Page:Voyage from France to Cochin-China- in the Ship Henry.djvu/18

Rh erected on a flat-bottomed vessel of very large dimensions, and containing accommodation for the whole imperial family, and attendants, in all about three hundred persons. At noon the procession appeared; first came twenty gallies in two rows, each of sixty oars, with flag and uniform of the rowers blue; then other twenty of the same sort, with flag and uniform yellow. Four gallies of one hundred and twenty oars, flag and uniform red, with a canopy, under which sat the princes. Next came twelve gallies richly gilded, carrying the imperial guards, followed by ten others, towing the floating palace, dressed out with flags; and the procession was closed by an escort of ten armed gallies. Multitudes of vessels followed, belonging to the mandarins, and a body of two thousand troops kept pace with the gallies down the river-side. When the emperor had passed we fired our salute, and soon afterwards an officer came on-board to apologize for its not being returned. The emperor remained to the third day down the river, on account of the rain, and was at last obliged to return to the capital, without being able to offer the sacrifice.

Some years ago, when a fleet was preparing for Tunkin, the emperor ordered the customary conjurations prescribed by his religion to be performed, to discover the favoured time for putting to sea; this he did in compliance with the vulgar superstition. The doctors, who were to consult the will of their deities, gave an answer contrary to the emperor's wish, but the convoy left the port, and two days afterwards a tempest destroyed 150 vessels out of the 180 of which the convoy consisted. The bamboo was liberally applied to every one of the prognosticators, with a declaration, that not a head should be left in its place among the whole fraternity, unless they found heaven always to favour the day which he should appoint for the sailing of all future expeditions.

Gia-Long is now fifty-nine years old, but the severe fatigue and misfortunes he underwent, before he came to the throne, have greatly enfeebled his constitution. Still he gives every day public audience, and instructs his apparent successor in the art of government. The young prince is about thirty years old; he is well educated, and has the rank of first man of letters in the empire. With geometry, astronomy, and geography, he is well acquainted. He occasionally employs the Roman character in writing, but he refuses to know any language but his own. Many European works of utility have been translated for his use; and from one of the French mandarins, he has learned to ascertain the longitude of a place by the lunar observation. The emperor has also employed a native mandarin, who studied under the missionaries in