On both banks of the river the land is quite flat, and they were told that, in times of unusual freshets, it was overflowed for long distances. For this reason, it is not very thickly populated, although the soil is rich, and could be made to produce abundantly. All along the banks there was a thick fringe of mangrove-trees, and sometimes they appeared to extend over many square miles of land. Here and there were rice-fields that appeared to have the most careful cultivation; and sometimes a village, with its temple rising above the modest dwellings of the inhabitants, was revealed to the eyes of the young wanderers.
The number of the villages increased; and by-and-by a larger collection of houses than they had yet seen was visible. This was the last village before Saigon, and finally the city itself came into view. The steamer stopped in front of it, and hardly was her anchor down before she was surrounded by a crowd of native boats. Some of them were exactly of the model of those at Hong-kong and Canton, and others were new to the eyes of our friends. A great many Chinese have come here from Canton, and brought their manners and customs with them; and they have also brought their boats, or caused the construction of some exactly similar to those they left behind.
As soon as convenient the Doctor engaged a boat for the party, and the three travellers went on shore. There are several hotels at Saigon not far from the landing-place, and it was not long before the strangers were comfortably quartered—at least comfortably for Cochin China. After their experiences at Peking and other places, they were not inclined to be fastidious about their lodgings.
A NATIVE WOMAN.
As soon as they had arranged matters at the hotel, the party went out for a stroll. They found Saigon was well laid out, with broad streets that ran straight as sunbeams for long distances. Most of them were macadamized, and shaded with double rows of trees, and they had deep gutters to carry off the heavy rains that fall in this latitude. The boys were greatly interested in observing the hats worn by the natives; those of the men were conical in shape, and came down over the shoulders like an extinguisher over a candle. The women wore hats that resembled baskets, about six inches deep by not less than two feet across. The hats for both men and women are made of leaves, closely plaited together, and serve to keep off the rain as well as the sun. The hat of the man is particularly useful as an umbrella, as the wearer need only bring it down over his head to make his shelter very nearly complete. When walking on the road, he must keep it well tilted up in front in order to enable him to see his way.
As they walked along, the Doctor explained that the most of the people they met were not the original inhabitants of the country. Saigon was a small fishing-village in 1861, when it was captured by the French and occupied as a military post. The captors determined to make it a city of consequence, and the French government has expended a great deal of money in this endeavor. They have constructed roads and streets on the same scale that the English have adopted at Shanghai, and they have built dock-yards where ships can be repaired. They have maintained a large garrison of soldiers, and several times have been called on to suppress insurrections that cost a great deal of money and blood.
"Now," said the Doctor, "when the French established themselves here, they opened the port for anybody to come and live in Saigon, as they wanted to build up its trade as fast as possible. A great many Chinese came here from Canton and Singapore, and the result was that the place grew very rapidly. The Chinese came much faster than the emigrants from France and other European countries, and also faster than the natives of Cochin China from other parts of the conquered provinces. Consequently, here is a French city with a foreign population greater than the native one, and greater than that from France itself.