The Sun.
London, England, 1807-06-13 00:00:00

COCIIINCTILVA.

As there is at present: so strong a. partiality for
theatrical Entertaintnents in ,this Country, our
Readers may 1?e gratified by the tollowi:Ig Account
of similar, Amusements in Cochinchina, as related i❑
the admirable -accoklnt of ,that place by Mr,- BAR-
ROW.

" The Ambassador had not as yet landed at the
town of Tnron ; and as the principal officers of that-
place were extremely desirous of testifying their re-
Spelt by a public entertainment to be given on the•
occasion; his Lordship fixed on the 4th of June for
celebrating, with theCuchinchineseon shore; the anni-
verssry of his Majesty's birth-day. Whether through
accident; or in consequence of ,former suspicions, or
to give eclat to the entertainment, did • not appear,
but on the evening preceding .we-: observed an un- •
nsual bustle about the place, an increased number of
troops in and about the town, besides. several
huge elephants. of war. We,.therefore, on our part,
took the precaution of sending the.two armed brigs
tip the river opposite to the town, to make a retreat,,
if necessary, the more secure. The day",• however,
passed over in harmony.and conviviality. We were
concluded from the place of landing to a- temporary
building, on a larger scale than that which we had
hitherto occasionally occupied., The. two-pitches of
its roof were supported by a • row. of ,bamboo poles,
which, running down the middle, divided the-build-
ing into two parts. .The sides and the root were,
covered with:thick double 'mints, and lined within
with coarse Manchester cottons of various patterns.
These prints appeared to be new, but damaged; and
were probably the refiThe of the ;• China mar-
ket, carried thither by the POrtuguese trade, s. in
the -first compartment- of the building ' as a long
table covered with linen, laid out with plates, knives,
and forks, in the manner and style of Europe. Otir
Portuguese friend, iLseented,. by ,way -Maki:rig
some atoneinent for the injury. he .had nearly, thiougn
perhaps not maliciously., done us, had prevailed upon
the Cochindanese to-allow him to tie mater of
the ceremonies. for 'the day; concluding, it., <ins ow n
mind that, astthe,ealingand drinking would be con-
sidered by us as the best part .of the entertainment,
he would be,able to suit -.oar taSt(-i` in tne4e'respeets
better than the Cochinchicese ; and under.this -im-
pression, to do him justice, , he: bad .spared neither
trouble nor expeuce,.- in making his dinner as com-
plete' as circumstances would' admit and thus by
his misplaced zeal; argoOd Cochinciiinese-.eute,tioin
merit was entirely• marred by .a bad Portuguese.
dinner. •

" A trifling circumstance .occurred on our first ,
entering the building., wnichiwas racher embarrassing
to the Cechinchinese officers.. These peopte who,
on most occasions, adopt' the. ChineSe customs, had
prepared a yellow skreen.. of silk, bearing in large
painted characters the name of the young adventurer
at_Hue. Whether they took- it for granted, or were
so told by Manuel Duurne, 'that the English, as a
•matterof course, would, make the usual prostrations
to this shade of Majesty;we did not inquire, but it was
very evident they expected it ; for hen the Gene";
ral who commanded at Teton, and .who sat cross-
legged on a bench, as proxy for his master, observed
that, having made our bow, we filed 'off and took -our
seats, regardless of the yellow skreen, he appeared
tote greatly disconcerted,, and. could hardly be said
to recover himself the remainder of _the day. , His
disappointment in missing the nine prostrations seem-
ed to-ol eyate on his mind as it he had.. been sunk so
many degrees in. the estlinat.on of his brother
cers. He. took little notice -when the rank. and sta-
tion were explained, thoughat his own desire,which
each- of -us•held in the 'Embassy,. Pntil the -Chinese
interpreter announced CaptiPn Parish, of the artil-
lery, •is the " overseer of the great guns, . upob
which his attention• was suddenly roused, and he
seemed the whole day to regard this officeras a Very ,
foriniziable and a dangerous man.
" in the fartherdivision of the building a party of
comedians were engaged in the midst of an. historical
drama, when.:we entered-,
.but on our being seated
they broke off, and. coming forward, made before us
the obeisance ef•nitie- genuflexions and prostrations,
which we had beep So eery uncivil' as to omit to the •
Mandarin and his paintedskreen of silk ; after which
they returned to- heir labours, keeping up anincessant
Poise 'and. bustle during our stay. The heat of the
day, the thermometer in the shade standing at:Bl9'
in the open air, and at least ten degrees higher in the
building.; -the crowds that thronged in to see the'
strangers, the horrible crash of the gongs, kettle-
drums, rattles, trumpets, and squalling-flutes, were
so stunning.-and oppressive, that -.nething7but the
novelty .of the scene- • could . possibly- have de
taincd us, for . a moment. The:, most entertaining:
as • well as •• the least ..noisy7 part,' of the theatrical
exhibition was a sort of interlude, :performed by .
three young women, for the atnusetnent it would
seem of the principal Adress,•who sat as a spedator
in the dress and charaEter of-some ancient Queen ;
whilst an old eunuch, very whimsically dressed,
played his antic. tricks like a scaramouch or buffbon
in. an Harlequin entertainment. The dialogue in this
part differed entirely trom the querulous, and nearly
monotonous, recitative of the Chinese, being light
and comic, and:occasionally interrupted by cheerful
airs, which generally concluded-with a 'common
chorus. ' These airs, rude and unpolished as they
were, appeared to be regular compositions, and
were sung in exa&ly measured time. One in par-
ticular attraled our attention,-;whose slow melan-
choly. movement breathed that kind of plaintive
softness so peculiar to the native airs Of the
Scotch, to. which indeed it bore a very close
resemblance. The voices of the women were
shrill and warbling, but some of their-cadences
were not without melody. The instruments at each
pause gave a few short flourishes, till gradually over-
..ppwered by • the swelling and deafening gong:—
KnoWing nothing of the language, we were of course
• as: ignorant of the subj etl as the majority of an Eng-
lish
audience is of an Italian opera. In.4lllE.iled (
'Turon, hoWever, asi-- well as in tie Theatre in the
Haymarket, the eye was unwed- as well-as the ear.
At each repetition of the chorus the three Cochin-
chinese graces displayed their fine slender shapes in'
the mazy dance, in which, however, the feee-Were
the least concerned. By different gestu'res of the
•head, body, and arms, they assumed a variety of
figures ; and all their motions were exactly adapted

10N DON i Printed by RICHARD H Is, of No. 4, Marrlett:court, BoW.strvet.;
At tLe SUN-OFFI.CF No. 1-12, Strand Advertistiments, Orders

to the Measure of
,tlie mnsic. 'The burden -of the
chorus was not unplening, and was king, recolleCted
on the quarter-deck of the Lion,. till :the novelty_
which succeeded in China etfaced it-ft= ihe me-
mory. In the latter country,
_however, we saw uto
nether by men nor `women, :which makes
it probable that this part of the Cochitichinese en-
tertainment must be an amusement a their own
invention, or introduced from the western part' of
India.

<<No entrance-money is ever expeCted in the
Theatrts.of China or C(,chinchina. The actors are

either hired to play at private entertainments, at -a
fixed sum for the day, or they exhibit before the
public in a temporary shed, entirely exposed.
_in
front. On such occasions,' instead of "Cheering the
performers with empty plaudits, the audience throw
among them pieces of copper money; for this pur-:_
pose, the Mandarins brought us some hundred pieces
strung on cords, of the same kind as .those which
are current in China.. By, the Coehinchinese the
regular drama is called Troien, or a ',relation of his-
tories. To the operatic interlude of recitative, air,
and dancing, they give the name of Song-sang;
and a grand chorus, accompanied with the,.gong,
the kettle-drum, castanets, trumpets, and other
noisy instruments, is called the Ring-rang. The
Ambassador had Ordered his band ta attend on shore,
where they played a few light airs ;"but the Cochin-
chinese had no ear for the soft and harmonious
chords of
.European music. Their Ring-rang and
their Sing-sang were infinitely superiot in their esti-
mation, and -were the more applauded in proportion
as they were more noisy.
" Leaving
.the Comedians in the midst of their
labours, we walked across the village green, -.which
was also thek market-place, where we were highly
entertained with a variety of sports and gambols.—
The fourth of. June was for once a day of general
festivitY in this part of Cochinchina. In one place
. we observed about a dozen young fellows playing at
foof-bali with 'a bladder; in another, they were dis-
playing their agility in leaping over an horizontal
polej, here a noisy gronpe were.amusingthemselVes
in fighting cocks ; there young boys, in imitation
of their eiders, were training quails and other small'
birds; and even grasshoppers, to tear each other in
pieces; and in every corner gamesters were playing
cards or throwing dice. But that which most at-
tracted our. attention .Was a party of young men
keeping up a shuttlecock in the air, by striking it
with the soles of their feet. Nothing indeed could
exceed the activity and energy of the men of
,CO;7
chinchina. A seaman of the Lion having quarrelled
\vith.one of these people; insisted on making a ring
and boxing it fairly out.. While the ;sailor was
squaring his arms and Manceuvring, and looking for
the exact spot where he should hit his antagonist a
knock-doWn blow, tlic Cochinchinese, while
ninA his face,., very coolly turned up his heel,_ and;
giving hitn a hard and totally unexpeCted kick' in
• the jaw, Walked away with great composure, leav-
ing the astonished sailor to the laughter and tnerri
mem of the crowd.
Adive as they 'were in the
.use of their feet;
their manual dexterity was not less. rernarkable.
Jiiggkrs and conjurors and posture-:makers, were ex-
ercising their respeative arts for the amusement of
the 'crowd, and fro their own advantage ; and we
found to our cost. that those who did not openly
praOise juggling.as a profession were equally as ex-
pert in the art of picking pockets. Scarcely ,a day
occurred in whiCh some of the party did not return
to the ships with the loss. of pocket-handkerchiefs,
au article for which they seemed to have la particu-
lar liking. We ib6nci them ail, from
_the highes't
to the lowest, most importunate beggars, craving
without the least ceremony •for every, thing that
might snit their fancy ; neither were they satisfied
"With a simple denial, •nor with obtaining What *they
asked, -becoming generally. more urgent in their de-
mands in proportion
,to the liberality of the giver ;
and' what they could not obtain 'by begging` they
usually tendeavuured to procure by stealing. They
had not even the Spartan virtue of 3lushing at de-
teaion ; nor did it appear that they apprehended
any punishment either for the theft or thediscovery
of it. This disposition to stealing was so general,
that it was even. found necessary to watch narrowly
the Officers of Government who carne On board'the
Ships."