morality. The Cochinchinese are, like the French, always gay and for ever talking; the Chinese always grave, and affect to be thinking: the former are open and familiar, the latter close and reserved. A Chinese would consider it as disgraceful to commit any affair of importance to a woman. Women, in the estimation of the Cochinchinese, are best suited for, and are accordingly entrusted with, the chief concerns of the family. The Chinese code of politeness forbids a woman to talk unless by way of reply, to laugh beyond a smile, to sing unless desir ed, and, as to dancing, she labours under a physical restriction which makes this kind of movement impossible. In Cochinchina the women are quite as gay and unrestrained as the men. And as a tolerably ac curate conclusion may be drawn of the state of their society, from the condition in which the female part of it is placed, and the consideration in which the female character is held among them, I shall be more particular in describing the situation here assigned to them, in so far at least as our limited means afforded us the opportunity of observing, than on other points.

In some of the provinces of China women are condemned to the degrading and laborious task of dragging the plough, and otherwise employed in various kinds of heavy drudgery. In Cochinchina it would appear likewise to be the fate of the weaker sex to be doomed to those occupations which require, if not the greatest exertions of bodily strength, at least the most persevering industry. We observed them, day after day, and from morning till night, standing in the midst of pools of water, up to the knees,

occupied in the transplanting of rice. In fact, all the labours of tillage, aud the various employments connected with agriculture, seem to fall to the share of the female peasantry; whilst those in Turon, to the management of domestic concerns, and the superintendance of all the details of commerce. They even assist in constructing and keeping in repair their mud-built cottages; they conduct the manufacture of coarse earthen ware vessels ; they manage the boats on rivers and in harbours; they bear their articles of produce to market; they draw the cotton wool from the pod, free it from the seeds, spin it into thread, weave it into cloth, dye it of its proper colour, and make it up into dresses for themselves and their families. Almost all the younger part of the males are compelled to enrol themselves in the army; and such as are exempt from military service employ themselves occasionally in fishing, in collecting swallow's nests and the biches de mer among the neighbouring islands, as luxuries for the use of their own great men, but more particularly as articles of export for the China market; in felling timber; building and repairing ships and boats, and a few other occupations which, however, they take care shall not engross their whole time, but contrive to leave a considerable portion of it unemployed, or employed only in the pursuit of some favourite amuse. ment: for they are not by any means of an idle disposition. But the activity and the industry of the women are so unabating, their pursuits so varied, and the fatigue they undergo so harassing, that the Cochinchinese apply to them the same proverbial expression which we 3K 3

confer

confer on a cat, observing that a woman, having nine lives, bears a great deal of killing. It is evident, indeed, from the whole tenor of their conduct, that the men, even in the common ranks of life, consider the other sex as destined for their use; and those in a higher station, as subservient to their pleasures, The number of wives or of concubines, which a man may find it expedient to take, is not limited by any law or rule; but here, as in China, the first in point of date claims precedence and takes the lead in all domestic concerns. The terms on which the parties are united are not more easy than those by which they may be separated. To break a sixpence between two parting lovers is considered, among the peasantry of some of the counties in England, as an avowal and pledge of unalterable fidelity. In Cochinchina, the breaking of one of their copper coins, or a pair of chop-sticks, between man and wife, before proper witnesses, is considered as a dissolution of their former compact, and the act of separation.

In China the men have sedulously and successfully inculcated the doctrine, that a well bred women should not be seen abroad; that she should confine herself constantly to her own apartments; that in the presence of even her nearest male relations she should not expose her neck and her hands, to prevent which her gown is buttoned up close to the chin, and its sleeves hang down below the knee; and so craft tily have they contrived; their precepts to operate, that the silly women have actually been prevailed on to consider a physical defect which confines them to the house as a fashionable accomplishment.

Here, in this respect, there is a total difference with regard to the sex. So far from the Cochinchinese women being deprived of the free use of their limbs or their liberty, they have the enjoyment of both to the fullest extent. It certainly was not in Cochinchina where Eudoxus, in his travels, is said to have observ. ed the feet of the women to be so small, that they might with propriety be distinguished by the name of the "ostrich-footed;" fœminis plantas adeo parvas ut Struthopodes appellentur; as by their bustling about with naked feet, they become unusually large and spreading; but the name might aptly enough be applied to the feet of the Chinese ladies, whose undefined and lumpish form is

not unlike the foot of the

ostrich.

Extremes often approximate. The same cause which in China has operated this total seclusion of the sex from society, and the abridgment of their physical powers, has produced in Cochinchina a diametrically opposite effect, by permitting them to revel uncontrolled in every species, of licentiousness. This cause is their being degraded in public opinion, and considered as beings of an infe rior nature to the men. Thus situ. ated, character becomes of little value either to themselves or to others; and, from all accounts, it appears they are fully sensible of its unimportance in this respect. The consequence of which is, that women of less scrupulosity, or men of more accommodating dispositions, are not certainly to be met with in any part of the world than those in the environs of Turon bay. It is to be hoped, however, that the general character of the nation may not exactly correspond with that which

prevails

The sin

prevails at one of the most frequented of its sea-port towns. gular indulgence, granted by the laws of Solon, of permitting young women to dispose of personal favours, for the purpose of enabling them to procure articles of the first necessity for themselves or their families, is sanctioned by the Cochinchinese without any limitation as to age, condition, or object. Neither the husband nor the father seem to have any scruples in abandoning the wife or the daughter to her gallant.

There was little prepossessing in the general appearance and character of the Cochinchinese. The women had but slender pretensions to beauty; yet the want of personal charms was in some degree compensated by a lively and cheerful temper, totally unlike the dull, the morose, and secluded Chinese. An expressive countenance, being as much the result of education and sentiment as a delicate set of features and a fine complexion are of health, case, exemption from drudgery and exposure to the vicissitudes of the weather, could hardly be expected in Cochinchina. In point of fact, both sexes are coarse featured, and their colour nearly as deep as that of the Malay; and, like these people, the universal custom of chewing areca and betel, by redden. ing the lips and blackening the teeth, gives them an appearance still more unseemly than nature intend. ed. The dress of the women was by no means fascinating. A loose cotton frock, of a brown or blue

ings and shoes they are wholly unacquainted; but the upper ranks wear a kind of sandals or loose slippers. As a holiday dress, on particular occasions, a lady puts on three or four frocks at once, of different colours and lengths; the shortest being uppermost. Their long black hair is sometimes twisted into a knot and fixed on the crown of the head, and sometimes hangs in flowing tresses down the back, reaching frequently to the very ground. Short hair is not only considered as a mark of vulgarity, but an indication of degeneracy. The dress of the men has little, if any thing, to distinguish it from that of the other sex, being chiefly confined to a jacket and a pair of trowsers. Some wear handkerchiefs tied round the head in the shape of a turban; others have hats or caps of various forms and materials, but most of them calculated for protecting the face against the rays of the sun; for which purpose they also make use of umbrellas of strong China paper, or skreens of the leaves of the borassus or fan-palm and other kinds of the palm-tribe, or fans made of feathers. Consonant with the appearance of their mean and scanty cloathing, as frequently thrown loosely over their shoulders as fitted to the body, were their lowly cabins of bamboo. short, nothing met the eye that could impress the mind of a stranger with high notions of the happy condition of this people.

In

of the thigh, and a pair of black

nankin trowsers made very wide,

constitute in general their common

the same.

That particular branch of the arts

together, she is firm and strong enough to sustain a more than ordinary shock. It is well known to seamen, that when a large ship strikes the ground, the first indication of her falling in pieces is when the edges of the decks begin to part from the sides; but this separation can never happen when the sides and the deck are firmly bound together by cross bulk-heads. In fact, this old Chinese invention is now on trial in the British navy, as a new experiment. Other schemes have likewise been proposed in this country for propelling ships in a calm, by large scullers, by water wheels placed at the sides or through the bottom, and by various other modes; all of which, though taking the name of inventions, have been in common use among the Chinese for more than two thousand years.

Although the present king of this country has, to a certain degree, broken the fetters of custom, as far as regards the construction of ships of war, yet, in doing this, he has not been unmindful of popular prejudice which, in Asiatic countries in particular, where they are wholly guided by opinion, is stamped with a character too sacred to be torn up at once by the Foots. Out of deference to this prejudice, he caused that part only of the hull or body of the vessel to be altered which is immersed in the water; all the upper works, the masts, sails and rigging, remaining Cochinchinese. Indeed it may be questioned if the pliant bamboo, which forms so material a part of the upper works of their vessels, could be displaced with any advantage by solid timber, than which it is more light and equally strong. It is impossible not to admire the good sense of this wise and

active prince, who, in steering this middle path, obtained a real advan tage without introducing any visible change.

Of tenacity to ancient custom a curious instance appeared on the part of the emperor of Japan, when the Dutch carried to this sovereign from Batavia, a few years ago, among other presents, the model of a ship of war. The ambassador happening to observe the emperor casting his eye upon this model, and conceiving the occasion might be turned to the advantage of his employers, ventured to make a proposal for sending to Japan a number of proper artificers from Holland, for the purpose of instructing his subjects in the art of ship-building, according to the practice of Europe. The emperor desired he might be asked how long his countrymen had been acquainted with the art of constructing ships on the model he had brought. The ambassador replied, about three hundred years. him" says the emperor, people have built such ships as he sees floating in my harbours for as many thousand years, and that I have not yet heard of any complaints against their utility. I shall not, therefore, pay so ill a compliment to myself or to my people, as to lay aside the test of ages for an invention of yesterday. The Dutch ships may suit the Dutch, but not the Japanese. Tell him, therefore, I would advise him to take back this part of his present."

Tell

that my

Character of the late Right Honourable William Pitt.

William Pitt, the illustrious earl of Chatham, had three sons, of whom