TONQUIN

From Agepedia

TONQUIN ; a country of Asia, bounded north and east by China, south by CochinChina, and west by Laos; about 350 miles in length, and 220 in its greatest breadth, extending from lat. 19° to 23° N., and 25* from Ion. 104 to 108 E. The climate m mild and temperate. The rainy season begins about April, and continues till August, and is the most unhealthy part of the j^ear. The country, lying low and flat, is frequently overflowed by violent rains, so as to do great injury to the harvest; and, on the other hand, if the rains be not in sufficient quantity to nourish the rice, a famine is the consequence. The principal river of the country is Songca (Songkoi). Tonquin is but imperfectly known to us: it is a viceroyalty of CochinChina, both which countries are known to the Chinese by the common name of Annam. It is the most valuable and populous part of the empire, (See CochinChina.) Rice is almost the only grain cultivated. Other productions are potatoes and j^ams; a variety of fruits, mangoes, lemons, cocoanuts, and ananas; sugarcane, indigo, areca, betel net, the tea plant, &c. Some of the principal articles of commerce are silk and lacquered ware. The chief town, Kecho, or Cachao, on the Songca, eighty miles from the sea, is supposed, by Crawford, to contain a population of about 150,000 souls: twenty miles lower is Hean, a considerable town; and forty miles below Hean is Domea, where the English and Dutch merchants usually stopped, and were rowed to Cachao in boats. See Crawfurd's Embassy to CochinChina and Siam (London, 1828), and the JYouvelles Lettres Edifiantes (Paris, 1821).