Soil and Productions.] A large portion of the valley is inundated during a part of the year by the overflowing of the Menam, which everywhere fertilizes the soil and enables it to produce ample crops of rice, the only grain of the country and the principal food of the inhabitants. The sugar cane, the cocoa-nut, the pine-apple, the tamarind and the banana are also very plentiful in Siam. The mountains are covered with forests, which abound with wild animals, particularly the elephant. This animal always accompanies the army and the king on public occasions, and to ride it with skill is considered one of the highest accomplishments of the prince or noble. The forests and marshes are also frequented by the rhinoceros, a dangerous animal when enraged and difficult to overcome, his skin being so hard that a musket ball cannot penetrate it. The most numerous and dangerous, however, of all wild animals is the tiger, particularly the royal tiger, the very fierceness of whose aspect is sufficient to appal the most courageous.

Chief Town.] Siam, the capital, is on a low island in the river Menam about 50 or 60 miles from its mouth. The surrounding country is very flat and is intersected by numerous canals through which the people are continually passing in boats. Some of the boats are covered like houses, and the families which inhabit them continually reside on the water, as in China.

Population, &c.] The population is estimated at 4,000,000. In their religion, literature, government, state of the army, cruelty of punishments, and general character, the Siamese bear a strong resemblance to the Birmans.

Customs. Among the customs of the Siamese is the decision of all difficult cases in their courts of justice by ordeal. The usual trial is by causing the accused to walk over red hot iron or burning coals, which operation it is supposed the innocent will be able to perform perfectly unhurt. Another ordeal is by water, in which both parties are immersed, and he who remains longest beneath is declared innocent. Pills that provoke vomiting are also employed: they are administered to both parties, and he on whom they first take effect is adjudged guilty. The most perilous test of all is that of throwing the accused to tigers, which an. imals, it is supposed, will make the proper distinction between the innocent and guilty.

5. CAMBODIA.

Cambodia is bounded N. by Laos and Cochin-China; E. and S. E. by the China sea; S. W. by the gulf of Siam, and W. by the kingdom of Siam. It is watered by the Cambodia river, which runs from north to south through the whole length of the country, and discharges itself by many mouths into the sea. The soil on the river is fertile, producing rice in abundance. The mountains, which rise on each side of the river at a short distance from its banks, yield gold and many precious stones; the forests abound

with wild animals, among which are elephants, lions and tigers. The inhabitants, estimated at 1,000,000 in number,have very little intercourse with other nations, and there are few eastern countries with which Europeans are less acquainted. It probably has been conquered by the king of Cochin-China, and forms part of the new kingdom of Anam. Cambodia, the capital, is an inconsiderable place on the river Cambodia, about 150 miles from the sea.

6. COCHIN-CHINA.

Situation.] Cochin-China is bounded N. by Tonquin; E. by the China sea; S. by Cambodia ; and W. by Laos. It extends upwards of 400 miles along the coast.

Face of the Country.] Cochin-China consists of a long narrow plain, included between the sea-coast and a chain of mountains running parallel to, and often approaching within a short distance of it. This plain is of most exuberant fertility, yielding abundantly all the tropical productions, but more particularly rice and sugar.

History.] Within the last 50 years, extensive revolutions have taken place in this part of Asia. The king of Cochin-China is said to have conquered Cambodia, Laos and Tonquin, and his dominions are now known by the name of the kingdom of Anam. All these territories were once included in the Chinese empire, from which they were severed towards the end of the 14th century.

Population and Character.] The population of the kingdom of Anam is estimated at 18,000,000. In their external forms of behavior the inhabitants resemble the Chinese, but in other respects they are a very different people. They are open, familiar, always gay and talkative, while the Chinese are grave, and reserved. They are the most courteous and affable of all the Eastern nations, and treat Europeans with the greatest kindness, while the Chinese, naturally abhor them.

Government.] The government is despotic. The late sovereign, who died in 1820, is described as almost a second Peter the Great. In the course of ten years, he raised his navy from a single vessel to 1,200 of various descriptions. He was equally active in improving the army, which amounts now to 113,000 men, of whom upwards of 40,000 are disciplined after the European system. He did much also in building bridges, facilitating all kinds of commercial intercourse, and promoting agriculture. His successor appears to be of the same spirit.

Commerce.] The coast abounds with fine harbors, the two principal of which are in the bay of Turon under lat. 16° 7′ N. The trade is principally with China, to which are exported a vast quantity of sugar and several other articles. Among European nations the favor of government is principally confined to the French, owing to the influence of the Catholic missionaries.

7. LAOS.

Laos is bounded N. by China; E. by Tonquin; S. by Cambodia ; and W. by Siam It is intersected by the large river Cambodia, which is here called the Mecon or Menan-kong. There are few

countries in the world respecting which we have so little accurate information. The accounts which have been published contradict each other even in the most important particulars, some recent writers denying that there is any large river in the country.

8. TONQUIN.

Tonquin is bounded N. by China; E. by the gulf of Tonquin; S. by Cochin-China; and W. by Laos; It is separated from China by an impassable barrier of mountains, which are covered with vast forests, and filled with elephants, tigers and other wild animals, while the rest of the country is beautifully variegated with fertile hills and valleys, and intersected by a great number of rivers. It forms now an integral part of the new kingdom of Anam.

CHINESE EMPIRE.

Situation and Extent.] The Chinese empire is that immense triangular country lying between the Altay mountains on the north, and the Himmaleh mountains on the south; and between Independent Tartary on the west, and the Pacific ocean and sea of Japan on the east. It is bounded by Asiatic Russia on the N. and by Hindoostan and Farther India on the S. In extent of territory it is the second, and in population the first empire on the globe. The number of square miles is estimated by Hassel at 4,320,000.

Divisions.] This empire consists of China proper, Tibet, Corea, and several other countries which go under the general name of Chinese Tartary.

CHINA PROPER.

Situation and Extent.] China is bounded N. by Chinese Tartary, from which it is separated by a great artificial wall running along the whole frontier, a distance of 1.500 miles; E. by the Yellow sea and the Pacific ocean; S. E. by the China sea: S. by Farther India; and W. by Tibet. It extends from 20° to 41° N. lat. and from 98° to 122° E. lon. The area is vaguely computed at 1,300,000 square miles.

Divisions.] China is divided into 15 provinces, as follows: 1. Pechele. 2. Shantung. 3. Kiangnan. 4. Tchekiang. 5. Fochen. 6. Canton. 7. Kiangsee. 8. Honan. 9. Shansee. 10. Shensee. 11. Sechuen. 12. Houquang. 13. Koeitchoo. 14. Quangsee.

15. Yunnan.

Face of the Country.] The surface appears to be agreeably diversified with hills and vallies, plains and mountains. One chain of mountains, running from west to east, through the southern provinces, seems to be a prolongation of the Himmaleh range. In approaching the sea, it turns to the north-east, and terminates on the coast a little to the south of the great river Yang-tse-kiang. The north of China is also intersected by several chains of mountains, but their direction is unknown, as that part of the country has never been explored by Europeans.

Rivers.] The principal rivers are the Hoang-ho or Yellow river and the Yang-se-kiang, both of which rise in the unknown regions of central Asia, and after pursuing an easterly course through the whole breadth of China discharge themselves into the sea between the parallels of 32° and 34° N. lat. In one part of its course the Hoang-ho makes a great bend to the north and passes beyond the great wall, but afterwards returns to the south and then resumes its original easterly direction. The Yang-tse-kiang makes a similar bend to the south. Besides these rivers and their tributaries there are two other considerable streams; the Peiho in the north, which rises in Tartary and after passing by Pekin, falls into the Yellow sea; and the Canton river in the south, which, after a course of nearly 700 miles, falls into the China sea near Canton.

Climate.] The climate is very different in different parts of the country. The heat in the southern provinces is greater than in Bengal, while in Pekin, near the northern frontier, snow lies on the ground for three months of the year, and the climate is colder than under the same latitude in Europe.

Productions] Owing to the variety of climate, China, in its different parts, is capably of producing all the fruits both of the torrid and temperate zones. The principal cultivated production is rice, which is the general food of the people. In the northern provinces, however, where the severity of the climate prevents the cultivation of rice, its place is supplied by wheat, barley, and other European grains. Next in importance to rice is the tea-plant, of which vast plantations are found in the provinces to the south of the Yang-tse-kiang. In the southern provinces also large tracts are covered with the white mulberry, for the productions of silk, which has long been one of the staples of the empire. The forests produce the camphor tree, from the roots of which camphor is obtained by distillation; the tallow tree, from the fruit of which a green wax is procured and made into candles; and the paper mulberry tree, from the bark of which a species of paper and cloth is made.

Agriculture.] Agriculture is prosecuted with much care, yet in point of science and skill, it can bear no comparison with the

highly improved husbandry of Europe. There are no large farms, few families cultivating more than is necessary for their own subsistence; there is no rotation of crops; the plough is a wretched instrument; and in many places the spade and the hoe are the chief means of cultivation. The most remarkable circumstance in Chinese agriculture is the care taken to bring every spot under cultivation; even steep hills and mountains being converted into terraces, one above another, each supported by a mound of stone, while reservoirs are made at the top, in which rain is collected, and conveyed down the sides to water the plants. Great pains are also taken to collect manure; and in some parts of the country old men, women and children are constantly seen, with a basket in one hand and a small rake in the other, collecting from the roads and canals every particle of filth.

Minerals.] The large peninsula which juts into the Yellow sea in the province of Shantung is almost entirely composed of rocks of the coal formation, which supply the greater part of China with fuel. Copper abounds in the southwestern provinces. The mines of gold and silver are said to be copious, but these metals have for centuries been continually imported from Eu

rope.

Chief Towns.] Pekin, the capital, and residence of the emperor, is situated near the N. E. corner of the kingdom, within 50 miles of the great wall. Like most other Chinese cities it is regularly laid out. A street four miles long and 120 feet broad reaches from one gate to the other, and is crossed by another of similar length and breadth. The other streets are narrow, and many of them can only be considered as lanes. They are all unpaved, and covered with sand and dust; but they are kept very clean and frequently watered. The principal streets consist almost entirely of rows of shops, which are painted, gilded, and adorned with much magnificence. Blue and green mixed with gold are the prevailing colors upon the walls. The regular form of the streets, the flat roofs and the various signs with which they are decorated, give Pekin very much the appearance of a large encampment. The streets are peculiarly crowded, in consequence of the number of trades that are carried on in the open air. The numerous moveable workshops of tinkers and barbers, cobblers and blacksmiths; the tents and booths where tea, fruit, rice and other eatables are exposed to sale; the troops of dromedaries laden with coals from Tartary, and the hand-carts stuffed with vegetables leave only a small space unoccupied.

Pekin, according to Chinese ideas, is strongly fortified. It is surrounded with walls about 30 feet high and 25 feet thick at their base, with square towers placed at every interval of 70 yards. The imperial palace is an inclosure within the city formed by what is called the Yellow wall. The space included within it, about a mile long and three-fourths of a mile broad, is artificially formed into an imitation of rude and romantic nature.