Excerpt from Voyage From France to Cochin-China: In the Ship Henry, Captain Rey, of Bordeaux, in the Years 1819 and 1820On the 29th fune, letters from court informed me that I was at liberty to remain in the bay of Tourane, or to carry the ship into the river of Hu¿he capital and that, in either case, every assistance would be afforded to unload her. Ambitious that the Henry should be the first European vessel to enter the port of the capital, we weighed from Tourane at noon, and next mornin at 6 a.h. We dropped our anchor a mile north-east from t e fort, at the entrance of the river Hu¿There we found another French ship, the Rose, which had arrived a few days lyf'ore, and had begun to discharge her cargo. Havin saluted the fort, the Fantou or military com mandant, and t e Thoughou or mandarin of justice, visited us ou-board, bringing a present of fresh fish and fruit. Our corresponding present was reserved for another occasion. The captain of the Rose came also on-board the Heur and I could discover that he was not over satisfied with t e pro gress of his affairs with the government: but he had a super cargo in the capital, who alone conducted all the business of the enterprise. My case was different, for I was sole master of my transactions, and being anxious to conduct myself so as not only to promote my own personal interest, but these also of m nation and countrymen in general, in future times, I resolve to commence no mercantile intercourse until I should consult the two French mandarins settled in the countr and in favour at court. From those gentlemen I learned that the difficulties arisen in the business of the Rose related to the value to be given by the government for the fire arms she had brought out. Without presuming to decide on which side the blame lay, I would just recommend to all who go to cochin-chinato provide themselves with a most accu rate and retentive memory, unless their transactions be con ducted by pen and aper.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.