Evening star., 1902-01-04

Anamite Soldier.
rice to every man, woman and child in
| the world. Notwithstanding this [ am told
| that less than two-fftlTs of the rice land
| is used. Cochin China has something like
| 100000 acres in rice and 100000 acres of
rice lands are available. The French say
] that they hope to make the country the
| bread basket for China and Japan, and
| they are rapidly succeeding, although at
| present the best of the rice mills are owned
by Chinese rather than Frenchmen.
The French Pushing Their Colonies.
Indeed the French are now doing much
| to develop their colonies. They are trying
| to extend the railroads of Tonking into
China and claim the southern part of the
| Chinese empire as their sphere OF influence
! One of the proposed roads will connect Ton
king with Canton and another will go into
the rich province of Yunnan.
They have big empire to develop in their
own territory. Tunkfng has rich mines of
copper, iron, tin zinc, silver and lead, as
! well as some of the richest coal deposits of
South Asia. 1t ships something like 100000
! tons Of coal annually to Hong Kong and 1t
is now planning the development of it's
! copper deposits. The Tonkingese people
are stronger and more intelligent than the
! Cochin Chinese. They are more mixed
| with the Chinese proper and they have
more pure Chinese among them.
The French Governor General.
! 1t is in Tonkng that the French governor
| general of Indo-Chna resides. He has his
| capital at Hanoi, on the Songkoi or Red
| river, about 10 miles from it's mouth The
town has more than 100000 people, of whom
| less than a thousand are Europeans and
| about 1900 Chinese. The remainder are
| Anamites. Hanoi has steamship connection
| with Hong Kong, and steamers run on up
| the Red river as far as the boundary of
| Yunnan, China.
| Notwithstanding it's small European pop
| ulation the town is a lively one. 1t has
| French newspapers, a race course, a. pub
! lie band and a club. 1t has several large
| government offices and also the barracks, a
| hospital and the residence of the GOV
| ernor general. The Red river Is about a
mile in width at that point and the dis
| tricts near the river look not unlike Saigon.
| Many new streets have been laid out and
+ planted with trees they are lighted by elGc-
| tricity and most of the streets are drained.
| Hanoi is the headquarters of the Mill
| tary, the governor having 240OO troops I'M
| der his command, stationed in different
| parts of the country and in the other states
! of French China. The greater part of the
| troops are natives, although there are Euro
pean regiments of infantry marines bat
| teries of European artillery and others.
! There is also native militia of 10 900 men.
| The governor general at present Is Paul
! Doumer. He has his cabinet and 50 many
subordinate officials that it is said that
nearly every Frenchman in Tonking Is an
| officer or a soldier. The governor general
has more power in French China than in
| British India. He is commander of the
! local forces and of the vessels of war at
tached to his station. He can If he wishes
| declare his colony In a state of siege and
| can try military men by court-martial. He
is above the local courts and has absolute
authority over the colony.
The French Kingdom of Anam
Just below Tonking Is the kingdom of
Anam. which is also under the protection
| of ~,
young man of about twenty-five, refers in
most things to Hanoi for instruction, and
| is dependent upon the French although he
nominafiy governs 20,00O,000 people.
His capital is Hue, on the Hue river,
| some distance back from the coast. The
| city has walls about it and is said to look
| much like one of the fortified towns of
| Europe of the seventeenth century. 1t is
| divided into two parts, the city and sub
| urbs. The city stands on square island,
| formed on three sides by the river and on
| the other by a canal 1t has Notifications
about it, built by the French, and within
the Notifications the government officials
! live. Here are the courts of Justice the
| observatory, the library, the mandarin S
! college and the palace of the council of
state. Further back in the city, inside an
other wall are the palaces Of the king and
his harem. These palaces are somewhat t
like those of Peking, being covered with
yellow tiles. Only the king has right to
a yellow roof, the mobiles being restricted
10 fed L he suDurDS ana tnat part OF the
city devoted to the common people are
mean, the buildings being small and dilap-
idated The population of the city alto
gether, is estimated at 100000, of whom
800 are Chinese. The only Europeans are
the French resident governor. his staff and
a guard of 800 French soldiers. France
has held this province since 1888
The French Want Siam.
From what the French officials here say
l can see they are looking at Siam with
greedy eyes. Along in the nineties they
took possession of some of the Laos states
at the north of that country. / am told
they would like to swallow up the whole
of 1t, for it is exceedingly rich. They have
also the province of Camboda, which lies
between Cochin China and Siam, being
easily reached from here by the Mekong
river The people of Cambodia are much
like the Siamese, and they We're in the
, , past far superior to any others of south.
/ eastern Asia. The ruins of the ancient
city of Angkor are almost equal to those OF
Java or East India. The Cambodians are
BuddhiSts, like the Siamese. They believe
l in polygamy and every rich man has
numerous wives.
The country is governed by king under
the protection of the French and who gov.
; ems they direct. The capital is in the
heart of the kingdom on the Mekong river
l. is just about large as Saigon bu,
through the influence of the Frencil it is
p far advanced for an Asiatic town. A part
S of the kings palace Is in European style
and there are steam workshops adjoining 1t
, superintended by French engineers, The
? French have charge of the treasury, the
. customs and the public works, and unde,
: ! them the city has been drained and made
= sanitary. FRANK G. CARPENTER.
Worth Winning.