Those who believe in metempsychosis are loth to kill either the most dangerous animals, or the vilest insects, but by a strange contradiction as is usual in erroneous doctrines, they sacrifice swine to their gods and to the spirits of the departed. They believe that souls which do not pass into other corporeal forms are changed into demons, fairies or goblins. Thus it is that the fear inspired by these malign creatures gives credence to thousands of fables. The law is no respecter of persons. The King a severe and upright judge passes sentence on the guilty, but his representatives in the provinces are more lenient, as they are amenable to bribery. A woman convicted of adultery is trampled to death by an elephant. A first act of theft is punished by the loss of a finger, the second by the loss of an ear, and the third by death. This graduated system of punishment should be a lesson to those nations generally whose laws inflict the same penalty on one, who by a passing weakness has committed some crime, or on another who is a hardened criminal. False witness is punished according to the nature of the charge brought. When the King pronounces sentence he is mounted on a fine elephant and petitioners may only approach within eighty paces of the royal presence. This Prince is wealthy for the reason that many of his neighbours pay a high price for his protection. He derives a considerable revenue from the elephants, wax, and ivory produced in his country; the tribute paid in scented woods and gold dust by his vassals forms another source of income. Besides the tribute exacted from the vassal states, there is a general poll-tax, and every man from the age of 18 to 60 has to pay about fifteen livres. This tax is less derogatory than the forced labour of eight months to which every slave or subject is liable. The grandees are obliged to offer valuable gifts on certain days of the year to the King, and these would exhaust their resources if it were not for the gifts which they in return extort from their inferiors to replace the losses caused by these forced benevolences. At the death of each land-owner, the King takes possession of the landed property and leaves only the money and personal effects of the deceased to the heirs. The tariff dues on foreign merchandise are still another source of revenue. The Government of the Kingdom of Cochin-China is purely military. The weapons of the country are muskets, bows and daggers. Drill is performed in silence. The leader directs all the evolutions by motions of his baton, and if he makes a mistake he is reduced to the ranks. The Court is an example of Asiatic pomp. The first dignities of the state are conferred on eunuchs, as it is supposed that as they are unable to beget children, they will be all the less avaricious.