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ANAM. 357
timate connexion that has at different periods subsisted
between the two countries, the Chinese character, as
well as literature, has been extensively introduced;
and whatever strongly-marked features of dissimilarity
may originally have existed, have been softened down
or effaced.
maintain,
The Chinese scattered about the kingdom,
indeed, a distinctive character. " These
industrious and enterprising people," says Mr. Finlay-
son, " are the butchers, the tailors, the confectioners,
and the pedlars of Cochin China ; they are met with
in every bazar and in every street, with their elastic
pole carried across their shoulders, at each end of
which is suspended a basket filled with their various
commodities ;* they are also the bankers and moneychangers,
and a great part of the circulating medium
of the country passes through their hands." But the
superior industry of the Chinese, both in Cochin
China and in Siam, is partly accounted for by their
exemption from the military conscription. In Cochin
China, every man is a soldier, and even the commer-
cial and mercantile operations, as well as all the native
manufactures, are carried on by the women : they are
the husbandmen, the mariners, and the merchants.
Political causes have thus had a powerful influence on
the national character. Nor do the Chinese differ
more widely from the Anamese in the particulars referred
to, than, in Spain, the Galician differs from
the Murcian, or than tribes of the same family are
often found to be distinguished in habits, dialect, and
character.
The proper Anam written character is said greatly
to resemble the Siamese. The language, in its con-
struction, approaches nearer also to the Thay (or
* Some of them are itinerant cooks, who carry in this way
various dishes ready-dressed for the table.