Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-23
FRANCE In THE EAST.
She Is Making Cochin China the
Richest Land of the Orient.
TOWNS GROW LIKE MUSHROOMS.
Modern improvements That Would Shame
Pittsburg by Contrast.
SAD STORY OF MURDERERS FIELD

ping there few days do not know that the
French Republic is rapidly building up one
of the richest colonies in this part Of the
globe. The city of Saigon affords good ev1-
dence of what is going on. Twenty-Five
years ago it was miasmatic and almost
deadly marsh, with few wretched huts
and novels scattered here and there among
its pools. To-day it is fine young city,
we'll arranged and laid out with parks
and boulevards sufficient to accommo-
date a population of 100000 souls. Nine
tenths of it is well drained and severed; 1t
has an inexhaustible supply Of pure sweet
water; and all building within the fire.
limits are substantial and almost tireproof
structures. The roads are as level and
smooth as floor; the sidewalks almost
worthy of Paris and the public buildings
handsomer than those of Singapore and
Hongkong. Like these two cities it is no
longer unhealthful; sanitary engineering.
scientific drainage, efficient street cleaning
and thorough disinfection whenever and
wherever necessary have reduced the death
and disease rate to about the normal OF
Marseilles and Naples.
aRowTHs THAT ARE MARVELLOUS.
Tho progresa of Saigon is wonderful
enough, but that of the new cities in the in
terror Cho-Loong and Mytho, borders on
the marvellous. These when the French
conquered the country were small agri-
cultural villages; they are now busy manu-
featuring cities, the former possessing
population of nearly 200, 900 and the latter
one almost if not quite as large. The policy
of the administration strongly tayors immi-
grafton. The result is steady stream of
Anamites, Siamese, Burmese and Chinese
from Yun-nan and Ton-Quin by land and
Macao, Hongkong and Canton by water. The
two new cities are essentially Mongolian IN
the nationality of their citizens, but they
are French to the core in their neatness,
cleanliness and municipal excellence.
Busy is no word for them. Raw materials
come in from every direction and manu-
factured goods pour out. The railroads and
| the Saigon river carry tens of thousands of
tons Of freight annually. The trip from
Cape st. James to Mytho is one to be long
remembered. A few hills guard like senti-
nels the river, which in some past age was
| far larger stream than it is to day. On the
South and on either side of the river be-
yond the hills is a vast delta, whose rich
and prolific soil can support millions, and
which ere many years have elapsed will be
one of the granaries of the world.
WONDERS OF SAIGON RIVER
At present it is almost virgin soil. A
dense Jungle covers large portions of it's
surface where lurk tigers, leopards, croco-
diles and huge serpents. The Saigon river
ciple Of a snake. It winds In and out, as
if hopelessly lost. In each mile Of length
it faces every point of the compass. 1t is
stream of surprises. At one point it seems
mile wide while at another you can almost
toss biscuit to either bank. But it is deep
and strong. According to the tide is its
velocity, now quiet as a mountain lake and
two hours afterwards rushing tumultuosly
past like mill race.
The city of Saigon is pleasant spectacle
from the decks of the steamer. The public
buildings, neat and effective, the houses of
the people and the roads embowered in
trees and greenery, the streets in rich, red
clay in vivid contrast with the universal
and intense green of vegetable life; the
citizens of different races In gayly colored
costumes; the activity of trade and COM
merce; the soldiery and constabulary in
bright uniforms, all combine to make
brilliant, beautiful and interesting picture.
AN INTERMNABLE GRAVEYARD.
From Saigon the best route is by rail.
You can go on foot, horseback, in OK cart or
by native boats on the river branches. The
country between Saigon and Mytho is the
same delta formation as below the city, but
the ground Is higher and dryer. It is
great plain broken by pools, marshes and
water courses When it is cultivated, it
yields fruit and vegetables in the greatest
profusion. Only twentieth, however, is
under the plow; At some past period 1t
must have had a swarming population.
Sometimes for miles the locomotive thun-
ders through an interminable graveyard.
Sometimes it rushes past ruins and hills
where once stood great Cambodian or pre-
Cambodian cities.
Who inhabited these places Is unknown.
The architecture of what is left seems q
mean between the Assyrian and the Hin
doc. Sometimes it is strikingly Egyptian |
in character. There are tombs which are
perfect decapitated Sphinxes The SIM
ilarity goes so far as to have tablet on the
stone breast or in the paws of the fabulous |
animal on which are indecipherable inscrip- |
tions, Some characters have been idsnti- |
fed as Chinese and still others as SansKrit, |
showing that centuries ago there must have /
been q heavy commerce between this land |
and its colossal neighbore to the East and !
West.
STORY OF A FRENCH KILLING.
Near Cho-long In ancient cemetery which
the Anamites call ''Murderer's Field" Here
during the French conquest the last army of
the native monarch, 10000 young men, the
flower of the land, encountered French
force of q quarter of their number. The
former were armed with warclubs, maces,
spears and bows and arrowsj the latter with
rifles, revolvers and cannon. The French
"on account of their necessities took no
prisoners. At the first charge the poor
Anamites were routed with terrible
slaughter. They threw down their arms
and took to fight. Then began carnage
whose history has never been written. The
victors fanked, shot down and bayonetted
the half-naked fugitives, and followed the
survivors to again flank, shoot and kill.
When darkness ended the day, a few
hundred worn out and wounded wretches
hiding in the swamps were all that was left
of the proud army that started out in the
morning. The dead were SO many that they
could not be buried and in their decay
started pestilence which swept off over
100, 900 souls Since then there has never
been made any resistance to the invader
and ever since has the Anamites adopted
the Chinese phrase and called their con-
querors foreign devils, but always with
bated breath The French record is very
meager. 1t says that the Anamites at
tackled their troops and were repulsed with
very heavy losses. 1t also notices an epi-
demic the same month in the neighborhood
of the battle field which caused large
number of deaths.
TREATMENT OF BRIGANDs.
In matters of this sort the French do no
halfway work They have taken as, their
pattern the British system in Northwestern