Chapter XXI: Part 21

As time went on, the population of the Midland expanded and forced the Outer Band into a still wider circuit. The Midland conquered the eastern Punjab, Rajputana with Gujarat (where it reached the sea) and Oudh. With its armies and its settlers it carried its language, and hence in all these territories we now find mixed forms of speech. The basis of each is that of the Outer Band, but the body is that of the Midland. Moreover, as we leave the Midland and approach the external borders of this tract, the influence of the Midland language grows weaker and weaker, and traces of the original Outer language become more and more prominent. In the same way the languages of the Outer Band were forced farther and farther afield. There was no room for expansion to the west, but to the south it flowed over the Maratha country, and to the east into Orissa, into Bengal and, last of all, into Assam.

The state of affairs at the present day is therefore as follows: There is a Midland Indo-Aryan language (Western Hindi) occupying the Gangetic Doab and the country immediately to its north and south. Round it, on three sides, is a band of mixed languages, Panjabi (of the central Punjab), Gujarati, Rajasthani (of Rajputana and its neighbourhood), and Eastern Hindi (of Oudh and the country to its south). Beyond these again, there is the band of Outer Languages (Kashmiri, with its Pisaca basis), Lahnda (of the western Punjab), Sindhi (here the band is broken by Gujarati), Marathi, Oriya (of Orissa), Bihari, Bengali and Assamese. There are also, at the present day, Indo-Aryan languages in the Himalaya, north of the Midland. These belong to the Intermediate Band, being recent importations from Rajputana. The Midland language is therefore now enclosed within a ring fence of Intermediate forms of speech.

We have seen that the word "Prakrit" means "natural" or "vernacular," as opposed to the "purified" literary Sanskrit. From this point of view every vernacular of India, from the earliest times, is a Prakrit. The Rig-Veda itself, composed long before the birth of "purified" Sanskrit, can only be considered as written in an old vernacular, and its language, together with the other contemporary Indo-Aryan dialects which never attained to the honour of "purification," may be called the _Primary_ Prakrits of India. If we compare literary Sanskrit with classical Latin (see Brandreth, "The Gaurian compared with the Romance Languages," _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_ xi. (1879), 287; xii. (1880), 335), then these Primary Prakrits correspond to the old Italic dialects contemporary with and related to the literary language of Rome. They were synthetic languages with fairly complicated grammars, no objection to harsh combinations of consonants, and several grammatical forms strange to the classical speech. In the course of centuries (while literary Sanskrit remained stereotyped) they decayed into _Secondary_ Prakrits. These still remained synthetic, and still retained the non-classical forms of grammar, but diphthongs and harsh combinations of consonants were eschewed. They now corresponded to the post-classical Italic dialects. Just as Sanskrit (and the Primary Prakrits) knew of a city called Kausambi, which was known as Kosambi to the Secondary Prakrits, so the real Umbrian name of the poet known to literature as Plautus was Plot(u)s. Again, as the Latin _lactuca_ became _lattuca_, so the Primary Prakrit _bhakta_- became the Secondary _bhatta_-. In India, the dislike to harsh consonantal sounds, a sort of glottic laziness, finally led to a condition of almost absolute fluidity, each word of the Secondary Prakrits ultimately becoming an emasculated collection of vowels hanging on to an occasional consonant. This weakness brought its own Nemesis and from, say, A.D. 1000 we find in existence the series of modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars, or, as they may be called, _Tertiary_ Prakrits, closely corresponding to the modern Romance languages. Here we find the hiatus between contiguous vowels abolished by the creation of new diphthongs, declensional and conjugational terminations consisting merely of vowels becoming worn away, and new languages appearing, no longer synthetic, but analytic, and again reverting to combinations of consonants under new forms, which had existed three thousand years ago, but which two thousand years of attrition had caused to vanish.

It is impossible to fix any approximate date for the change from the Primary to the Secondary Prakrits. We see sporadic traces of the secondary stage already occurring in the Rig-Veda itself, of which the canon was closed about 1000 B.C. At any rate Secondary Prakrits were the current vernacular at the time of the emperor Asoka (250 B.C.). Their earliest stage was that of what is now called _Pali_, the sacred language of the Buddhists, which forms the subject of a separate article (see PALI). A still later and more abraded stage is also discussed under the head of PRAKRIT. This stage is known as that of the Prakrit _par excellence_. When we talk of Prakrit without any qualifying epithet, we usually mean this later stage of the Secondary Prakrits, when they had developed beyond the stage of Pali, but before they had reached the analytic stage of the modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars. The next, and final, stage of the Secondary Prakrits was that of the _Apabhramsas_. The word _Apabhramsa_ means "corrupt" or "decayed," and was applied to the vernaculars in contrast to the Prakrit _par excellence_, which had in its turn (like Sanskrit and Pali) become stereotyped by being employed for literature. It is these _Apabhramsas_ which are the direct parents of the modern vernacular. The following is a list of the Indo-Aryan vernaculars, showing, when known, the names of the _Apabhramsas_ from which they are sprung, and the number of speakers of each in the year 1901:--

+---------------+-------------------------------+------------+
| _Apabhramsa._ | Modern Language. | Number of |
| | | Speakers. |
+---------------+-------------------------------+------------+
| | _A. Language of the Midland._ | |
| Saurasena | Western Hindi | 40,714,925 |
| | | |
| | _B. Intermediate Languages._ | |
| Avanta | Rajasthani | 10,917,712 |
| " | Pahari Languages | 3,124,681 |
| Gaurjara | Gujarati | 9,439,925 |
| Saurasena | Pañjabi | 17,070,961 |
| Ardhamagadha | Eastern Hindi | 22,136,358 |
| | | |
| | _C. Outer Languages._ | |
| | (a) _North-Western Group._ | |
| Unknown | Kashmiri (with a Pisaca basis)| 1,007,957 |
| " | Kohistani (with a Pisaca | |
| | basis) | (unknown) |
| " | Lahnda or Western Pañjabi | 3,337,917 |
| Vracada | Sindhi | 3,494,971 |
| | | |
| | (b) _Southern Language._ | |
| Maharastra | Marathi | 18,237,899 |
| | | |
| | (c) _Eastern Group._ | |
| Magadha | Bihari | 34,579,844 |
| " | Oriya | 9,687,429 |
| " | Bengali | 44,624,048 |
| " | Assamese | 1,350,846 |
| | +------------+
| | Total More than |219,725,473 |
+---------------+-------------------------------+------------+

Of these, the Pahari languages are offshoots of Rajasthani imported into the Himalaya. Kohistani includes the mixed dialects of the Swat and Indus Kohistans. The census of 1901 did not extend to these tracts. A full account of the _Apabhramsas_ will be found in the article PRAKRIT.

Although the modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars are not derived from Sanskrit, and though all, or nearly all, are not derived from the language of the Rig-Veda, nevertheless, as these are almost the only sources of our information as to what the Primary Prakrits of India were, and as all Primary Prakrits were related to these two and were in approximately the same stage of phonetic development, they afford a convenient means for carrying out historical investigation into the origin of all the modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars to its legitimate conclusion. At the same time they are not always trustworthy guides, and sometimes fail to explain forms derived from other ancient contemporary dialects, the originals of which were unknown to the Vedic and classical literature. A striking example is the origin of the very common locative suffix -_e_. This can be traced through the _Apabhramsa -hi_ to the Pali -_dhi_. There all Indian clues cease, and it is not till we recognize its relationship to the Greek -[Greek: ti] that we understand that it is an ancient Indo-European termination kept alive in India by some of the Primary Prakrits, but ignored both by the dialect of the Rig-Veda and by literary Sanskrit. With this reservation, a short comparison of Sanskrit with the Secondary and Tertiary Prakrit developments will be of interest. As the Pali and Prakrit stages are fully treated under their proper heads, very brief references to them will be sufficient.

_A. Vocabulary._--The ground of all the vocabularies of the modern
Indo-Aryan vernaculars is, of course, the vocabulary of Aryan India in
the Vedic period. Thousands of words have descended from the earliest
times and are still in existence, after passing through certain
changes subject to well-known phonetic laws. As many of these laws are
the same for every language, it follows that a large stock of words,
which principally differ in inflection, is common to all these modern
forms of speech. These words, which natives believe to be derived from
Sanskrit itself, are called by them _tadbhava_, i.e. "having 'that'
(sc. Sanskrit, or, more correctly, the Primary Prakrit) for its
origin." As the language of the Midland is derived from the old
dialect of which Sanskrit is the "polished" form, it is approximately
true to say that it is derived from that form of speech, and its
native vocabulary (allowing for phonetic development) may be said to
be the same as that of Sanskrit. But the farther we go from the
Midland, the more examples we meet of a new class of words which
natives of India call _desya_ or "country-born." Most of these are
really also _tadbhavas_, descendants of the old Primary Prakrit
dialects spoken outside the Midland, of whose existence native
scholars took no account. Finally, owing to the ever-present influence
of literary Sanskrit, words are, and have been for many generations,
borrowed direct from that language. Some of these borrowed words are
due to the existence of Sanskrit as the language of religion. Their
use is paralleled by the employment of Greek and Latin words for
religious technical terms in all the languages of Europe. Others are
technical terms of arts and sciences, but most of those which we meet
are simply employed for the sake of fine language, much as if some
purist were to insist on employing _hlaford_ instead of "lord" in
writing English. These Sanskrit words are known as _tatsama_ or "the
same as 'that' (sc. Sanskrit)." The number of _tatsamas_ employed
varies much. In languages such as Panjabi which have little or no
literature, and in the speech of the peasantry all over India, they
are few in number. In the modern literary Bengali a false standard of
literary taste has led to their employment in overwhelming numbers,
and the homely vigorous home-speech, which is itself capable of
expressing every idea that the mind of man can conceive, flounders
about awkwardly enough under the weight of its borrowed plumes. The
native vocabulary of the modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars is thus made up
of _tadbhavas_, _desyas_ and _tatsamas_.

The Dravidian languages of southern India have also contributed a
small quota to the Indo-Aryan vocabulary. Most of the words have been
given a colour of contempt in the process of borrowing. Thus the word
_pilla_, a cub, is really the Dravidian _pillai_, a son. But the most
important accretion from outside comes from Persian, and (through
Persian) from Arabic. This is due to Mahommedan influence. In the
Mogul courts Persian was for long the language of politeness and
literature, and words belonging to it filtered into all stages of
society. The proportion of these Persian words varies greatly in the
different languages. In some forms of Western Hindi they have almost
monopolized the vocabulary, while in others, such as Bengali and
Marathi, the number is very few. Instances of borrowing from other
languages are of small importance.

_B. Phonetics._--The alphabet of the Indo-Aryan languages is, on the
whole, the same as that of Sanskrit (q.v.), and the system of
transliteration adopted for that language is also followed for
them.[2] Some new sounds have, however, developed in the Secondary and
Tertiary Prakrits. New signs will be used for them, and will be
explained in the proper places. Sanskrit knew only long _e_ and _o_,
but already in the Secondary Prakrits we find a corresponding short
pair, _e_ and _o_, of which the use is considerably extended in the
tertiary stage. The Sanskrit diphthongs _ai_ and _au_ disappeared in
the secondary stage, _e_ and _o_ being substituted for them
respectively. On the other hand, in the same stage, we frequently come
across pairs of vowels, such as _aï_, _aü_, with a hiatus between the
two members. In the tertiary stage, these pairs have been combined
into new diphthongs _ai_ and _au_, shorter in pronunciation than _ai_
and _au_. The pronunciation of _ai_ and _ai_ may be compared with that
of the English "aye" and "I" respectively. In the languages of the
Outer Band, there is again a tendency to weaken this new _ai_ to _e_,
and the new _au_ to _o_. All the tertiary languages weaken a short
final vowel. In most it is elided altogether in prose, but in some of
those of the Outer Band (Kashmiri, Sindhi and Bihari) it is half
pronounced. Some of the Outer languages have also developed a new
_a_-sound, corresponding to that of _a_ in the German _Mann_. The
stress-accent of classical Sanskrit has as a rule been preserved
throughout. In the tertiary stage it generally resolves itself into
falling on the ante-penultimate, if the penultimate is short. If the
latter is long it takes the accent. In the eastern-languages there is
a tendency to throw the accent even farther back. There is also
everywhere a tendency to lighten the pronunciation of a short vowel
after an accented syllable, so that it is barely audible. Thus,
_cál^ata_ for _cálata_. In some dialects, e.g. the Urdu form of
Western Hindi, this "imperfect" vowel has altogether disappeared, as
in _cálta_.

The tertiary languages have on the whole preserved the consonantal
system of the secondary stage, preferring, however, as a rule, to
simplify double consonants, with compensatory lengthening of the
preceding vowel. Thus, for Sanskrit _hasta_-, a hand, we have
Secondary Prakrit _hattha_-, Tertiary _hath_. Some tertiary languages
have both _hatth_ and _hath_: others (like Gujarati) have only _hath_:
while others (like Panjabi) have only _hatth_. In the extreme
north-west, Sindhi and Lahnda, under the influence of the Pisaca
languages, simplify the double consonant without compensatory
lengthening, so that we have _hath_. Again, many languages of the
Outer Band show a tendency to avoid aspiration, so that Kashmiri,
Marathi, Bengali and others have _hat_. It is well known that the
Iranian languages change _s_ to _h_. The Tertiary Prakrits of the
Outer Band find analogous difficulty in pronouncing a sibilant. The
north-western languages change it to _h_ as in Persian. Marathi
changes _s_ to _s_ before palatal sounds, and the same change occurs
in Bengali in the case of every uncompounded sibilant. Eastern Bengali
and Assamese go farther. Here _s_ is again sounded almost like _h_. On
the other hand, in the Midland, _s_ rarely becomes _h_ and then only
when medial. In the Outer languages the palatal consonants are also
liable to change; _j_ and _jh_ approach the sound of _z_, and _c_ and
_ch_ often become _ts_, or, in the East, a simple _s_. Thus, the
Midland cakar. a servant, is pronounced _tsakar_ in Marathi, and the
Midland _mach_, a fish, is sounded _mas_ in Marathi, Bengali and
Assamese.

_C. Declension._--In the latest stage of the Secondary Prakrits the
neuter gender begins to disappear, and in the tertiary stage, except
in Gujarati and Marathi, it is nearly altogether wanting. Elsewhere we
only come across occasional relics of its employment. In some of the
tertiary languages grammatical gender, as distinct from sexual gender,
has disappeared as entirely as it has in English. The dual number had
already fallen into disuse in the Secondary Prakrits. In the secondary
stage we see a gradual simplification of grammatical form and a
disappearance of case endings. The complicated Sanskrit system is more
and more superseded by the simple uniformity of the declension of
_a_-bases. One by one the case endings were discarded, and cases were
confounded with one another till at length in _Apabhramsa_ only one or
two forms remained for each number. In the tertiary stage there remain
in most languages only two cases, which we may call the nominative and
the oblique. The latter can be employed for any case except the
nominative, but the sense is usually defined by the aid of help-words
called postpositions.[3] It is a linguistic rule that languages in
which the genitive precedes the governing noun prefer suffixes to
prefixes and vice versa;[4] and, as the genius of the Indo-Aryan
languages does require the genitive to be prefixed, these help-words
take the form of suffixes. In the Midland they are still separate
words, but in the Outer Band each has in general become incorporated
with the main word to which it is attached. Thus, the Midland _ghora_,
a horse, has its oblique form _ghore_, genitive _ghore ker_, but
Bengali has oblique form _ghora_, genitive _gkorar_ contracted from
_ghora + (k)ar_. The ground principles of declension in all tertiary
languages are the same, but as each employs different postpositions
the systems of declension vary considerably. Marathi is the only true
Indo-Aryan language which has preserved anything more than sporadic
relics of the old system of case terminations.

_D. Conjugation._--Two tenses, the present and the imperative, of the
old synthetic system of conjugation have survived in all the Tertiary
Prakrits, and in some of them we also find the ancient future. All
other tenses are now made periphrastically, mostly with the aid of
participles to which auxiliary verbs may or may not be added. The
participles employed are all survivals of the old participles of the
present, of the past and (in some languages) of the future. The past
and future participles are passive in their origin, and hence tenses
formed with these participles must be construed passively. Thus,
instead of "I struck him" we must say, either "he was struck by me,"
or else (impersonally) "it was struck by me with reference to him."
So, for an intransitive verb we have, either "I am gone," or "it is
gone by me." In the language of the Midland this is quite simple and
clear, but in those of the Outer Band the subject (in the
instrumental, or as it is usually called "agent" case) is indicated by
means of pronominal suffixes attached to the participle or auxiliary
verb; thus (Bengali) _marila_ + _am_, struck + by-me, becomes
_marilam_, I struck. In such cases all memory of the passive meaning
of the participle is lost by the eastern languages, and it, together
with the appropriate pronominal suffixes, becomes in appearance and in
practical use an ordinary past tense conjugated as in Latin or in
Sanskrit. It is an instance of reversion to the original type; first
synthetic, then analytic, and then again a new synthetic conjugation.
In the other languages of the Outer Band, the memory of the passive
nature of the participle is retained, although the conjugation is as
synthetic as in the East, and the subject has to be put into the
"agent" case.

AUTHORITIES.--No work has yet been published dealing with Indo-Aryan
subjects as a whole, although several have been written which treat of
one or more stages of their development. For the general question of
the Pisaca languages, the reader may consult G. A. Grierson's _The
Pisaca Languages of North-Western India_ (London, 1906). For the
different languages of this group, see G. W. Leitner, _Dardistan_
(Lahore, 1877); J. Biddulph, _Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh_, (Calcutta,
1880); D. J. O'Brien, _Grammar and Vocabulary of the Khowar Dialect_
(Lahore, 1895); J. Davidson, _Notes on the Bashgali (Kafir) Language_
(Calcutta, 1901). For the linguistic conditions of Vedic times, the
Introduction to J. Wackernagel's _Altindische Grammatik_ (Göttingen,
1896) gives much useful information in a convenient form. For the
literature concerning Pali and Prakrit, see under those heads. The
following are the principal works dealing with the general question of
the Tertiary Prakrits: J. Beames, _Comparative Grammar of the Modern
Aryan Languages of India_ (1872-1879); A. F. R. Hoernle, _A Grammar of
the Eastern Hindi compared with the other Gaudian Languages_ (1880);
R. G. Bhandarkar, "The Phonology of the Prakrits of Northern India,"
in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_ (Bombay Branch), vol.
XVII., ii., 99-182 (see also the same author's series of papers on
cognate subjects in vol. XVI. of the same _Journal_); and G. A.
Grierson's essays "On the Phonology of the Modern Indo-Aryan
Vernaculars" in the _Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen
Gesellschaft_, vols. xlix., 1. (1895-1896), 393, 1; "On the Radical
and Participial Tenses of the Modern Indo-Aryan Vernaculars" in the
_Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, vol. lxiv. (1895), part
i., 352; and "On certain Suffixes in the Modern Indo-Aryan
Vernaculars" in the _Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung_
(1903), p. 473. The general subject of this article is discussed at
greater length in chapter vii. of the _Report on the Census of India,
1901_ (Calcutta, 1903). The volumes of the _Linguistic Survey of
India_ also contain much detailed information, summed up at length in
the introductory volume. (G. A. Gr.).

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Attempts have been made to discover dialectic variations in the
Veda itself, and, as originally composed in various parts of the
Punjab widely distant from each other, the hymns probably did contain
many such. But they have been edited by compilers whose home was in
the Midland, and now their language is fairly uniform throughout. In
the time of Asoka (250 B.C.) there were at least two dialects, an
eastern and a western, as well as another in the extreme north-west.
The grammarian Patañjali (150 B.C.) mentions the existence of several
dialects.

[2] The Nagari (see SANSKRIT) and allied alphabets, when employed for
modern Indo-Aryan languages or for Prakrit, are transliterated in
this work according to the following system:--

a a i i u u r r e e ai ai o o au au m (_anusvara_) [infinity]
(anunasika) h (_visarga_).
k kh g gh rc
c (ts) ch (tsh) j (dz) jh (dzh) ñ
t th d (r) dh (rh) l lh n
t th d dh n
p ph b bh m
y r l v (w)
s s s h.

Special sounds employed by particular languages are described in the
articles in which reference is made to them. Here we may mention _å_,
sounded like the _aw_ in "law," and _ä_, _ö_, _ü_, pronounced as in
German.

[3] The origin of the postpositions is discussed in the article
HINDOSTANI.

[4] See P. W. Schmidt in _Mitteilungen der Wiener Anthropologischen
Gesellschaft_, xxxiii. 381.

INDO-CHINA, FRENCH.[1] The geographical denomination of French Indo-China includes the protectorates of Annam, Tongking and Cambodia, the colony of Cochin-China and part of the Laos country. In 1900 the newly-acquired territory of Kwang-Chow Bay, on the coast of China, was placed under the authority of the governor-general of Indo-China. Cochin-China, a geographical definition which formerly included all the countries in the Annamese empire--Tongking, Annam and Cochin-China--now signifies only the French colony, consisting of the "southern provinces" originally conquered from Annam, having Saigon as its capital. In its entirety French Indo-China, the eastern portion of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, lies between 8° 30´ and 230 25´ N. and 100° and 109° 20´ E. It is bounded N. by China, on which side the frontiers have been delimited; E. and S.E. by the Gulf of Tongking and the China Sea; W. by the Gulf of Siam and Siam, and N.W. by Burma. The area is estimated at about 290,000 sq. m., with a population of 17¼ millions, of whom 75 or 80% are Annamese. The French inhabitants number about 13,000.

The configuration of the country is determined by two rivers of unequal importance--the Mekong and the Song-Koi--and a continuous chain of mountains, an offshoot of the great Chinese group of Yun-nan, which, making a double curve, forms an immense S. South and west of this mountain chain the country forms part of the Mekong basin. To the north and north-east of the chain the valley of the Song-Koi, or Red river, constitutes almost the whole of Tongking, of which its delta represents the most fertile and populous if not the largest portion. The small mountainous provinces of Lang-Son, That-Ke and Kao-Bang, however, belong geographically to the Si-Kiang basin. On the east the small province of Mon-Kay, on the borders of Kwang-Tung, forms a little basin enclosed between the mountains and the sea; on the south the province of Thanh-Hoa, although crossed by the small river Song-Ma, forms the extremity of the Red river delta and belongs to it, the two rivers being united at some distance from the sea by a natural channel formed by the junction of a northern branch of the Song-Ma with a southern branch of the Song-Koi. The Red river descends from the mountains of Yun-nan, rising near Tali-fu between deep and inaccessible gorges, and becomes navigable only on its entry into Tongking. Means have been taken to render it available to steam launches, and in consequence of an agreement between the state and the Compagnie des Correspondances Fluviales a service of steamers is provided from its mouth to Lao-Kay. Near Hung-Hoa the Red river receives its two chief tributaries, the Black river from the plateaus of the west--the land pf the Muongs--and the Clear river, one of the largest of whose tributaries issues from the Ba-Be lakes. The Black river is navigable for a considerable distance, the Clear river only from Tuyen-Kwang. Between the basins of the Song-Koi and the Mekong the chain of mountains, crowned by tolerably extensive plateaus, covers, with its ramifications and transverse spurs, a vast extent of country little known, although several trade-routes traverse it, thus placing the Laos country in communication with Tongking and Annam. In about 19° N. the mountain-ridge approaches the sea and runs parallel to the coast, presenting on its eastern side a steep declivity which encloses a narrow littoral, in places only a mile or two broad, between the base of its cliffs and the shore. This coast-belt constitutes the habitable and cultivable portion of Annam proper, and consists of alluvial matter accumulated at the mouths of mountain streams, and marshes and swamps enclosed between land and sea by sand ridges heaped up by wind and tide. The high valleys and plateaus originally belonged to the empire, the limits of which, although invaded and occupied by Siamese, formerly extended to the banks of the Mekong. The western slopes form part of the French Laos possessions. The Mekong valley includes Laos, Cambodia and the greater part of Cochin-China. The Mekong (q.v.) is one of the largest rivers of south-eastern Asia, having a course 1900 m. in length. Its mouths, six in number, communicate by means of a navigable canal with the Saigon river (fed by the Don-Nai and the two Vaico rivers), which is navigable by the largest warships, rendering Saigon the most important natural port of Indo-China.

_Geology._--The deltaic tracts of the Mekong and Red river are
composed of alluvium (generally silicious clay) deposited by the
rivers. The mountains from which this soil is derived are granitic in
formation, the framework being almost always schists of ancient date,
dislocated, folded and occasionally rounded into hills 1000 to 1300
ft. in height, belonging to the Devonian period. Above these schists
lie--more especially in the north and south of Tongking--marbles and
other highly crystalline limestones, upon which rest, unconformably in
places (Nong-Son, Ke-Bao, Hon-Gáy), Carboniferous formations. In the
upper part of the Red river valley rich deposits of coal have been
found between Yen-Bay and Hai-Duong, in a considerable tract of
Tertiary rock. Limestone occurs also in the valley of the Mekong,
forming an extensive _massif_ in the district of Lakhon and in the
basins of the Nam-Ka-Dinh and Nam-Hin-Bun. These limestones appear to
be Carboniferous. In the region south of Lakhon the rock is Triassic,
and gold has been found in several districts. The natives collect it
in very small quantities by a washing process. In the lateral valleys
of the Mekong copper and tin are found. On the course of the
Nam-Paton, a tributary of the Nam-Hin-Bun, the natives work a
moderately productive tin-mine. Layers of spiegeleisen, limonite and
other iron ores are numerous in the Laos states, in which also
antimony occurs.

_Climate._--The climate of Indo-China is that of an inter-tropical
country, damp and hot. But the difference between the southern and
northern regions is marked, as regards both temperature and
meteorology. Cochin-China and Cambodia have very regular seasons,
corresponding with the monsoons. The north-easterly monsoon blows from
about the 15th of October to the 15th of April, within a day or so.
The temperature remains almost steady during this time, varying but
slightly from 78.8° to 80.6° F. by day to 68° by night. This is the
dry season. From the 15th of April to the 15th of October the monsoon
reverses, and blows from the south-west. The season of daily rains and
tornadoes commences. The temperature rises from 80.6° to 84.2°, at
which it remains day and night. April and May are the hottest months
(from 86° to 93.2°). The damp unwholesome heat sometimes produces
dysentery and cholera. The climate of Annam is less regular. The
north-easterly monsoon, which is "the ocean-wind," brings the rains in
September. The north-easterly gales lower the temperature below 59°.
September is the month in which the typhoon blows. During the dry
season--June, July and August--the thermometer oscillates between 86°
and 95°. The nights, however, are comparatively cool. Tongking has a
winter season--October to May. The temperature, lowered by fog and the
rains, does not rise above 75.2° and descends to 50° over the delta,
and to 44.6° and even 42.8° in the highlands, where white frost is
occasionally seen. The summer, on the other hand, is scorching. The
wind veers to the south-east and remains there until October. The
temperature rises to over 83°; often it reaches and continues for
several days at 95° or even more. The nights are distressingly
airless. The Laos country in the interior and lying at a high altitude
is cooler and drier. Its deep valleys and high hills vary its climate.

_Fauna and Flora._--From the populous cultivated districts wild
animals, once plentiful, have retired towards the wooded and
mountainous districts. The wild life of Laos includes fairly numerous
herds of elephants, the rhinoceros (one- and two-horned rhinoceros
horn is employed as a "medicine"), tiger, panther, brown bear,
tree-bear, monkeys and rats, among which are the musk rat, the palm
rat and the _nu-khi_, or rat found in the rice-fields of the
highlands, in which its ravages are considerable. In mountain
districts the leopard, wild boar and deer are found, and in the
neighbourhood of habitations the tiger-cat and ichneumon. The buffalo
is commonly found wild in Laos as a domesticated animal it also holds
a prominent place. The zebu bull is used for transport purposes.
Attempts to acclimatize the Arab horse and to introduce sheep from
Aden and China have failed. There is, however, an indigenous race of
horses, excellent in spite of their small size--the horses of Phu-Yen.
Among birds the woodcock, peacock and numerous species of duck inhabit
the woods and marshes. The goose and guinea-fowl appear, as also the
turkey, to have become easily acclimatized. Reptiles (apart from the
caimans of the Mekong, which attain a length of over 30 ft., and are
much appreciated by the Annamese as food) are extremely numerous and
varied in species. The rivers are rich in fish. The sole is found in
the rivers of Tongking. The Mekong is fished for two species peculiar
to it--the _pa-beuk_ and the _pa-leun_, which attain a length of
nearly 6 ft. All varieties of mosquitoes, ants and leeches combine to
render the forests bordering the Mekong impracticable. Peculiar
species of grubs and caterpillars destroy the cotton and coffee
plantations of Cochin-China. The silkworm may be said to be indigenous
in Tongking, where there are several thousand acres of mulberry trees.

The flora is inter-tropical, and comprises nearly all the trees known
in China and Japan. The bamboo is utilized in building and a variety
of other ways. Formerly the teak was believed not to exist in the
forests of Indo-China, but it was found some years ago in considerable
abundance, and plantations of it have been made. Certain hard woods
are used for marqueterie and other ornamental work. Rubber is also
exploited. Cotton, previously cultivated in Cochin-China and Cambodia,
gives excellent results in Laos. Tea, of which there are a certain
number of plantations in the highlands of Tongking and Annam, grows
wild in Upper Laos, and in quality closely resembles the Pou-eurl or
Pueul variety noted in Yun-nan. Cocoa, coffee and cotton are
cultivated in Tongking and Cambodia. Cinnamon and cardamoms are
gathered in Laos and Annam. Ground nuts, sesame, sugar canes, pepper,
jute, tobacco and indigo are also grown. The area under rice, which is
incomparably the most important crop, is approximately 1,750,000
acres. All European fruits and vegetables have been introduced into
Tongking, and with certain exceptions--the grape, for example--succeed
perfectly. Measures taken to secure the monopoly of opium have notably
increased the cultivation of the poppy.

_People._--The population of French Indo-China falls into five chief divisions--the Annamese, forming the bulk of the population in Annam, Tongking and Cochin-China and four-fifths of that of the whole country; the Khmers or Cambodians; the Chains of southern Annam; the Thais, including the Laotians; and the autochthonous tribes classed by the other inhabitants as Mois or Khas ("savages"). Driven into the interior by the now dominant races, these older people have mixed and blended with the peoples whom they found there, and new tribes have arisen, intermingled with fugitives from China, Annam and even Siam. In the north of Tongking people of Laos origin occur--the Thos round Kaobang, the Muongs in the mountains bordering the Red river. When mixed, with Chinese the Muongs and the Thos are known as the Hung-dans, Mans and Miens. The Muongs are bigger and stronger than the Annamese, their eyes often almost straight. They have square foreheads, large faces and prominent cheek-bones. In the centre and south of the Indo-Chinese mountain chain are found, under a multiplicity of names--Phon-tays, Souis, Bah-nan, Bolovens, Stiengs, Mors, Kongs, &c.--people of Malayan origin mixed with all the races of Indo-China. Laos is inhabited by an essentially miscellaneous population--falling into three main groups--the Thais; various aboriginal peoples classed as Khas; and the Moos and Yaos, tribes of Chinese origin.

_Religions._--The Annamese religion is a somewhat vague and very tolerant Buddhism, which in practice resolves itself chiefly into the worship of ancestors. Certain ceremonies performed in Cambodia resemble distantly the Brahminical cult. The Roman Catholic religion has been introduced by missionaries. The course of its history has not been free from catastrophes and accidents. There is an apostolical vicariate in Cochin-China, one in Cambodia and several mission stations in Tongking. Two of these missions are mainly conducted by Spanish priests.

_Administration._--Before taking its present form the governmental organization of Indo-China underwent many changes. Originally Cochin-China, the only French possession in the peninsula, was a colony directly administered, like other colonies, by the ministry of marine, and its earliest governors were admirals. Later, as further conquests were effected, Tongking and Cambodia were subjected to the régime of a protectorate somewhat ill-defined, and placed under the authority of residents-general. The seat of the resident-general of Tongking was at Hanoi; of Cambodia, at Pnom-Penh. The government of the colonies having been transferred (1889) from the ministry of marine to the ministry of commerce, and in 1894 to the newly created ministry of the colonies, the control of the residencies passed gradually into the hands of civil agents. Cochin-China, which already by the decree of the 8th of February 1880 had been endowed with a colonial council, had a municipality, a chamber of commerce, and even a deputy in the French parliament. There had thus been three distinct states, each with its own ruler and government. But by the decrees of the 17th of October and the 3rd of November 1887 the unity of Indo-China was determined. By decree of October the post of director of the interior of Cochin-China was done away with and replaced by that of lieutenant-governor under the immediate authority of a governor-general. The functions and powers of the latter official were, however, but vaguely defined before the decree of the 21st of April 1891, which conferred on M J. M. A. de Lanessan, appointed governor-general, the most extensive powers. The residents-general of Tongking, Annam and Cambodia, and the lieutenant-governor of Cochin-China, as well as the military authorities, were placed under him. But this change of policy, which put an end to the system of expeditions and minor military operations, and restricted the power of the residents whilst restoring to the mandarins a share of authority, was unwelcome to numerous interests, which, combining, secured the abrupt recall of M de Lanessan on the 29th of December 1894. The decree of the 21st of April 1891 was not, however, revoked, but the powers it conferred were restricted. After the appointment of M Doumer, successor to M Rousseau, who died on the 10th of December 1896, this decree was again put in force on the former scale, and in 1898 it was supplemented by the decrees of the 3rd and 31st of July, which definitely established the political and financial unity of Indo-China. The governor-general is the sole intermediary between the Indo-Chinese Union and the home government, the powers of which, with few restrictions, are delegated to him. As supreme administrative and military authority, he directly controls the civil services, and, though prohibited from commanding in the field, disposes of the land and sea forces in the country. His diplomatic negotiations with foreign powers must be carried on under the authorization and surveillance of the home authorities. The governor-general is assisted by the Superior Council of Indo-China, which meets monthly, and as reorganized by the decree of the 8th of August 1898 is composed as follows: the governor-general (president); the general commanding as head of the troops; the rear-admiral commanding the naval squadron of the Far East; the lieutenant-governor of Cochin-China; the residents superior of Tongking, Annam, Cambodia and Laos; the director-general of finances; the director of the _contrôle financier_; the head of the judicial service of Indo-China; the director-general of the customs and excise of Indo-China; the directors-general of agriculture, forests and commerce; of public works; of posts and telegraphs; of health; and of public instruction; the treasurer-general of Indo-China; the director of the school of medicine at Hanoi; the president of the colonial council of Cochin-China; the presidents of the chambers of commerce of Saigon, Hanoi and Hai-Phong; the presidents of the united chambers of commerce and agriculture of Annam and Cambodia; the presidents of the chambers of agriculture of Tongking and Cochin-China; four influential natives; the chief of the cabinet and the governor-general's secretary. This list sufficiently indicates the departmental services, by means of which the general government is carried on. The Superior Council meets not only at Hanoi, the seat of the government, but also at Saigon, Hué and Pnom-Penh. It delegates its powers to a "permanent commission" consisting of thirteen of its members, and dispensing with the attendance of the local authorities of regions other than those in which the place of meeting is situated. The Superior Council meets annually to receive the general budget and the local budgets which "must be accepted by the governor-general at a session of the Superior Council."[2] It must also be consulted on the distribution of military credits, and on the credits to be devoted to public works. The _contrôle financier_, which scrutinizes and sanctions all measures of the public services involving outlay of money, is dependent on the ministry of the colonies. Its returns have to be communicated to the governor-general.

The governor-general is also assisted by a "council of defence," comprising the chief military and naval authorities.

_Justice._--The whole of Indo-China is, in principle, subject to
French justice, represented by a court of appeal and a certain number
of tribunals. Before 1898 the administration of justice was not
centralized. There was a court of appeal at Hanoi, and another at
Saigon. But the decree of the 8th of August 1898 established one court
of appeal for French Indo-China: two chambers sitting at Saigon and
the other two at Hanoi. Three tribunals of commerce are established at
Saigon, Hanoi and Hai-Phong. There are courts of first instance at
Saigon, My-Tho, Vinh-Long, Ben-Tre, Chau-Doc, Kantho, Soc-Trang,
Tra-vinh, Long-Xuyen for Cochin-China, at Pnom-Penh for Cambodia, and
at Hanoi and Hai-Phong for Tongking. These courts are supplemented by
_juges de paix_ in Cochin-China, and there are _juges de paix_ at
Nam-Dinh (Tongking) and Tourane; elsewhere in the protectorates the
residents perform judicial functions. There are criminal courts at
Saigon, My-Tho, Vinh-Long and Long-Xuyen in Cochin-China, at Hanoi in
Tongking and at Pnom-Penh in Cambodia. In Cochin-China Annamese law is
administered in the French courts in suits between natives, but native
tribunals have been superseded. In Annam-Tongking, outside the sphere
of the French tribunals, the natives are subject to Annamese justice,
represented in each province by a mandarin, called the _An Sat_, and
in Cambodia the natives are subject to the native tribunals. At the
same time, whenever a French subject or European or other foreigner is
a party in an affair, French justice only is competent.

_Public Works._--The order of the 9th of September 1898 placed the
public works of Indo-China under the "direct authority of the
governor-general as regards works entered to the general budget
account." There is a director of public works in Indo-China at Saigon,
a director of engineering in the other countries. In 1895 a "special
service" was created in Tongking to consider railway business.

_Posts and Telegraphs._--The country is divided into two sections for
the purposes of this service, the one comprising Annam, Tongking and
Upper Laos, the other Cochin-China, Cambodia and Lower Laos. The post
and telegraph offices in Indo-China number about three hundred.
Tourane communicates by submarine cable with Amoy in China, thence
with Vladivostok and Europe.

_The Army--Land Force._--The military services are under the authority
of a general of division commanding in chief. The European troops in
1907 comprised four regiments of colonial infantry with 22 batteries
of artillery (10 in Tongking and 12 in Cochin-China). The native
troops, numbering over 18,000, comprised four regiments of Tongkingese
_tirailleurs_ (sharp-shooters), two of Annamese, a battalion of
Cambodian and a battalion of Chinese _tirailleurs_, a squadron of
Annamese _chasseurs_ or light horse and two companies of engineers.

_Sea Force._--Indo-China is protected by the naval division of the Far
East. In addition five gunboats are stationed at Saigon and a
third-class cruiser and some minor vessels at Hai-Phong.

The _Policing_ of the country is performed by natives (the _garde
indigène_) under European officers and by the _gendarmerie coloniale_,
which is reinforced by native auxiliaries.

_Money, &c._--The monetary unit is the _piastre_, which is of variable
value, having fallen from 4.50 francs to 2.40 francs and fluctuating
round that figure. The chief native coin is the _sapek_ of zinc or
tin, six hundred of which strung together form a _ligature_, a tenth
of which is called a _tien_. The piastre is worth 2700 sapeks. The
unit of weight, the _picul_, equals 60.4 kilos. (about 133 lb.); the
_thuoc-moe_ equals .425 metre (about 17 in.).

_Education._--The Annamese are intelligent and have old intellectual
and artistic traditions. In consequence the promotion of education has
been assigned to a special council (_Conseil de perfectionnement de
l'enseignement_) selected from Frenchmen and Asiatics particularly
qualified for membership. Among its preoccupations are the
reconstitution of the schools of Chinese characters in Cochin-China,
the remodelling of the programmes of the triennial examinations in
Annam and Tongking (see ANNAM) with a view to completing them with a
summary knowledge of French and science, the improvement of the
teaching given in the pagodas in Cambodia and Laos, and the foundation
of a university comprising classes for natives. In 1906, in
Cochin-China, where the largest sum (£45,000 in 1906) is devoted to
instruction, 22,500 children received a French education.

_Finance._--The unification of the budget brought about by M Doumer
(decree of the 31st of July 1898) specially contributed to that of the
government. The financial scheme is based on the political. Just as a
single central government directs the various local governments, so in
addition to the general budget, comprising the revenue and expenditure
of the supreme government, there are several local budgets, including
the revenue and expenditure incidental to the individual provinces.

The general budget in 1899 and 1904 is summarized below:--

_Receipts._ _Expenditure._

1899 £1,968,770 £1,639,800
1904 2,809,851 2,797,031

While direct taxes, e.g. the poll-tax and land tax or (in Cambodia)
the tax on products, are the main sources of revenue for the local
budgets, those for the general budget are the indirect taxes: (1)
customs (£619,616 in 1904); (2) "régies" and other indirect taxes
(£1,733,836 in 1904), these including the excise on alcohol, the
monopoly of the purchase and sale of salt, and the monopoly of the
purchase, manufacture and sale of opium.

The chief items of expenditure in 1904 were the following:--

Public Works £385,680
Customs and "régies" 618,654
Naval and Military Services 527,663
Loans[3] 417,421

_Shipping._--The following table shows the total tonnage of shipping
entered and cleared at the ports of French Indo-China in 1905 and its
distribution over the countries of the Union:--

+--------------+-----------------------+
| | Tonnage. |
| Country. +-----------+-----------+
| | Entered. | Cleared. |
+--------------+-----------+-----------+
| Cochin-China | 1,117,054 | 1,007,510 |
| Tongking | 242,119 | 348,947 |
| Annam | 28,065 | 26,406 |
| Cambodia | 2,520 | 2,012 |
+--------------+-----------+-----------+
| Total | 1,389,758 | 1,384,875 |
+--------------+-----------+-----------+

Over half the tonnage was French (698,178 tons entered); the United
Kingdom came second (284,277 tons); Germany, third (205,615 tons).

_Commerce._--The value of the trade of French Indo-China increased
from £6,796,000 in 1896 to £16,933,000 in 1905, its average annual
value for the years 1896-1905 being £12,213,000.

The following table shows the movement of commerce in 1905:

+------------------+------------+-----------+------------+
| | Imports. | Exports. | Total. |
+------------------+------------+-----------+------------+
| | £ | £ | £ |
| France | 4,314,586 | 1,233,295 | 5,547,881 |
| French colonies | 163,568 | 76,855 | 240,423 |
| Foreign countries| 5,704,257 | 5,440,156 | 11,144,413 |
+------------------+------------+-----------+------------+
| Total | 10,182,411 | 6,750,306 | 16,932,717 |
+------------------+------------+-----------+------------+

In 1905 the principal foreign countries from which goods were imported
were:

Hong Kong for £2,473,882[4]
Singapore " 598,449
China and Japan " 1,473,704
Burma and Siam " 289,542
The British Isled " 141,381
The United States " 126,425

The principal countries to which goods were exported were:

Hong Kong for £1,706,597[4]
China and Japan " 497,288
Singapore " 360,510
Burma and Siam " 80,071
The British Isles " 55,539

The principal imports were:

Wheat for £214,156
Rice " 226,755
Raw opium " 271,582
Raw cotton " 167,020
Wine " 340,027
Pit coal " 206,221
Petroleum " 388,163
Gold " 203,369
Iron and steel " 353,214
Tin " 526,428
Cotton thread " 672,040
Jute tissues " 254,255
Cotton tissues " 922,250
Silk tissues " 241,113
Paper " 344,633
Metal-work " 1,170,576
Arms, powder and ammunition " 170,882

The principal exports were:

Dried fish, salt and smoked for £151,415
Rice " 2,848,389
Pepper " 214,297
Pit coal " 182,077
Tin " 553,914
Cotton thread " 421,162

The customs tariff is substantially the same as that of France, severe
import duties being levied on foreign goods. French goods pay no
import duty and goods exported thither are exempt from export duty,
with the exception of sugar, which is regulated by special
legislation, and of various other colonial products (e.g. coffee,
cocoa, tea, vanilla, pepper) which pay half the duty applicable to
similar foreign products according to the minimum tariff. Goods from
French colonies pay no import duty. About 53% of the imports,
comprising nearly all manufactured goods of European origin, come from
France. China, Japan and Singapore are the other chief sources of
imports. The Bank of Indo-China (capital £1,440,000) besides receiving
deposits and discounting bills, issues bank-notes and has, till 1920,
the privilege of lending money on security.

_Communications._--The railway communications of French Indo-China
comprise lines from Hai-Phong to Lao-Kay, continued thence via the
Nam-Te valley to Yun-nan; from Hanoi northward to Lang-Son and south
to Vinh; from Tourane to Kwang-Tri via Hué and from Kan-Tho
(Cochin-China) to Khanh-Hoa (Annam) via My-Tho, Saigon, Bien-Hoa and
Jiring with branches to Phan-Tiet and Phan-Rang. The three last are
the completed sections of a line which will unite Tongking with
Cochin-China. The towns in the deltas of the Mekong and Red river are
united by a network of canals. The mandarin road following the coast
line of Annam connects Tongking with Cochin-China, but the easiest
means of communication between these two territories is by sea, the
voyage from Saigon to Tourane lasting three days, that from Tourane to
Hai-Phong, thirty hours.

_History_--The beginning of French influence in Indo-China dates from 1787, when a treaty was concluded between Gia-long, king of Annam (q.v.), and the king of France, whereby Tourane and the island of Pulo-Condore were ceded to the latter. The successors of Gia-long were averse from French influence and instituted persecutions of the Christian missionaries and natives, which led, in the reign of Tu-duc in 1858, to the arrival at Tourane of a French and Spanish fleet. The capture of that town was followed early in 1859 by the storming of Saigon, which Rigault de Genouilly, the French admiral, chose as his base of operations. The French and Spanish were, however, too few to take the offensive, and were forced to submit to a blockade, conducted by the Annamese general Nguyen Tri Phuong, at the head of 20,000 troops. It was not till February 1861 that reinforcements under Admiral Charner reached Saigon, and the Annamese were defeated and My-Tho taken. A revolt against Tu-duc in Tongking, and the stoppage of the rice supplies from Cochin-China, obliged the king to submit, in 1862, to a treaty by which three provinces of Cochin-China were ceded and other concessions accorded to France. However, it was only after further military operations that Tu-duc consented to the ratification of the treaty. In 1863 Admiral de la Grandière was appointed governor of Cochin-China and in the same year France established her protectorate over Cambodia. It was under La Grandière that the exploration of Mekong was undertaken (see GARNIER, M. J. F.) and that in 1867 the three provinces of Cochin-China left to Annam were annexed. French intervention in Tongking, which began with the expedition of François Garnier to Hanoi in 1873, culminated after a costly and tedious war (see TONGKING) in the treaties of 1883 and 1884, whereby Annam and Tongking passed under the protectorate of France. The latter treaty, though its provisions were subsequently much modified, remains theoretically the basis of the present administration of Annam.