The dress of the Tonkinese consists of a long robe reaching to the heels. The grandees are dressed in silk or English cloth. The populace and soldiery wear robes of cotton stuff reaching to the knees. Fishermen and workmen, who are obliged to spend their time out of doors, wear hats made of straw or leaves. The King is the only person permitted by law to wear shoes. The common people go bare-foot but this is no discomfort in a land where the soil is sandy. This custom is in vogue in Abyssinior and in all warm countries and only foreigners find that it is distasteful. They however wear sandals as do the officials and the learned men affect the same fashion. The latter allow their nails to grow long as a sign of their rank. Men and women used to be obliged to wear their hair bound up, as a mark of their vassalage, during the time when this kingdom was a dependent state of China, but at the present time they wear it loose over their shoulders. The nation has borrowed its arts, science and etiquette from the Chinese. Their language which is monosyllabic, greatly resembles Chinese, and inflexions of the voice determine the signification of the syllables. The Tonkinese have many guttural and dental consonants which are very difficult to be pronounced by foreigners. Their writing is in vertical columns, they make use of similar writing implements to those of China and they use silk or the bark of trees instead of paper. They have no taste whatever for art and science. It is true they have poets and musicians who are fairly successful in imaginative works. They have also made a certain amount of progress in morality for which they have adapted the maxims in the books of Confucius. They have teachers for all branches of accomplishments but no school for scientific knowledge, and they have only a very slight acquaintance with mathematics. The healing art is very imperfectly understood in Tonkin, experience is their only guide, and the doctors combine their profession with those of surgeon and apothecary. Their medical books on the preparation of drugs are most vague in their principles. Cupping glasses and caustics are used in obstinate cases only. The usual medicaments are made from gums, roots and herbs. They cure fever, eruptions, jaundice and small-pox by dieting and infusions. Certain diseases are attributed to fogs and exhalations. Astrology bars the way to medical progress, certain days are supposed to be unlucky, and on these days the patient is allowed to suffer rather than that medicines should be administered. Their skill in the arts is shown by their articles of lacquer ware, porcelain, and in the smelting of metals.