Untitled - Sabrizain.org

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ANAM.
another large branch of the river joins the main
stream. A short distance higher up, the prospect
expands, and presents, on the left, another stream
equally capacious with the Don-nai itself, called the
river of Soirap. In front, and separated from it by the
distance of a mile, is seen the majestic Rio Grande,
(as the Portuguese have named it,) of which the Soirap
is a branch. The latter is shallow and unnavigable
for ships. Being very rapid, and forming an oblique
angle with the great river, it produces strong and
dangerous eddies in this part, and has formed a mudbank
on the eastern side of the main stream. Within
a short distance of the city, scattered cottages and
patches of cultivated ground, fishing-boats, and a distant
forest of masts, gave the first indications of human
habitations which they had observed during the whole
voyage from Canjeo, except a few huts on one spot
where a few acres had been cleared of jungle. The
banks are mostly covered with mangrove.*
SAIGON.
THE city of Sai-gon, the capital of the province of
Don-nai (or Tsiampa), is one of the most important
and flourishing places in the empire. Here the late
king constructed a naval arsenal. There are, in fact,
two cities here, " each of them," Mr. Finlayson says,
" as large as the capital of Siam." They are above a
* Mr. Finlayson, alluding, perhaps, to the same spot, says:
" We observed no cultivation until we -were within twenty or
thirty miles of the town." He ascended the river in a barge.
They continued to row all night, and reached Saigon in fifteen
hours. The fishing-boats frequently make a passage from the
sea to Saigon in one tide. The American vessel was between six
and seven days in accomplishing the navigation.