by
peninsulas and indentations; to the north it is concave and bordered in
many places by dunes and lagoons.

_Climate._--In Annam the rainy season begins during September and lasts
for three or four months, corresponding with the north-east monsoon and
also with a period of typhoons. During the rains the temperature varies
from 59 degrees or even lower to 75 degrees F. June, July and August are
the hottest months, the thermometer often reaching 85 degrees or 90
degrees, though the heat of the day is to some degree compensated by the
freshness of the nights. The south-west monsoon which brings rain in
Cochin-China coincides with the dry season in Annam, the reason probably
being that the mountains and lofty plateaus separating the two countries
retain the precipitation.

_Ethnography_.--The Annamese, or, to use the native term, the
_Giao-chi_, are the predominant people not only in Annam but in the
lowland and cultivated parts of Tongking and in Cochin-China and
southern Cambodia. According to their own annals and traditions they
once inhabited southern China, a theory which is confirmed by many of
their habits and physical characteristics; the race has, however, been
modified by crossings with the Chams and other of the previous
inhabitants of Indo-China.

The Annamese is the worst-built and ugliest of all the Indo-Chinese who
belong to the Mongolian race. He is scarcely of middle height and is
shorter and less vigorous than his neighbours. His complexion is tawny,
darker than that of the Chinese, but clearer than that of the Cambodian;
his hair is black, coarse and long; his skin is thick; his forehead low;
his skull slightly depressed at the top, but well developed at the
sides. His face is flat, with highly protruding cheek-bones, and is
lozenge-shaped or eurygnathous to a degree that is nowhere exceeded. His
nose is not only the flattest, but also the smallest among the
Indo-Chinese; his eyes are rarely oblique; his mouth is large and his
lips thick; his teeth are blackened and his gums destroyed by the
constant use of the betel-nut, the areca-nut and lime. His neck is
short, his shoulders slope greatly, his body is thick-set and wanting in
suppleness. Another peculiarity is a separation of the big toe from the
rest, greater than is found in any other people, and sufficiently
general and well marked to serve as an ethnographic test. The Annamese
of Cochin-China are weaker and smaller than those of Tongking, pro