bably
as a result of living amid marshy rice-fields. The Annamese of both
sexes wear wide trousers, a long, usually black tunic with narrow
sleeves and a dark-coloured turban, or in the case of the lower classes,
a wide straw hat; they either go bare-foot or wear sandals or Chinese
boots. The typical Annamese dwelling is open to the gaze of the
passer-by during the day; at night a sort of partition of bamboo is let
down. The roof is supported on wooden pillars and walls are provided
only at the sides. The house consists principally of one large room
opening on the front verandah and containing the altar of the family's
ancestors, a table in the centre and couches placed against the wall.
The chief elements of the native diet are rice, fish and poultry;
vegetables and pork are also eaten. The family is the base of the social
system in Annam and is ruled by its head, who is also priest and judge.
Polygamy is permitted but rarely practised, and the wife enjoys a
position of some freedom.

Though fond of ease the Annamese are more industrious than the
neighbouring peoples. Theatrical and musical entertainments are popular
among them. They show much outward respect for superiors and parents,
but they are insincere and incapable of deep emotion. They cherish great
love of their native soil and native village and cannot remain long from
home. A proneness to gambling and opium-smoking, and a tinge of vanity
and deceitfulness, are their less estimable traits. On the whole they
are mild and easy-going and even apathetic, but the facility with which
they learn is remarkable. Like their neighbours the Cambodians and the
Chinese, the Annamese have a great respect for the dead, and ancestor
worship constitutes the national religion. The learned hold the doctrine
of Confucius, and Buddhism, alloyed with much popular superstition, has
some influence. Like the Chinese the Annamese bury their dead.

Among the savage tribes of the interior there is scarcely any idea of
God and their superstitious practices can scarcely be considered as the
expression of a definite religious idea. Roman Catholics number about
420,000. In the midst of the Annamese live Cambodians and immigrant
Chinese, the latter associated together according to the districts from
which they come and carrying on nearly all the commerce of the country.
In the forests and mountains dwell tribes of savages, chiefly of
Indonesian origin, classed by the Annamese under the name