for such virtue. The dastardly robbers gave way. They, who had not been ashamed to attack unjustly, were not ashamed to betake themselves to flight; unable to resist the bravery of the Troglodytes, yet unaffected by the generous principle which inspired it!

In process of time, when the Troglodytes became numerous, they were seized with the inclination to choose a king. They were unanimous in the opinion, that the crown should be given to some one who was distinguished for his regard to justice. They were alike unanimous in their choice. An old man, full of days and of honour, venerable in his aspect and character, was the person who occurred to every one's thoughts. But he had refused to assist at their deliberations: he sat pensive at home, and oppressed with grief.

Deputies were sent to inform him of his election. "Alas," said he, "could the Troglodytes find no one more worthy of their choice? Am I, of all men, deserving to be deemed the most just and virtuous among so just and virtuous a people? God forbid it should be truth! or that I should cherish so vain and injurious a thought! But if you are determined to force the crown upon me-I must receive it; but I shall receive it with the heart-piercing regret to think, that I have lived to see my gallant countrymen, to see the Troglodytes, part with their freedom." Here the tears trickled down his cheeks. "Miserable man that I am! could I have ever thought to see this day?" He proceeded with a firmer tone, and a look of severity: "I guess too well what has incited you to this determination. Your virtue grows a burthen. You are impatient to be delivered from its bondage. You are aware, that in the state in which you have hitherto lived, it is absolutely necessary; that you cannot subsist without it; that without it, you must fall into the calamities and desolation of your unfortunate ancestors. But you wish to be rescued from this danger at an easier rate; by subjection to a prince, instead of subjection to virtue; by obedience to laws less restrictive than the customs and manners you have hitherto been wont to observe. Am

VOL. II.

Ff

bition, riches, and pleasure, begin to have charms for you; and you long to be placed in a situation in which you may court these vain delusions; in which you may aspire to be great; may pursue riches; or indulge in luxury in which you may lay aside the solicitude after virtue, provided you are cautious to avoid open and dangerous crimes." Here the tears burst forth afresh, and streamed in great abundance. He paused for a

moment. "And what," resumed he, "What is the nature of the office you impose upon me? To command? Whom or what shall I command? Am I to command a Troglodyte to be virtuous ?. What can I command him, which his own disposition would not first suggest, and more powerfully prompt him to do? Alas, my friends! I am almost arrived at the end of my journey, fatigued and spent. My time among you can be but short. I shall soon retire from this scene; soon return to your brave fathers, those venerable, those sacred men! How will they be grieved to hear of their degenerate offspring! How shall I tell them, that their sons can stoop to aught but virtue ?" MONTESQUIEU.

IN

SECT. CXLVII.

ELEPHANTS TRAINED FOR WAR, AND KILLED FOR FOOD COCHIN-CHINA.-MILK NOT USED AS FOOD.MOUNTAIN RICE.-MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE

COCHIN-CHINESE.

THE Cochin-chinese soldiery were generally armed, besides sabres, with pikes of vast length, ornamented with tassels of hair, dyed red; which colour, no subject, except in the service, or by the order of the sovereign, was allowed to use in dress or equipage. The ambassador's guard which attended his excellency on shore, beside firing a salute in honour of the day, went through several military evolutions, to the admiration not only of the surrounding multitude, but of the native troops.

Notwithstanding the decrease of population through

1

I out the country, in the course of a long civil war, the number of men in arms was said to be still considerable. At Hue-foo, the capital of the kingdom, about forty miles to the northward of Turou, thirty thousand men were reported to be kept in garrison, and regularly exercised with muskets and match-locks every day. Their generals relied much also upon the use of elephants trained for war. With this view figures of soldiers are placed in ranks before the war-elephants, who are taught to attack them with great fury, seizing them with their trunks, tossing some of them in the air, and I trampling others under their feet. The elephant, however, like most other animals who subsist entirely on vegetable food, is naturally gentle, except where pains are taken to train them to acts of violence, or when provoked by great personal injury. The keeper of this huge animal is generally a bey, who rides upon his neck and governs him with ease; and the nice touch and contractile power of the lips of his flexile proboscis, render it, in some instances, equal to the human fingers in adroitness.

Cochin-china is among the few places where elephants serve for food. They were considered as a perfect-dainty there, When the king, or any of his viceroys in the provinces, has one of these animals slaughtered for his table, pieces of it are distributed about to persons of rank, as gratifying marks of favour. Buffaloe is preferred to other beef. Milk is not used as food; nor is milking any animal customary in the country. Yet the people have been driven to dreadful shifts for any kind of sustenance, during the famine which the destroying armies of contending tyrants had frequently occasioned; and human flesh is said to have been, sometimes, sold in the open market of the capital.

Of rice, which is the most general object of cultivation, besides that species which requires to be sown in lands that are afterwards inundated, there is another known in Cochin-china, called sometimes mountainrice, which thrives in dry, light soils, mostly on the sides of hills, and opened by the spade, nor does it

require more moisture than the usual rains and dews supply, neither of which is frequent at the season of its vegetation. Rice is of still more importance to this people here, than bread is to Europeans, as the former require, with that grain, a very trifling relish of spices, oil, or animal food. Their principal indulgence is in spirituous liquors, tobacco, areca-nut, and betel leaf: of the two last articles, mixed with a little paste of lime and water, they are extravagantly fond. These ingredients are obtained at easy rates, being produced upon the spot. Persons of both sexes, and of all ranks, chew the areca-nut with betel, and smoke tobacco. A silken bag, suspended from the girdle, containing those ingredients in separate divisions, constitutes a necessary part of dress. Every man who can afford it, is attend. ed by a servant, whose office is to follow his master with his apparatus for smoking. The gentleman carries only a small case, or purse, for his areca-nut and betel, generally slung over his shoulder, with an ornamented riband hanging down to his waist.

The custom of smoking, to which the men are more addicted than the women, affords a sort of occupation that prevents the irksomeness of total inaction, without requiring exertion or occasioning fatigue. It is, therefore, often preferred to more useful, but laborious employment; and, except occasional efforts, made under particular circumstances, indolence was prevalent among the men; while the women were assiduously employed in domestic occupations, or in the labours of agriculture. In towns they served frequently as agents or brokers to merchants from foreign countries, living with them at the same time as their concubines; and, in both respects, they were remarkable for their fidelity. Concubinage was supposed to be no dishonour; and, in this instance, there seemed to be less difference in the morals of the two sexes than in Europe. The exterior difference between the sexes appeared also less glaring; for the dresses of both were nearly of the same form. They consisted of loose robes, with small collars round the neck, and folding over the

breast, with large long sleeves, covering the hands. People of rank, especially the ladies, wore several of these gowns, one over the other; the undermost reached the ground; the succeeding ones were each shorter than that immediately under it. They were often of different colours, the display of which made a gaudy appearance as the wearer walked along. Linen was not known amongst them. They had, next the skin, vests and trowsers of slight silk or cotton. Turbans were frequently worn by the men ; and hats, sometimes, by the women, but never caps. The most richly dressed of both sexes used no shoes.

If a solid settlement in Cochin-china were to be productive of advantage to any European nation, it must peculiarly be so to Great-Britain; because, besides the opening it would make for the sale of its own manufactures among the people of the country, the British possessions in Hindostan would be sure of a very considerable demand from thence for their productions.

SIR G. STAUNTON.

SECT. CXLVIII.

VINEYARDS AND WINE OF TOKAY IN HUNGARY.

FROM the situation of this town, on a rich soil, and at the junction of two considerable rivers, one would expect to find it great and opulent: why it is not, I do not know. It is but a little paltry town, though it has certainly a fine situation. The inn was so bad, that the director of the Royal Salt Magazine, to whom I had a letter of introduction, would not suffer me to stay there, but brought me to his own house, where I remained, and was hospitably entertained during my stay

here.

Tokay, not unlike a great part of mankind, derives fame from the merits of others. It produces only a small part of the excellent wine that bears its name; but it has had the good fortune of giving it to a hilly