasty re treat which became a rout. This regretable incident although unimportant in itself supplied the long sought after excuse for the adver saries of Jules Ferry for demanding his resig nation from office (30 March 1885). As a matter of fact the °Grand Tonkinois" could easily have revealed the terms of the forth coming peace negotiations, but he preferred to lose his office rather than commit a diplomatic indiscretion. Negotiations, already begun by Commandant Fournier, were carried on by the representative of France, M. Patenotre, result ing on 9 June 1:.:5 in the signing of the final Treaty of Tien-Tsin by which China recognized the French protectorate over Tonkin, thereby opening up to French trade the rich Chinese provinces of the south: Yunnan and Kwang-Si. This treaty caused serious riots at Hue and necessitated the intervention of General de Courcy in Annam. The young rebel king was only subdued after a long campaign, being finally captured in 1888. Since that period France has had to assert its authority by undertaking numerous campaigns against the Annamite and Chinese rebels, who alone prof ited by a state of war. Operations were long and laborious, culminating in 1889 by the sub mission of the principal rebel chiefs. In 1904 the success of the Japanese in the Manchurian campaign naturally had its repercussion in the Asiatic world, although the immediate effect on Indo-China was not very great. Up to 1913 order reigned, with only slight local troubles, and at the end of 1913 the death of De Tham, who lived a secluded life in the mountains and forests of the Upper Tonkin regions, liable to fall at any moment into the hands of the militia, marked the close of the period of banditry with which France had had to contend ever since the conquest of this country. The adversaries of French domina tion in Indo-China from that time onward seem to have had recourse to the more scientific and violent weapons of modern revolutions. But the rapidity with which the plots were dis covered and repressed, the manner in which justice was meted out by the Criminal Com mission' and the calm dignity displayed by the French population, made a profound and last ing impression upon the minds of the An namites. In the last 12 years French Indo China has become enriched by the inclusion of two more important territories, increasing its population by almost 1,000,000 inhabitants: the Kwang-Tchu-Wan territory, leased to France for a period of 99 years by the Franco-Chinese agreement of 10 April 1898, and the long dis puted provinces of Battanbang, Siem-Reap and Sisophon, restored to Camboda by the Franco Siamese agreement of 23 March 1907. In this manner was realized the progressive expansion of France in Indo-China, an exceptionally in tricate and difficult enterprise if it is borne in mind that France was called upon to subdue and equitably govern a large and homogeneous population having a racial affinity with neighbor ing peoples not particularly well disposed to ward France, i.e., Chinese, Siamese, etc. She had, moreover, to parry the great danger to its ideas of expansion arising from the contact of the in the peninsula with an adjacent empire of several hundreds of million souls where the frontiers are not protected by any mountains of importance.
Area.— The total area of Indo-China ex ceeds 800,000 square kilometers (308,880 square miles); it is geographically bordered by the Annamite mountain chain, on its two sides, west and east, and by the lower valleys and deltas of the two rivers which form boundaries: The Red River and the Mekong River.
Topography.— Indo-China is crossed from south to north by a long range of mountains which join and form a cluster in the Tibet r:gion, branching out fanwise from the north to the south, dividing the country into two large valleys which constitute the basins of the• Mekong and the Red River. This mountain range entirely covers the Laos and spreads over the Tonkin as far as the Red River in high plateaux of an average height of 1,200 to 1,500 metres. From this block a long chain extends toward the south, the Annamite Cordiliere, the spurs of which cut Annam up into a series of small valleys, the communications between which are difficult. Toward the southwest and the south, the •Cordiliere spreads into large plateaux a few of which extend to the boundaries of the Cambodia and Siam. The abundant rain from the monsoons in Indo-China has resulted in numerous water courses being formed which, except in the Annam centre, have their low and high seasons in winter and summer respectively. The rain is so frequent in this latter season that floods occur which are often of a disastrous character. The two large rivers of Indo-China, the Mekong and the Song-Coi or Red River, collect the waters and their atluvions form the deltas where the economical life of the colony is centred. The Mekong, an important river, has a length of 2,400 kilometers (1,460 miles) of which lake Tonle-Sap, at the top of Pnom Penh, forms a natural regulator. The Song Coi is swelled by the Claire River and the Moire River whose vast encompasses the richest provinces of the colony.
The coasts of Indo-China have the form of an S and extend over a length of 2,500 kilo meters (1,508 miles) ; they are rocky where the mountains are near the sea, low and flat by the side of the deltas. They afford good ports but the harbors are either too shallow or insufficiently sheltered.
Climate.— The climate of Indo-China is hot and damp; there are two seasons: summer, which is yery rainy, and winter much less so. This difference is due to the monsoons or pe riodical winds which are prevalent during sum mer, blowing either from the southwest to the northeast (Cambodia, Cochin-China, Laos) or from the southeast to the northwest (coasts of Annam and Tonkin), and during winter from the northeast to the southwest. The climate, moreover, greatly varies according to the dis tricts. In reality no Indo-Chinese, properly speaking, clithate exists, but Indo-Chinese cli mates according to whether it is a question of Cochin-China, Cambodia, Annam or Tonkin.
Population.— The Indo-Chinese population is of great variety. Peopled during many cen turies, Indo-China has witnessed numcrous invasions or migrations resulting in a great cosmopolitan race having sprung up. The Annamites constitute at least five-sixths of the total population, being estimated at about 12, 000,000. Then come the Cambodians, numbering about 1,300,000, or representing 7 to 8 per cent of the total population. The Thais or Lactians from Upper Tonkin form a total of 600,000 to 700,000 individuals, and the Khas district con tains a large number of peoples spread over the Annamite mountain country. There also exist in Indo-China some other peoples who were prbbably the first to inhabit the country, but they were not strong enough to resist the Anna mite invaders, the Cambodians or the Thais, and were obliged to seek refuge in the mountainous regions of the west and southwest. They are classed together under the general name of °the savage population• or Mois. The Chinese are very numerous in Indo-China and their import ance is still more considerable than their number would appear to warrant. Finally, the number of Europeans taking up residence in Indo China increases yearly.