The industrial production of the kingdom of Taly has diminished considerably since the war. Formerly, it was of much importance from a metallurgical point of view. The copper mines of Long-pao, Ta-kong, and Pe-iang are the most valuable in the whole country, where are also found deposits of gold, silver, mercury, iron, lead, and zinc. At Ho-kin paper is made from bamboo. The stems of the plant are made up into bundles of equal length, which are peeled and macerated in lime. They are afterwards placed in an oven, and steamed for twenty days; then they are exposed to a current of cold water, and deposited in layers in a second oven, each layer being covered with a coating of pease-meal and lard. After another “cooking,” they are converted into a kind of paste, which is extended on trellis-work in excessively thin layers, and dried in the sun. In this way the manufacturers turn out their sheets of a paper coarse and uneven enough, but very stout. CHAPTER III. RETURN TO SAIGON. The French expedition, finding further progress impossible, resolved at length on retracing its steps to Saigon, and accordingly set out in that direction on the 15th of March. On the 3rd of April it arrived at Tong-chuen, where Lieutenant Garnier heard of the death of his chief, M. de Lagrée. Four days later, the gallant little band, several of its members suffering from fever, resumed its march. On the 9th, M. Garnier crossed the deep swift waters of the Ngieoo-nan in a ferry-boat, which runs on a cable moored from bank to bank. On the 11th he reached Tchao-tong. ~AT TCHAO-TONG.~ Here he and his comrades met with a kindly welcome, and were lodged in the house of a native priest, who had charge of the few Christian inhabitants of the town. The crowd, as usual, displayed an extraordinary amount of curiosity and importunity. The _tche-hien_, or administrator of the Tchao-tong district, paid them a visit immediately on their arrival, and invited them to dine with him on the following evening. The repast included fourteen courses at the least, to say nothing of the cucumber-seed, the mandarinas, and the li-tchi, served up as preliminaries. There was nothing, however, peculiarly worthy of the attention of gourmands, except a dainty dish of pigeons’ eggs, and a particular kind of fish, caught in a neighbouring pond, the flesh of which had a peculiar flavour. During the repast, the ladies of the household closely scrutinized the features of the strangers through a lattice, laughing heartily at their awkwardness in using the Chinese utensils. Tchao-tong, like all Chinese towns of importance, is surrounded by a bastioned wall, of rectangular plan, measuring about a mile and a half each way. Considerable suburbs prolong to the north, east, and west the streets which abut on the gates of the town. The latter has never been captured by the Mohammedans, and its inhabitants cherish a fierce hatred against the rebels of Taly.