and damned tobacco, the ruine and overthrow of body and soul."* Mr. Boyle recordst a case, furnished by a correspondent, of a suppression of urine cured by smoking tobacco; and another of stone removed by chewing it. It is added, by him, that Monk, the Duke of Albemarle, "recommends it for most kinds of diseases."

Were we to record the conflicting sentiments of modern medical writers upon the subjects of tobacco and smoking, we should plunge into an endless labyrinth. There is upon record one very remarkable and decisive evidence in favour of tobacco. In the year 1605, Sir Oliph Leagh sent some succours to his brother who was settled in South America; but the expedition in their land-journey was attacked by famine and disease, and found relief from both in tobacco. Five of the persons refused to partake of it, and died to a man.§ If the concurrence of almost all nations (our own excepted), including both classes of society, can plead any thing in mitigation of the reproach which tobacco labours under in this country, the fact could easily be made out. In Spain, France, and Germany, in Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and Russia, the practice of smoking tobacco prevails amongst the rich and poor, the learned and the gay. In the United States of America smoking is often carried to an excess. It is not uncommon for boys to have a pipe or segar in the mouth during the greatest part of the day. The death of a child is not unfrequently recorded in American newspapers with the following remark subjoined: supposed to be occasioned by excessive smoking." If we pass to the East, we shall find the practice almost universal. In Turkey the pipe is perpetually in the mouth, and the most solemn conferences are generally concluded with a friendly pipe, employed like the calumet of peace amongst the Indians. In the East-Indies, not merely all classes, but both sexes, inhale the fragrant steam; the only distinction among them consisting in the shape of the instrument employed, and the species of the herb smoked. In China the habit equally prevails; and a modern traveller in that country (Barrow) states that every Chinese female from the age of eight or nine years wears, as an appendage to her dress, a small silken purse or pocket to hold tobacco, and a pipe, with the use of which many of them are not unacquainted at this tender age. This prevalence of the practice, at an early period, amongst the Chinese, is appealed to, by M. Pallas, as one evidence that "in Asia, and especially in China, the use of tobacco for smoking is more ancient than the discovery of the New World." He adds: "Among the Chinese, and amongst the Mongol tribes who had the most intercourse with them, the custom of smoking is so general, so frequent, and has become so indispensable a luxury; the tobaccopurse affixed to their belt so necessary an article of dress; the form of the pipes, from which the Dutch seem to have taken the model of theirs, so original; and lastly, the preparation of the yellow leaves, which are merely rubbed to pieces and then put into the pipe, so peculiar; that they could not possibly derive all this from America by way of Europe; especially as India, where the practice of smoking is not so general, intervenes between Persia and China."||

Anatomy of Melancholy, 1676, p. 235.

† Works, vol. v, p. 528.

Ibid., p. 530.

§ The names of these resolute martyrs to prejudice were John Parkins, Edward Green, Thomas Stubbs, Andrew Swash, and an old man named John.

Prof. Beckmann, who reports this opinion, in his Introd. to Technology, adds a confirmatory opinion from Ulloa's Voyage to America, vol. i, p. 139.

CURSORY REMARKS ON COCHIN CHINA.*

DONGNAI, the southernmost province of Cochin China, and anciently an independent kingdom (then called Tsiompa) is a level champaign country, extremely fertile and well-watered by the river, the numerous branches and creeks of which intersect it in almost every direction. The city of Dongnai, now in ruins, the ancient capital of Cochin China, is situated on a large branch of the river, running in a south-easterly direction, distant about forty miles from Saigon, the modern capital of the province of Dongnai.

The port of Saigon is in latitude 10° 47′ N., and longitude 107° 5' E.; it is from sixty-five to seventy miles distant from the sea, and stands on the banks of as fine a river as any, perhaps, in the world; easy of ingress and egress, free from any bar, and so deep that vessels of any size may anchor abreast of the town, and as near the shore as desired. The houses are rather low and mean, being, in fact, mere temporary dwellings; the streets are extensive and regular, planted with trees on each side. The fort, built by a French engineer, stands on an elevated spot a short distance from the river: it is extensive, and contains an arsenal and foundry, where brass and iron guns, mortars, shot, shells, &c. are made. A curious and destructive implement of war is also manufactured here, called by the natives, a fire-lance. It is a kind of rocket, used for the purpose of destroying vessels at sea, and discharged from a bamboo, three and a half or four feet long, bound firmly round with split ground rattan. When required to be used, they are fixed on the end of a musket or boarding pike; the fuse is attached to the outer end, and they throw, in regular succession, three or four balls of fire to the distance of 150 or 200 yards, with a report louder than that of a pistol; each interval allowing sufficient time to take aim at the object: the fire is inextinguishable, and adheres to whatever substance it comes into contact with.* The manufacture of these lances is conducted with great secresy.

Saigon Proper, or, as the natives pronounce it, Thaï Gōne, is situated up a smaller branch of the river, about eight or ten miles N.W. from Ben Nghe, or Saigon, the chief port of commerce. It is of considerable size, and built mostly of brick: here the principal merchants of the country reside.

The Portuguese of Macao traded exclusively to this port for many years previous to 1800, when an English ship arriving here from Madras, their jealousy was so much alarmed that they addressed a letter to the governor of Saigon, stating that they considered themselves in gratitude bound to apprize his Cochin Chinese Majesty of the great danger that must be incurred by the admission of British vessels into any of his ports, assuring him that they came under pretence of commerce only to obtain a knowledge of the country, in order to facilitate its intended conquest, and on this occasion mentioned our possessions in India. The King's eldest son was at that time governor of Dongnai; he took little notice of this representation; it clearly appearing to him that the authors were actuated solely by interested motives, as they could bring no proofs of what they asserted, and in their crossexamination in council contradicted each other.

This

* From the notes of a person who traded for upwards of seven years with that country, viz. from 1800 to 1807. The author (Mr. Purefoy) has transmitted to us, these, his personal observations, owing to his" having observed several misrepresentations in a late publication relative to Cochin China.”

It would be extremely curious to analyze the composition of these weapons, could a sample be procured. The writer of these remarks obtained 150 lances for the protection of his ship against the Malays.-Ed.

Mr.

and damned tobacco, the ruine and overthrow of body and soul."* Boyle records† a case, furnished by a correspondent, of a suppression of urine cured by smoking tobacco; and another of stone removed by chewing it. It is added, by him, that Monk, the Duke of Albemarle, "recommends it for most kinds of diseases.”‡

Were we to record the conflicting sentiments of modern medical writers upon the subjects of tobacco and smoking, we should plunge into an endless labyrinth. There is upon record one very remarkable and decisive evidence in favour of tobacco. In the year 1605, Sir Oliph Leagh sent some succours to his brother who was settled in South America; but the expedition in their land-journey was attacked by famine and disease, and found relief from both in tobacco. Five of the persons refused to partake of it, and died to a man.§ If the concurrence of almost all nations (our own excepted), including both classes of society, can plead any thing in mitigation of the reproach which tobacco labours under in this country, the fact could easily be made out. In Spain, France, and Germany, in Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and Russia, the practice of smoking tobacco prevails amongst the rich and poor, the learned and the gay. In the United States of America smoking is often carried to an excess. It is not uncommon for boys to have a pipe or segar in the mouth during the greatest part of the day. The death of a child is not unfrequently recorded in American newspapers with the following remark subjoined: supposed to be occasioned by excessive smoking." If we pass to the East, we shall find the practice almost universal. In Turkey the pipe is perpetually in the mouth, and the most solemn conferences are generally concluded with a friendly pipe, employed like the calumet of peace amongst the Indians. In the East-Indies, not merely all classes, but both sexes, inhale the fragrant steam; the only distinction among them consisting in the shape of the instrument employed, and the species of the herb smoked. In China the habit equally prevails; and a modern traveller in that country (Barrow) states that every Chinese female from the age of eight or nine years wears, as an appendage to her dress, a small silken purse or pocket to hold tobacco, and a pipe, with the use of which many of them are not unacquainted at this tender age. This prevalence of the practice, at an early period, amongst the Chinese, is appealed to, by M. Pallas, as one evidence that "in Asia, and especially in China, the use of tobacco for smoking is more ancient than the discovery of the New World." He adds: "Among the Chinese, and amongst the Mongol tribes who had the most intercourse with them, the custom of smoking is so general, so frequent, and has become so indispensable a luxury; the tobaccopurse affixed to their belt so necessary an article of dress; the form of the pipes, from which the Dutch seem to have taken the model of theirs, so original; and lastly, the preparation of the yellow leaves, which are merely rubbed to pieces and then put into the pipe, so peculiar; that they could not possibly derive all this from America by way of Europe; especially as India, where the practice of smoking is not so general, intervenes between Persia and China."||

* Anatomy of Melancholy, 1676, p. 235.

Works, vol. v, p. 528.

Ibid., p. 530.

§ The names of these resolute martyrs to prejudice were John Parkins, Edward Green, Thomas Stubbs, Andrew Swash, and an old man named John.

Prof. Beckmann, who reports this opinion, in his Introd. to Technology, adds a confirmatory opinion from Ulloa's Voyage to America, vol. i, p. 139.

CURSORY REMARKS ON COCHIN CHINA.*

DONGNAI, the southernmost province of Cochin China, and anciently an independent kingdom (then called Tsiompa) is a level champaign country, extremely fertile and well-watered by the river, the numerous branches and creeks of which intersect it in almost every direction. The city of Dongnai, now in ruins, the ancient capital of Cochin China, is situated on a large branch of the river, running in a south-easterly direction, distant about forty miles from Saigon, the modern capital of the province of Dongnai.

The port of Saigon is in latitude 10° 47′ N., and longitude 107° 5' E.; it is from sixty-five to seventy miles distant from the sea, and stands on the banks of as fine a river as any, perhaps, in the world; easy of ingress and egress, free from any bar, and so deep that vessels of any size may anchor abreast of the town, and as near the shore as desired. The houses are rather low and mean, being, in fact, mere temporary dwellings; the streets are extensive and regular, planted with trees on each side. The fort, built by a French engineer, stands on an elevated spot a short distance from the river: it is extensive, and contains an arsenal and foundry, where brass and iron guns, mortars, shot, shells, &c. are made. A curious and destructive implement of war is also manufactured here, called by the natives, a fire-lance. It is a kind of rocket, used for the purpose of destroying vessels at sea, and discharged from a bamboo, three and a half or four feet long, bound firmly round with split ground rattan. When required to be used, they are fixed on the end of a musket or boarding pike; the fuse is attached to the outer end, and they throw, in regular succession, three or four balls of fire to the distance of 150 or 200 yards, with a report louder than that of a pistol; each interval allowing sufficient time to take aim at the object: the fire is inextinguishable, and adheres to whatever substance it comes into contact with.* The manufacture of these lances is conducted with great secresy.

Saigon Proper, or, as the natives pronounce it, Thaï Gōne, is situated up a smaller branch of the river, about eight or ten miles N.W. from Ben Nghe, or Saigon, the chief port of commerce. It is of considerable size, and built mostly of brick: here the principal merchants of the country reside.

The Portuguese of Macao traded exclusively to this port for many years previous to 1800, when an English ship arriving here from Madras, their jealousy was so much alarmed that they addressed a letter to the governor of Saigon, stating that they considered themselves in gratitude bound to apprize his Cochin Chinese Majesty of the great danger that must be incurred by the admission of British vessels into any of his ports, assuring him that they came under pretence of commerce only to obtain a knowledge of the country, in order to facilitate its intended conquest, and on this occasion mentioned our possessions in India. The King's eldest son was at that time governor of Dongnai; he took little notice of this representation; it clearly appearing to him that the authors were actuated solely by interested motives, as they could bring no proofs of what they asserted, and in their crossexamination in council contradicted each other.

This

From the notes of a person who traded for upwards of seven years with that country, viz. from 1800 to 1807. The author (Mr. Purefoy) has transmitted to us, these, his personal observations, owing to his" having observed several misrepresentations in a late publication relative to Cochin China."

It would be extremely curious to analyze the composition of these weapons, could a sample be procured. The writer of these remarks obtained 150 lances for the protection of his ship against the Malays.-Ed.

This prince, who was an intelligent young man, spoke the French language fluently, having been taken to France, whilst a child, by the Bishop D'Adran, and partly educated at Paris. He died of the small-pox in 1802.

The principal productions of the province are betel-nut of three kinds, viz. red, white, and a small sort, for which there is a great demand in China; sugar, rice, pepper, cinnamon, cardamums, silk, cotton, rhinoceros and deers' horns, gold and silver in ingots, ivory, and dried fish, of which large quantities are yearly imported into Canton and other ports of China. Dongnai also produces excellent timber for ship-building, called shaou, a kind of teak, a sort very like English oak, another similar to ash, of which boats' oars are made for exportation; also pine and poon spars, which answer very well for masts and yards; tar, dammer, wood oil, might be added to the foregoing. In 1801 the export of betel amounted to 135,000 peculs.

Provisions are cheap at the port of Saigon, where there are procurable three different kinds of rice, viz. white, red, and black; the two latter said to be possessed of medicinal properties. They cure pork here by a secret process, whereby it may be preserved a long time on board ship.

The coast contains many excellent harbours, amongst which is that of Turon, from whence, formerly, large quantities of cotton were exported to China. The produce of cotton is at present inconsiderable; the principal export consists in marble, of which there are several rocks of a prodigious size situated on the banks of the river of Faifoo, on a kind of sandy plain. In one of these rocks is a curious open space, about thirty or forty feet square, and from fifty to sixty feet in height, nearly in the centre of the rock, and about twenty-five or thirty feet from its base; the four sides of this space are perfectly smooth, and consist of beautiful variegated marble. Previous to entering the cavern you go for a few paces through a narrow passage, which has much the appearance of being artificial; here the change of temperature is very great, and even dangerous. There is a small aperture at top, and inside the hollow space stands a pagoda, said to be of great antiquity, but the characters on its walls are unintelligible to the natives.

The city of Faifoo, situated about fifteen or twenty miles from the entrance of the river, has been extensive, but is in ruins. There are still the remains of a pier for loading and unloading ships, large warehouses, &c. The inhabitants are mostly Chinese.

The present capital of Cochin China is Hué, which is situated seventy or eighty miles to the N.E. of Turon, on a river navigable for vessels of moderate burthen, but they must cross the bar (at the entrance) at high water spring tides, and even then cannot proceed far up, that is not beyond what is called Le Grand Port, which is a sort of basin, affording excellent and secure anchorage, though only separated from the China sea by a sandy strip of land, extremely narrow, but rather high, which shelters the vessels from easterly gales. The river about Hué forms itself into numerous small branches that intersect the town in various directions, and render the use of boats quite necessary in going from one part to another.

The labours of the Roman Catholic missionaries not only promoted the education of the Cochin Chinese, by the establishment of colleges for the instruction of the youth in their own and the Latin languages, but effected the conversion, it is said, of nearly one-fifth of the population, who in moral conduct appeared to be far above those of any other part of Asia: indeed the missionaries themselves were most exemplary characters, particularly kind to strangers, and in general men of deep learning. D'Adran, a missionary bishop, was a person of extraordinary talents and acquirements.