Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/850

 INDO-CHINA

770

INDO-CHINA

in Cochin China, the largest being used as a peniten- tiary for criminals wliose sentences are at least ten years. Cochin China is represented in Parliament by one deputy. Situated on the route from Europe and India to Japan and China, Cochin China seems destined by nature to play a leading part in the development of the Far East. Its plains, watered by the various arms of the Me-kong and numberless canals and arroyos (sc. natural channels) which connect them, must be reck- oned among the most fertile in the world. More than one-fourth of the whole surface is devoted to the cultivation of rice, of which 2,000,000 tons are pro- duced annually. After rice the chief crops are areca- nuts, earth-nuts, peppers (the cultivation of which has greatly increased of recent years), betel-nuts, pine-apple, mulberry, maize, cotton, and indigo, lliver and sea-fishing provides occupation for a great number of natives, over 75,000 boats being engaged in this industry. Cochin China being one of the greatest rice-producing countries of the world, its principal export is naturally rice (§30,000,000 in 1907). Rice is shipped principally to China, Manila, Japan, France and other European countries. The other important exports are fish and fish oil (82,000,000), pepper ($1,- 385,000), live animals, cotton, gamboge, indigo, hides, silks, and woods (bamboo, iron-wood, rotang, tama- rind, etc.). There are some important salt mines at Bien-hoa and granite quarries at Bien-hoa and Chau- doc; to the last-mentioned Cochin China is indebted for the stone necessary for the construction of roads.

Saigon, the former capital of French Indo-China, is situated on the Saigon River about forty miles from the coast. It has a population of 50,870 inhabitants, of whom 5,500 are French. Owing to the great depth of the river, ships of the largest tonnage can sail up- stream to the Port of Saigon, from which 824 ships of 1,290,430 tons cleared in 1907. Under the French Saigon has assumed the aspect of a European city. Its streets are witle, well-planned, and decorated with gardens and monuments. It possesses a celebrated collection of the flora and fauna of Indo-China in its botanical and zoological gardens, while its govern- ment palace has an architectural fame throughout the Far East. Saigon is one of the seven chartered cities of French Indo-China. The mayor is elected accord- ing to a restricted franchise : its Conseil municipal also includes ten French members and four native coun- cillors. Cholon, the chief commercial centre (163,000 inhabitants), is situated about four miles to the south-west of Saigon. It is inhabited mainly by the Chinese, who, here as elsewhere throughout the penin- sula, almost monopolize the commerce. It is the centre of the rice trade, the rice being here prepared and put in .sacks. Cholon is connected with the capi- tal by a steam railroad and by an arroyo. The former passes through the celebrated " Plain of the Tombs ", a vast deserted wilderness of imposing mausoleums and modest tombs. This is the Annamite cemetery, and the mournful appearance of the scene is increased by the treeless antl almost verdureless character of the landscape. The mayor of Cholon, nominated by the (iovernor-CIeneral, is assisted by three deputies — one French, one Annamite, one Chinese — and nine coun- cillors, three being from each of the representative races. The French are nominated by the Licutenant- General; the Annamite and Chinese by the notables (see below under .\nnam) among the inhabitants. Mytho (226,000), the chief town of the homonymous arrondiinement, was the ancient capital of the Anna- mite Provdnce of Dinh-Tuong. It is situated on the left bank of the northern arm of the Me-kong, at a distance of about 23 miles from the sea and 44 miles from Saigon, with which it is connected by railway and by the boats of the Seri'ice des Mesxngerics fluid- ales. The centre of a rich rice-producing district, it is an important port of call for trading vessels.

(2) Annam, which formerly contained nine of the

thirty-one provinces constituting the Annamite Em- pire — Tong-king being composed of sixteen and Cocliin China of si.\ — embraces to-day twelve prov- inces, Thanh-hoa, Nghe-an, and Ha-tinh having been added to its territories by the Treaty of 6 June, 1884. Its coast hue extends from Cape Bake in the south to the Tong-king frontier about twenty-six miles north- east of Thanh-hoa — that is about 810 miles. It is bounded on the north by Tong-king, on the west by Laos — from which it is separated by the Annamite Range — and Cochin China, while on the south and east it is washed by the Sea of China. Of its number- less rivers only the Song-ma and Song-ka, which water the rich alluvial plain in the extreme north of the terri- tory, are of importance. The mountainous regions between Annam and Laos — known as the Territories of the Mois, Pou-cuns, and Phou-tays — are tlirect dependencies of Annam. The distance between the sea and the foot of the mountains varies from eighteen to fifty miles. The area of Annam is about 52,000 square miles, and its population, according to a recent estimate (1909), 7,096,465 inhabitants. Although the people of the Annamite dependencies are receiving increased attention of recent years, even an approxi- mate estimate of their numbers is impossil^le; the area of their territories is about 37,000 square miles. Hue (population 100,000), the capital of Annam, is situated on the left bank of the river of the same name. It has two distinct divisions: the citadel fortified acconiing to plans s\ipplied by French engineers and occupied by the French and Annamite administrations and French troops, and the districts occupied by the natives. The principal ports in Annam are Turan, Kwi-nhon, and Xuan Day.

While the soil of Annam is most fertile and admir- ably adapted for the cultivation of the most varied crops, its advantages are marred on the one hand by the terrible droughts of the dry season — which, as distinct from the climate of Cochin China, is also its summer — and on the other by the devastating inun- dations of the rivers which rise in the mountains and hurl themselves after a short course into the sea. At present, although two crops arc sown annually, one in every three harvests fails, and the rice produced is insufficient to satisfy local needs. To overcome these obstacles to cultivation proper systems of irrigation and protective measures against tlic inundations must be instituted on a large scale. Tea and coffee, the planting of which is a comparatively recent experi- ment of Europeans, are now extensively grown, and the excellence of the former leads one to liclieve that Annam will rapidly develop into a serious rival of India and China in the production of this commodity. The other agi'icultural products include maize, sugar, potatoes, cotton, earth-nuts, mulberry, ricinus com- munis (castor-oil plant), indigo, cocoa, areca-nut, tobacco, and cinnamon. Apart from agriculture the chief industries of .\nnam are the threshing and win- nowing of rice and the extraction of the oil, the shell- ing of cotton, and the preparation of jute, indigo, and tobacco. Silk is manufactured everywhere, l)ut little pains are taken to produce a high quality. Of more importance is crepon, in the mainifacture of which the Annamite excels the Chinese. The river and the .sea fishing are both of great importance, dried fish forming an important article of diet here as elsewhere in Indo-China. The sugar- industry is monopolized by the Chinese. The salt-mines of Kwi-nhon, Phu-yen, Binh-thuan, and Ha-tinh supply a sufficient surplus over local needs to permit of the exportation of more than 1,000,000 tons of .salt yearly. Pure anthracite coal is mined at Nong-son in the province of Turan; the mine is situated about forty miles from the coast on the banks of a river, whose mouth is unfortunately obstructed by a bar. Copper mines are found at Duc-bo and gold at Bong-nieu. The latter, which were worked for centuries by the