The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-07-07
FRENCH ToNQUIN.
oome POINTS CONCERNING THE
COUNTRY OCCUPIED BY FRANCE.
me Delta of the Red River-The CITY n,
Observation-Disclosures. of the Ma
tive Population Climate.
Health, business

The city which is fairly sure to COMMAND
the trade of the delta of the Red river ami
in time that of all Tonquin and Yunnan.
may properly be called city of the future
mat city is thought TO be Haiphonp II is
true Haiphong stands on one of the many
arms through which the parent stream
reaches The sea, fifteen miles from its mouth;
Las an inconvenient bar, which at low water
mas only SIX feet and at high water (once
uay) sixteen feet, and therefore cannot hope
ever 10 see at its wharves the great ships
winch do the world honor by bearing its
commerce But 1T Is the best port that can
he had under the circumstances, and the
French government, seconded by specula-
tors, is obliged to be content with it
Here comes the foreign merchandise
which is to be distributed through
that part of Tonquin which the French al
ready occupy, Here come the troops and
munitions of war for the French army in
the Held and the military posts in the in
terror Real estate has gone from nothing
to a commanding figure as rapidly as in
western towns during the speculative era in
city lots in America, and everything indi-
Gates the expectation of wonderful prosper
ity, whether or not the golden age ever
comes. The delta is not, as might be sup
posed, fiat swamp covered with a reedy
jungle, but large level area, intersected by
the arms of the Red river, covered with rice
fields, groves of bamboo and orchards of the
betel nut palm, which give it singularly
picturesque appearance; dotted with villages
anu bordered by ranges of low serrated hills,
which close it round like a framework On
the south bank of one of thesa
larger arms just where it is inter-
sected by smaller channel, stands Hal
phong. The ground is low and at spring
tides partially overflowed, drawback which
will be in a measure remedied by raising the
general level of the site. This process is 60
ing on slowly over considerable area. Tie
streets which have been laid out regularly
are already at their proper level, but the in
terVenlng blocks are as yet mere rectangular
lakes OF water, surrounded constantly by
wretched Anamite women and girls raking
them for the Shiny sea-weed.
The mud bank along the water front is be-
ing excavatsd by means peculiarly print
tive and Oriental Here may be seen any
day from one to several hundred Anamite
coolies standing in line knee deep in the ooze,
the one farthest from the bank picking up
IN his hands mass OF stiff mud and clay,
| banding it to the one next to him, who passes
it along until it is at last deposited on solid
| ground. The work is superintended
| uy petty French official assisted
| by two or three half Europeanized
| Anamites, through whom he imparts his
orders. The manner of doings this work is
typical of the wretchedness of the native
population of Haiphong In China ths
| burden bearing coolies who fill the streets
are always men. In Anam they are oftener
women, or even girls, the latter being some
times mere children. The streets that are
finished are solid and handsome, thanks to
soil we'll adapted to the purpose. The
residences are sometimes Of the bungalow
style, or two-story, with verandas like those
elsewhere in the foreign settlements in the
East There are already enough of them tc
give a European air to the city seen from
the river. 1t extends along the main stream
for nearly a mile. and for somewhat
greater distance along the smaller branch
the native town, which contains about
$1,000 inhabitants living in houses film
silly constructed of bamboo mating, con-
tinuing beyond and finally ending in somt
dirty struggling huts among groves of palm
Tonquin is to be the crucial test Of the
ability of the French to coloniZe their new
possessions. This trade of Saigon, though Sc
handsomely built and so well governed by
them, is mostly in the hands of Germans
English and Chinese. There is danger that
Haipbong will follow its example. There
are three classes of Frenchmen who are in
variably ON the crest of the wave of foreign
conquest These are the barber, the restau
ranteur and the cabaret-keeper. They ar,
already in Haiphong The first with hi
gentle touch, his toilet articles and his pat
emit nostrums for the hair; the second witt
his pots and pans in a bamboo shed in
grove of bananas, and the last with hi
wines, his liquors and an inexhaustible sup
ply of vermouth and absinthe. As for tn
carpenters, cabinet makers, tailors and shoe
makers, they have not yet put in an appear
ance The somewhat diminished Chimes
colony supplies this want, though imper
fectlv.
| 1t is not surprising that the French col
onists, despising the indolent and effeminat
Anamities, should prefer the more subtl
and industrious Chinese in the absence O
the Iaborers of men of their own country
But it is mistake and they should correc
it before it is too late, for not only will tn
+, Chinese, if admitted, take possession Of tn
, | mechanical trades to the exclusion of me
| chanics of all other nations, but will in
. few years engross all lines of mercantil
business, leaving the French trader retail j
not Wholesale quite out in the cold, as the.
} have done in Hong Kong.
Tonquin is undoubtedly a rich country
and upon closer observation ! am induces
to believe not half so malarial as it ha
bsen painted Most of China is malarial
1t could hardly be otherwise with the de
cav and waste of its thousands of years c
cultivation and its thousands OF millions @
fIeeting mortality. But the sickness in tn
French army of Tonquin and Formosa
not entirely due to the exhalations of a lux
: uriant vegetation and rich and unhealth
e soil. That responsibility will have to b
shared by the French government whic
mobilized the small force which it sent t
tho east without providing the requisit
medical attendance and hospital stores, an
:, failed to furnish supply of tents or eve
r. blankets
An inspection of the shops of the mel
chants here shows a plentiful lack OF useft
articles, especially of wearing apparel, an
= an eccentric superfluity of goods tina al
needless and absurd All the shelves ar
crowded with wines and vermouth. Tn
showcases are filled with toilet articles an
strange Paris devices. There are photograph
of Bordeaux, photograph albums and opert
glasses Canned goods are in good supply
but of shoes, boots, ready-nade clothing
blankets and such articles as the pionee
gene, LILY finds serviceable none whatever
| The French among themselves and on the
own soil are to certain extent practica